Japan: First Fin Whale Killed in Commercial Whaling
Despite widespread international condemnation of its intent to add fin whales to the list of species that it is killing in the North Pacific, Japan has confirmed today that it has killed its first whale of this species.
Kyodo Senpaku, the whaling company, announced that the unfortunate whale was caught off Iwate Prefecture and was a male 19.6 m long and weighing 55 tonnes. The whale was caught by Kyodo Senpaku’s whaling ship, the Kangei Maru, which was completed in March of this year.
Only two days earlier the Ministry of Agriculture, Firestry and Fisheries had announced that they would go ahead with a take of 59 fin whales adding them to its existing quotas for minke whales, Bryde’s whales, and sei whales.
OceanCare strongly condemns this expansion of whaling by Japan.