Japan starts hunt of minke whales in the Pacific
environmentmarine conservationjapanwhalinginternational law
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Whaling (c) Mark Votier
Scientific? Whale Hunt
Japan’s Ministry of Fisheries have announced the start of the annual hunt for minke whales off the coast of Hokkaido, for "scientific" reasons.
Up to 51 whales may be killed under this programme, which presumably contributes to "resource management" – whatever Japan understands by this term.
Since 2014, the International Court in The Hague has declared Japan’s scientific whaling programme as unscientific and illegal, and representatives of the Australian government has confirmed during court hearings that the results of Japan’s hunts are worthless. Such results, like the main food of the minke whales (namely, krill), are something that one could easily find out by just opening a biology book…
Nevertheless, Japan has been blatantly ignored the ruling. In fact, in winter 2015, it announced plans to proceed with the hunt in the Antarctic, despite the International Whaling Commission proclaiming that the hunt was against international law and was not at all justified.
Source: WDC uk.whales.org