MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Japan's whaling fleet sailing for Antarctica

Japan's whaling fleet set sail Tuesday for Antarctic waters where it expects to catch approximately a thousand whales claiming it's a “scientific research” program.

JARPA-2 as the program is identified involves catching 935 minke whales and 10 fin whales during the southern hemisphere summers to "...monitor the Antarctic ecosystem, model competition among whale species... elucidate temporal and spatial changes in stock structure and improve the management procedure for the Antarctic minke whale stocks."

Although whale hunting is condemned by conservation groups Japan plans to double its first JARPA-1 program catch of 440 minke.

"Japan's announcement that it intends to kill more than twice as many minke whales and hunt two new species over the coming years provoked international outrage earlier this year," commented Philippa Brakes, a scientist with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

Last June the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) passed a resolution condemning JARPA-2, but it has no power as any member nation is empowered to run "scientific" programmes.

Although there is a global moratorium in commercial whaling dating from 1986, a number of countries continue to hunt. Japan and Iceland run "scientific" programmes, while Norway lodged a formal objection to the moratorium which permits it to maintain an openly commercial operation. A number of indigenous peoples are also allowed to hunt under tight restrictions.

Japan also runs a scientific whaling programme in the north Pacific called JARPN, which this season took 100 sei whales, 100 minkes, 50 Bryde's whales and five sperm whales.

The Antarctic and Pacific programmes run at different times of the year, which conservationists allege is geared towards providing a constant supply of whale meat.