SHAME ON JAPAN !

[Anonymous]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090413/wl_asia_afp/japanwhaling;_ylt=AmJd50RPOFCujXwE6BjIj5V4hMgF
Japan’s Antarctic whale catch
TOKYO
april 09 Japan’s controversial whaling fleet returns to port this week
with a smaller-than-expected haul, blaming harassment from militant
activists in the Antarctic, the fisheries agency said.On its five-month
mission, the six-ship flotilla caught 680 whales including 679 minke
and just one fin whale — well below a planned total haul of between
765 and 935 of the giant mammals, the agency said.”It was mainly
because of the harassment by the Sea Shepherds,” said Shigeki Takaya,
an official with the agency’s whaling division.

The
environmental group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society harassed the
Japanese ships for 16 days, he said.Takaya told AFP a Sea Shepherd ship
rammed into Japanese vessels and its crew threw ropes and bottles
filled with chemicals.Three of the six ships returned to the western
port of Shimonoseki Monday, where television footage showed the coast
guard inspecting damage from the high-seas clashes.

Japan
kills whales using a loophole in a 1986 whaling moratorium that allows
“lethal research”, despite vehement protests led by Australia.In
practice, most of the meat from such whaling ends up on Japanese dinner
tables. Australia and other anti-whaling nations regularly accuse Tokyo
of using research as a pretext for commercial hunting.Whale meat holds
sentimental value for some Japanese baby-boomers and older people who
ate it after the devastation of World War II.Most Japanese have seldom
eaten whale since the moratorium, but Japan has been trying to give
young people a taste for whale, which has also been marketed in curry
and burgers.

[Author]

April 14, 2009 at 11:54 AM