Japanese hunt kills 16 whales for research

The latest Japanese government ‘research’ whale hunt in the waters off Miyagi Prefecture has resulted in 16 minke whales being killed.

The whaling was conducted from April 9 to May 25 under research commissioned by the Japanese Fisheries Agency to look into the diet of the minke whales. However, much of the meat from Japanese research hunting is sold on the open market.

The whale hunters were given a quota (number of minke whales they can catch) of 51 but, according to reports, the number caught (16) is the lowest since 2003. It is though that numbers killed under this programme has been declining in recent years because fewer minke whales are around.

In March 2014, the UN’s International Court of Justice ordered Japan to stop its research whaling in Antarctica because it offered little or no scientific value.

However, in 2016 Japan resumed scientific whaling in Antarctica despite the court ruling.