A new report stated that Japanese hunters butchered over 333 Antarctic minke whales last summer during its annual whale expedition.
Research Excursion
The International Whaling Commission recently published a field survey of its activities from the third New Scientific Whale Research program in the Antarctic Ocean. The research team took two sighting and sampling boats, the Yushin-Maru and the Yushin-Maru No. 3, to the hunting area. All research was conducted on the Nisshin-Maru.
The research team spent a maximum of 12 hours a day looking for whales. The team noted that they saw over 925 whales throughout the 143-day excursion. The Japanese research team documented that at each sighting, the team randomly targeted one to two whales during the expedition by throwing a harpoon that contained a 30-gram penthrite grenade. Once the whale was taken down, the research team brought it to the Nisshin-Maru.
International Condemnation
During the Japanese research team's excursion, over 152 males and 181 females were murdered. Alexia Wellbelove, the Humane Society International's senior program manager, made a statement regarding the findings. Wellbelove noted the organization was disgusted with the research team's actions and added that these operations were not only "truly gruesome" but also unnecessary.
In 2014, the International Court of Justice stated that Japan's Antarctic whale program was illegal. However, the Japanese government refused to recognize the justice organization's verdict. Another group that also opposed Japan's expeditions is Sea Shepherd. The marine conversation society had interfered multiple times with its scientific whale research program for almost every year from 2005 to 2017. Through the Freedom of Information request, Sea Shepherd revealed shocking video from Australia's government that showed the Japanese's methods of torturing the whales by giving them a slow, painful death.
"The continued killing of any whales is abhorrent to modern society, but these new figures make it even more shocking. We look forward to Australia and other pro-conservation countries sending the strongest possible message to Japan that it should stop its lethal whaling programs," said Wellbelove to the Maritime Executive.
Whale Tales
Scientists found a deceased sperm whale washed up on the shores of southern Spain. They discovered over 64 pounds of plastic in its stomach, which they stated contributed to its death. They recovered countless plastic bags, pieces of net, and a plastic water bottles in its stomach.
The Scientific Reports journal published a study that centered around a researching group that witnessed a 32-year-old orca killing an unrelated baby orca for no apparent reason. Scientists wrote that the murder was unprecedented. The killer whale infanticide happened in British Columbia, Canada, right off the coast of Vancouver Island.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported last year that the North Atlantic right whales could face full extinction. The government agency stated on Dec. 5, 2017, that there were only 450 of the whale species left in the entire world. NOAA also mentioned that there were 100 breeding female right whales remaining in the species.
Tech Times reached out to the Humane Society International for a comment on this story.
