Japan to cut short Antarctic whale hunt: NHK

Tokyo, Feb 28: Japan is set to abandon whale hunting in the Antarctic for this season after its main whaling ship was crippled by a fire two weeks ago, public broadcaster NHK said today.

The Nisshin Maru, the 8,000-tonne flagship of Japan's whaling fleet, restarted its engines at the weekend after being stranded in frigid waters since the fire, which killed a crewman.

The Japanese fleet sailed out of Antarctic waters today, environmental group Greenpeace said in a statement, adding that its own ship, the Esperanza, had followed the Japanese fleet.

A Fisheries Ministry official said today he had no information on any planned withdrawal of the fleet from the area. Officials at the Institute for Cetacean Research, a partly government-funded body that oversees the whaling progremme, were unavailable for comment.

Japan's whale hunt, which Tokyo says is conducted for research purposes, had aimed to catch more than 900 whales.

The hunt has come under growing pressure from environmental groups, who say it is cruel and violates a 1986 global ban on commercial whaling. The meat ends up in restaurants and on supermarket shelves.

The fire aboard the Nisshin Maru had also sparked concern that oil or chemicals could spill into the Southern Ocean, close to the world's biggest Adelie penguin breeding colony.

''We acknowledge your grief at the loss of your crew member,'' Greenpeace said it told the crew of the Nisshin Maru in a radio message. ''But this must be the last time your government sends you to the Southern Ocean to hunt whales and threaten the Antarctic environment. For the sake of the environment, the whales and your crew never again!'' Japan, which says whaling is a cherished cultural tradition, has expressed increasing frustration with the International Whaling Commission in recent years. Earlier this month Tokyo hosted a special meeting of the commission aimed at shifting its focus to whale management and away from the moratorium -- but almost half the member countries boycotted the event.

Reuters >