Whaling forum seeks end to backroom dealing

The chronically deadlocked International Whaling Commission will debate ways to boost transparency and battle alleged corruption.

Japan's whalers accused of smuggling whalemeat

Anti-whaling campaigners said on Thursday that they had uncovered an embezzlement ring at the heart of the Japanese whaling fleet, accusing crew members of stealing choice cuts of whale meat worth millions of yen for sale on the black market.

Japanese whaling ship attacked by activists

Militant environmentalists hurled stinging acid for more than an hour onto a Japanese whaling ship off Antarctica on Monday, hurting three crew members, officials said. Both Japan and Australia, the leading opponent of whaling, condemned the latest attack by the Sea Shepherd group.

Japan removes humpback whales from kill list

Japan's whaling fleet in the Antarctic will avoid killing humpback whales for now, but will press on with plans to slay 1 000 other whales by early in the New Year, a government official said on Friday. Plans by Japan to include 50 endangered humpbacks in its annual hunt had sparked an outcry from activists.

Australia sends patrols to shadow Japan whalers

Australia will send a fisheries patrol ship to shadow Japan's whaling fleet near Antarctica and gather evidence for a possible international court challenge to halt the yearly slaughter. The icebreaker Oceanic Viking would leave for the Southern Ocean in days to follow the Japanese fleet.

Japan fleet plan to hunt humpbacks draws protests

Japan's whaling fleet is set to depart on Sunday for an annual hunt that this year for the first time will take humpback whales -- a perennial favourite among whale-watchers -- sparking protests from activists. Japan abandoned commercial whaling in accordance with an international moratorium in 1986, but began the next year to conduct what it calls scientific research whaling.

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