Japan cut short its controversial annual whaling expedition in the Antarctic Ocean yesterday after its mother ship was badly damaged by fire, officials said.
The six-vessel fleet, which was dogged by protests by environmentalists, headed home after killing little more than half its intended catch, the Fisheries Agency said.
Fire broke out on the 8,030-tonne mother ship, the Nisshin Maru, in Antarctic waters on Feb. 15. One crewman was killed and the ship was without power for a week.
"We have determined that it is impossible to continue the research operation because research equipment has been damaged and defaced, although the mother ship may be able to sail on its own power," a Fisheries Agency statement said.
The International Whaling Commission imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986 but Japan has continued hunting for what it calls scientific research, a loophole in the pact.
Japan, however, makes no secret that the meat from the hunt winds up on dinner plates and says the food is part of its national culture.
The fleet had planned to hunt up to 850 minke whales and 10 fin whales, but left after killing 505 minke whales and three fin whales, a Fisheries Agency official said.
The agency said it hoped to repair the ship for another whaling expedition in the northwestern Pacific in the middle of this year.
The fleet was closely followed by anti-whaling activists, although both sides said the fire was not connected.
On one occasion, activists of the hardline Sea Shepherd group hurled bottles containing chemicals at the fleet.
Greenpeace said one of its ships, the Esperanza, escorted the Japanese fleet out of Antarctic waters yesterday.
The Esperanza radioed a message expressing sympathy for the loss of the crew member but added: "This must be the last time your government sends you to the Southern Ocean to hunt whales and threaten the Antarctic environment."
"For the sake of the environment, the whales and your crew, never again!" the message said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not