Japan has confirmed the killing of more than 300 whales, 200 of which were pregnant females during its latest whaling mission.
The announcement was made as ships from Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research, which were in the Antarctic region since December 2015, returned Thursday from a "scientific" expedition, which the ICR claims is being done in the name of science.
The Fisheries Agency said that the four-ship whaling fleet has returned to Shimonoseki in southwestern Japan having achieved the goal of taking 333 minke wales, 103 of which were males and 230 females. Of the mature females captured, 90 percent were pregnant.
"The number of pregnant females is consistent with previous hunts, indicating that the breeding situation of minke whales in the Antarctic is healthy," the Fisheries Agency said in a statement.
Japan's new quota is significantly fewer compared with its annual kill limit of 935 whales in the past. The reduction appears to have been influenced by criticisms and calls against the country's whaling practices.
Eating whale is part of Japan's culture and the country has long claimed that most species of whale are not endangered.
Its whaling practices though have long been a subject of criticism and its latest decision to conduct another whaling expedition is a defiance of the International Court of Justice ruling that declared the Antarctic whaling illegal.
Many believe that Japan's whaling expeditions are not for scientific purpose. Australian Marine Conservation Society Director Darren Kindleysides said that international experts have examined Japan's so-called scientific research and found it was just a guise for killing whales.
It appears, however, that the hunts are neither motivated by a market for whale meat. Although most of the meat from whale hunts ends up on shop shelves, many Japanese no longer eat them.
Demand and consumption for whale meat per person has declined to just about 50 grams in 2005 from 2,000 grams in 1967 prompting shops in Japan to reduce the prices of whale meat by half in 2009 so as to move stockpiles.
Japan plans to take nearly 4,000 whales for the next 12 years as part of its research program. It has also acknowledged looking forward for the resumption of commercial whaling.
