The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is urging Japan to abandon its dying whaling industry as the fleet returns to port with its lowest Antarctic catch since ‘scientific whaling’ began in 1987.
In December last year, the country’s whaling fleet set off for the Southern Ocean Sanctuary with the intention of training its harpoons on almost 1,000 whales; 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales. Japan’s Fisheries Agency announced today (Friday) that the season’s catch was 103 Antarctic minke whales and no fin whales.