Finally, the burnt-out hulk of the whale killing floating factory called the Nisshin Maru is limping out of the Antarctic treaty zone, the stench of rotten whale meat lingering in its wake. The whale-killing fleet is now slowly heading north to Japan. There will be no stopping in New Zealand for repairs. A stop there will result in legal issues that could tie the ship up for years and the whale meat onboard would be confiscated.
mourning the loss of one crewmember and remembering
Well done and a big thank you to all concerned.
Other articles and links.
Whaling fleets are equipped with sonar, helicopters and long-range explosive harpoons. The whale is killed by a 6ft long iron harpoon shot from a cannon. The harpoon head contains a time-fuse grenade which blows the whale's insides apart seconds after impact, though this does not usually kill it immediately.
Officials in Tokyo conceded that the premature end to the hunt was a blow to its so-called research activities in the Southern Ocean. "This is the first time in 20 years that we have had to cancel our research," Takahide Naruko of the fisheries agency told reporters. "We are very disappointed."
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