Japanese whalers have to stop hunting prematurely

This video is called Japanese whaling of Humpback whales.

From British daily The Independent:

Protesters celebrate as blaze forces Japan’s whaling fleet to abandon hunt

By Kathy Marks, Asia-Pacific Correspondent

Published: 01 March 2007

Activists ready to risk their lives could not prevent Japan from harpooning whales in the Antarctic.

But a fire that crippled the fleet’s factory ship has forced the country to cut short its annual whaling operation for the first time in 20 years.

The fire aboard the 8,000-tonne Nisshin Maru two weeks ago killed a crew member and left the ship stranded in the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean.

It restarted its engines last weekend and can now sail under its own power, but Japan’s Fisheries Agency said yesterday that damage to equipment would make it difficult to continue the hunt.

The announcement was greeted with glee by anti-whaling groups, including Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd, which had been stalking the fleet before the fire and trying to disrupt its activities.

Japan suffered the indignity of a Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza, offering to tow the Nisshin Maru out of the area. It declined the offer.

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