<p>A Japanese whaling fleet returned to port today after an annual Antarctic hunt that killed more than 300 of the mammals as Tokyo pursues the programme in defiance of global criticism.<br /><br />The fleet set sail for the Southern Ocean in November, with plans to slaughter 333 minke whales, flouting a worldwide moratorium and opposition led by Australia and New Zealand.<br />The fleet consisted of five ships, three of which arrived in the morning at Shimonoseki port in western Japan, the country's Fisheries Agency said.<br /><br />More than 200 people, including crew members and their families, gathered in the rain for a 30-minute ceremony in front of the Nisshin Maru, the fleet's main ship, according to an official of the Shimonoseki City government.<br /><br />In a press release, the agency described the mission as "research for the purpose of studying the ecological system in the Antarctic Sea".<br /><br />But environmentalists and the International Court of Justice (IJC) call that a fiction and say the real purpose is simply to hunt whales for their meat.<br /><br />Anticipating the fleet's return, animal protection charity Humane Society International called for an end to Japanese whaling.<br /><br />"Each year that Japan persists with its discredited scientific whaling is another year where these wonderful animals are needlessly sacrificed," said Kitty Block, the group's executive vice president.<br /><br />"It is an obscene cruelty in the name of science that must end," she said in a release.<br />Japan also caught 333 minke whales in the previous season ending in 2016 after a one-year hiatus prompted by an IJC ruling, which said the hunt was a commercial venture masquerading as science and ordered Tokyo to end it.<br /><br />Under the International Whaling Commission (IWC), to which Japan is a signatory, there has been a moratorium on hunting whales since 1986.<br /><br />Tokyo exploits a loophole allowing whales to be killed for "scientific research" and claims it is trying to prove the population is large enough to sustain a return to commercial hunting.<br /><br />But it also makes no secret of the fact that whale meat ends up on dinner tables and is served up in school lunches.<br /><br />Japan has hunted whales for centuries, and their meat was a key source of protein in the immediate post-World War II years when the country was desperately poor.<br /><br />But consumption has dramatically declined in recent decades, with significant proportions of the population saying they "never" or "rarely" eat whale meat.<br /><br />In response to the ICJ ruling, Japan's 2014-15 mission carried out only "non-lethal research" such as taking skin samples and doing headcounts.<br /><br />Past missions have been hampered by a confrontational campaign on the high seas by environmentalists Sea Shepherd, though Japan has won some relief from the group through the courts.<br /><br />A fisheries agency official said that the whalers this time faced "no obstructive behaviour threatening safety of the fleet and crew members" by the group.<br /><br />He attributed that partially to Japan having started dispatching fisheries agency patrol ships to protect the fleet.</p>
<p>A Japanese whaling fleet returned to port today after an annual Antarctic hunt that killed more than 300 of the mammals as Tokyo pursues the programme in defiance of global criticism.<br /><br />The fleet set sail for the Southern Ocean in November, with plans to slaughter 333 minke whales, flouting a worldwide moratorium and opposition led by Australia and New Zealand.<br />The fleet consisted of five ships, three of which arrived in the morning at Shimonoseki port in western Japan, the country's Fisheries Agency said.<br /><br />More than 200 people, including crew members and their families, gathered in the rain for a 30-minute ceremony in front of the Nisshin Maru, the fleet's main ship, according to an official of the Shimonoseki City government.<br /><br />In a press release, the agency described the mission as "research for the purpose of studying the ecological system in the Antarctic Sea".<br /><br />But environmentalists and the International Court of Justice (IJC) call that a fiction and say the real purpose is simply to hunt whales for their meat.<br /><br />Anticipating the fleet's return, animal protection charity Humane Society International called for an end to Japanese whaling.<br /><br />"Each year that Japan persists with its discredited scientific whaling is another year where these wonderful animals are needlessly sacrificed," said Kitty Block, the group's executive vice president.<br /><br />"It is an obscene cruelty in the name of science that must end," she said in a release.<br />Japan also caught 333 minke whales in the previous season ending in 2016 after a one-year hiatus prompted by an IJC ruling, which said the hunt was a commercial venture masquerading as science and ordered Tokyo to end it.<br /><br />Under the International Whaling Commission (IWC), to which Japan is a signatory, there has been a moratorium on hunting whales since 1986.<br /><br />Tokyo exploits a loophole allowing whales to be killed for "scientific research" and claims it is trying to prove the population is large enough to sustain a return to commercial hunting.<br /><br />But it also makes no secret of the fact that whale meat ends up on dinner tables and is served up in school lunches.<br /><br />Japan has hunted whales for centuries, and their meat was a key source of protein in the immediate post-World War II years when the country was desperately poor.<br /><br />But consumption has dramatically declined in recent decades, with significant proportions of the population saying they "never" or "rarely" eat whale meat.<br /><br />In response to the ICJ ruling, Japan's 2014-15 mission carried out only "non-lethal research" such as taking skin samples and doing headcounts.<br /><br />Past missions have been hampered by a confrontational campaign on the high seas by environmentalists Sea Shepherd, though Japan has won some relief from the group through the courts.<br /><br />A fisheries agency official said that the whalers this time faced "no obstructive behaviour threatening safety of the fleet and crew members" by the group.<br /><br />He attributed that partially to Japan having started dispatching fisheries agency patrol ships to protect the fleet.</p>