Japan’s whaling fleet has just left port under tight security for its first hunt since the U.N. top court last month ordered Japan to stop killing whales in the Antarctic reports the Japan Times.
Four ships departed from the fishing town of Ayukawa in Ishinomaki. Some observers had predicted the government would use the cover of last month’s ICJ judgment in The Hague to abandon what many have long considered to be a facade for commercial whaling.
Chaninat & Leeds Thai and US attorneys specialize in Thai criminal law and International Law
There were, however, no protesters among the crowd — a clear difference from the wintertime Antarctic hunts, which saw often violent clashes between the whaling fleet and activists trying to end the hunt.
Japan has hunted whales under a loophole in a 1986 global moratorium that allowed it to conduct lethal research on the mammals, but has openly admitted the meat makes its way onto store shelves and restaurant menus.
Read the full report here
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