Japan ended its annual whale hunt in Antarctica early following clashes between its fleet and protesters, Agriculture Minister Michihiko Kano said.
Nine Latinamerican countries that make up the “Buenos Aires Group” have called on Japan to put an end to “scientific whaling” as vessels take off for the new hunting season in the Southern Hemisphere.
At least fourteen whales from a pod of more than 80 beached on the New Zealand coast have died, with officials fearing others may be stranded elsewhere after freeing themselves on Saturday.
Recent Wikileaks cables have exposed classified material sent by the United States embassy in Tokyo to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
After more than two and half years of pressure by Greenpeace and the famous “Tokyo Two” trials, officials with the Japanese Fishing Agency publicly admitted Thursday that they received whale meat as gifts from private companies contracted by the government to slaughter whales, reports Greenpeace USA blog.
Four countries, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and United States have jointly expressed concern over confrontations between Japanese whaling ships and anti-whaling activists in Antarctic waters and called for responsible behavior by the two sides.
The sun's rays can “burn” whales' skin, just like they can damage human skin, according to a team of researchers. The scientists studied more than 150 whales in the Gulf of California.
For the first time animal activists have shown evidence that an open and a black market in whale meat exists on the Faroe Islands. The animal protection activists Andreas Morlok (Project Whale Protection Action – ProWal) and Juergen Ortmueller (Whale and Dolphin-Protection-Forum – WDSF) (*) discovered on these islands, under the pretext of being anglers, that the pilot whale hunt nowadays has nothing to do with the old traditions which the hunters claim to be following.
Starting December, scientists from Chile’s Biomar Foundation will use GPS (Global Positioning System) to follow the movements of humpback whales in protected marine area Francisco Coloane, in the Magellan Strait. The whales are to be monitored for 12 months.
Only nine of the 63 pilot whales which were found stranded on a beach of New Zealand’s northern island on Friday are believed to have survived. Thirteen whales were re-floated Saturday but four of them got back into difficulty and NZ Department of Conservation staff made the tough decision to euthanize them.