Hunting whales in the name of research! Sounds weird, doesn’t it? Well, this is exactly what a latest Japanese fleet is supposed to do. Four whaling ships set sail off the coast of Japan in order to kill 50 humpback whales. Overall, it is supposed to kill about 1000 whales.
The whaling ship fleets include ships like Nissin Maru and about 239 men. The Nissin Maru is going to be the lead craft and it weighs about 8000 metric tonne. I think this is probably one of the biggest Japanese whale hunting missions. The fleet will run till mid-April in the South Pacific.
The launch of this particular fleet wasn’t easy since the environmental activists have been after them. The activists claim that the research is just an excuse to keep the whaling industry alive. So, some of these activist groups – with nets and gas canisters – will mess up the ships and go on their mission. Anyway, the fleet is well on its way to accomplish the fishing mission.
The fleet will have a couple of observation boats as well. The hunting of humpback whales might sound a little weird to you. So, here’s a little history on Japanese whale hunting as well as hump back whales.
The humpbacks were hunted to extinction nearly four decades ago and these mammals have been off limits since 1963. But, folks can catch them for research purposes. These whales grow up to be a 40 tonne whale and they are about 48 feet long.
Keeping in mind the low number of whales, everything should be done to preserve them. I think 1000 whales for research sounds a little weird. There must be other motives behind this mission.
Image Credit: Answers
