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Japan kills 333 whales in one-year Antarctic hunt

This undated file picture, released on February 7, 2008 by the Australian Customs Services, shows a mother whale and her calf being dragged on board a Japanese ship after being harpooned in Antarctic waters. (Via AFP)

A Japanese whaling fleet returned to port Friday after an annual Antarctic hunt that killed more than 300 of the mammals as Tokyo pursues the program in defiance of global criticism.

The fleet set sail for the Southern Ocean in November, with plans to slaughter 333 minke whales, flouting a worldwide moratorium and opposition led by Australia and New Zealand.

The fleet consisted of five ships, three of which arrived in the morning at Shimonoseki port in western Japan, the country's Fisheries Agency said.

In a press release, the agency described the mission as "research for the purpose of studying the ecological system in the Antarctic Sea".

But environmentalists and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) call that a fiction and say the real purpose is simply to hunt whales for their meat.

Anticipating the fleet's return, animal protection charity Humane Society International called for an end to Japanese whaling.

Japan also caught 333 minke whales in the previous season ending in 2016 after a one-year hiatus prompted by an ICJ ruling, which said the hunt was a commercial venture masquerading as science and ordered Tokyo to end it.

Under the International Whaling Commission (IWC), to which Japan is a signatory, there has been a moratorium on hunting whales since 1986.

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Tokyo exploits a loophole allowing whales to be killed for "scientific research" and claims it is trying to prove the population is large enough to sustain a return to commercial hunting.

In response to the ICJ ruling, Japan's 2014-15 mission carried out only "non-lethal research" such as taking skin samples and doing headcounts.

(Source: AFP)


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