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Vaquita. Photo Thomas Jefferson

Scientific Committee gives first ever official species extinction warning

Photo: Thomas Jefferson We have welcomed the urgent call by experts to protect the vaquita...
blue whale

Whale fossil from Peru may have been heavier than blue whale

Scientists examining the bones of a 39 million-year-old ancient whale have concluded that it may...
Humpback whale © Christopher Swann

Humpback whales breach in synchronisation

Humpback whales are renowned for their incredible acrobatic displays, but a family in the USA...
Long-finned pilot whale

Unusual activity witnessed before pilot whale stranding

Just days after a pod of long-finned pilot whales stranded on an island in the...

Ships leave Japanese port to kill whales in the name of science

Whaling ships in north-eastern Japan have left port to begin government-backed scientific whaling in coastal waters around the country. The four ships could kill up to 51 minke in the coming few weeks as part of a so-called ‘research’ programme in the north-western Pacific.  The hunts will take place within an 80km radius from Ayukawa port in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture.

In March last year, the International Court of Justice (the highest court of the United Nations) banned Japanese scientific hunts in the Antarctic, criticising their scientific value. The court decided that the hunts were nothing more than commercial whaling (banned in 1986) masquerading as science and so ordered them to stop. Much of the meat from these hunts is made available for sale to the public. 

On Monday, an expert panel of the International Whaling Commission rejected Japan’s latest proposal to resume hunting in the Southern Ocean, stating that it failed to show the need for the lethal take of whales to meet its objectives.