Every year in the Autumn, whaling fleets from Japan set sail for Antarctia and return the following Spring. Their mission is a deadly one as they are on the hunt to kill whales. There has been an international ban on commercial whaling for 25 years, but Japan catches about 1,000 whales each year in what it says is a scientific research program. However it is really just commercial whaling in another guise. The following are definitions in commercial whaling.


Objection - A country formally objects to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium, declaring itself exempt. Example: Norway
Scientific - A nation issues unilateral “scientific permits”; any IWC member can do this. Example: Japan
Indigenous (aka Aboriginal subsistence) – IWC grants permits to indigenous groups for subsistence food. Example: Alaskan Inupiat

This year's goal for Japan's whale kill was set at 900 when they started in December 2011. However this time Japan has ended its whaling season with less than a third of its annual target. Japan's whaling ships headed home from the Antarctic Ocean this week with only 266 minke whales and one fin whale.

AFP news agency quoted a Japanese Fisheries agency official who said, “The catch was smaller than planned due to factors including weather conditions and sabotage acts by activists. There were definitely sabotage campaigns behind the figure.” Every year the Anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd follows the Japanese fleet south every year in a bid to disrupt its hunt. Sea Sheperd announced on its website on Thursday that the Japanese whalers had left the Southern Ocean.

For several months there had been clashes between the whalers and the activists. Japan had accused the anti-whaler activists of trying to ”sabotage” them by throwing ropes with hooks attached and also hurling glass bottles of paint. Sea Shepherd's efforts have paid off well this year with over 600 whales escaping with their lives from Japan's deadly " scientific research project."