A Japanese whaling expedition has caught 60 minke whales in the Pacific Ocean, the government said, the maximum number allowed under a research programme that critics say is disguised commercial whaling.
The 43-day expedition off the coast of Sanriku, about 500km north-east of Tokyo, also found that the minkes feed on sand eels and sardines — key fishing stocks in the region, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said in a statement released on Friday.
As much as 106,4kg of fish was found in one whale’s stomach, the ministry said. The expedition ended on Wednesday.
The ministry said it will report its findings from the hunt, designed to study the impact of the mammals’ feeding on fish stocks, at the next annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission.
The IWC banned commercial whaling in 1986 to protect the endangered mammals but approved restricted hauls for research a year later.
Under its research whaling programme, Japan hunts hundreds of whales each year in the waters of Antarctica and the north-western Pacific Ocean. The dead whales are studied and their meat is sold afterward to help fund the programme.
Anti-whaling countries and environmental groups call Japanese research whaling a thinly disguised commercial venture.
But Japan maintains that whaling is a national tradition and a vital part of its food culture. It says whale stocks have sufficiently recovered since 1986 to allow the resumption of limited hunts of certain species.
On Tuesday, a fleet of four ships departed on a four-month expedition to catch 260 minke, sei, Bryde’s and sperm whales from Pacific Ocean waters north-east of Japan.
The Institute of Cetacean Research, which runs the programme, said the mission aims to learn more about the roles different whale species play in their environments and study the impact of water pollution on marine ecology. – Sapa-AP