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QINGDAO TODAY
在线翻译:
szdaily -> World -> 
Japanese catch first whales after ban lifted
    2019-07-03  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

JAPANESE whalers brought ashore their first catches Monday as they resumed commercial hunting after a three-decade hiatus, brushing aside criticism from activists who say the practice is cruel and outdated.

Five vessels set sail under grey morning skies from northern Japan’s Kushiro with their horns blaring and grey tarps thrown over their harpoons. By Monday afternoon they were back with their catch: two grey minke whales.

The hunts come after Japan decided to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission, a move slammed by activists and anti-whaling countries but welcomed by Japanese whaling communities.

“Today is the best day,” said Yoshifumi Kai, head of the Japan Small-Type Whaling Association, as the ocean giants were hauled ashore.

“It was worth waiting for 31 years,” he said with a smile.

One of the whales, more than 8 meters long, was hoisted from a ship onto a truck and driven to a warehouse.

Inside, whalers hosed it down with water and then lined up to pour ceremonial cups of the Japanese liquor sake over the animal, a ritual to purify and celebrate the catch.

Vessels left from other ports elsewhere in Japan on Monday, including in Shimonoseki in the west of the country, and whalers and government officials hailed the resumption of the hunts.

Whaling has long proved a rare diplomatic flash point for Tokyo, which says the practice is a Japanese tradition that should not be subject to international interference.

As an IWC member, Japan was banned from commercial hunts of large whales, though it could catch small varieties in waters near its coastline.

But it also exploited a loophole in the body’s rules to carry out highly controversial hunts of whales in protected Antarctic waters under the banner of “scientific research.”

Activists said the hunts had no scientific value, and Japan made no secret of the fact that meat from whales caught on those hunts ended up sold for consumption.

With its withdrawal from the IWC, Tokyo will carry out whale hunting off Japan, but will end the most contentious hunts in the Antarctic.

The country’s Fisheries Agency said Monday it had set a cap for a total catch of 227 whales through the season until late December, 52 minke, 150 Bryde’s and 25 sei whales.

Humane Society International slammed the resumption of commercial hunts.

“This is a sad day for whale protection globally,” said the group’s head of campaigns Nicola Beynon, accusing Japan of beginning a “new and shocking era of pirate whaling.”

(SD-Agencies)

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