Japan's whaling fleet has set out today for the Antarctic to resume a decades-old whale hunt.The fleet has a target of taking in 333 Minke Whales.This is down around two-thirds from previous whale hunts.
Satoshi Kunii, head of Japan's Fisheries Agency, says they are aware of plans by environmental groups to disrupt the hunt again this year. "According to these (reports), they are strongly against the resumption of our research whaling programme and have said things that could be interpreted as vowing to obstruct our operations if they meet up with us at sea. But the Ministry of Fisheries is coordinating with the appropriate ministries to ensure the safety (of this mission) and will continue to deal with this appropriately."
Anti-whaling activists have actively pursued and harassed the Japanese whaling fleet in years-past, which has led to a number of dangerous incidents taking place in the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean.Japan is sending out its fleet again under the same loophole in the International Whaling Commission guidelines which allow countries to kill a number of whales every year for "scientific purposes."However, most of the whale meat ends up on store shelves, even though most people in Japan no longer eat whale meat.
Japan's current government has a stated goal of a return to commercial whaling at some point, though a majority of countries around the world object to the idea.Most of Japan's whaling fleet hails from the western Japanese city of Shimonoseki, which is Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's electoral district.
为恢复捕鲸，日方向国际捕鲸委员会提交新方案，把预定捕鲸数量减少至333头，为先前的三分之一。方案并未获得国际捕鲸委员会批准，而日方执意继续捕鲸。
日本渔业部门总干事大村国井说到："我们知道今年环保组织要干扰捕鲸的具体计划方案。" 不过，他还警告船员要防范反捕鲸活动人士的威胁。他说：“根据有关报告，他们强烈反对我们恢复科学研究捕鲸项目，并且说要在海上拦截我们的渔船作业。但是我们在与有关方面协调，确保这次捕鲸任务的安全。”
反捕鲸活动人士在过去的十几年里一直在与日本捕鲸船队作斗争，以致在冰冷的南极洋地区发生了许多起危险的事故。国际捕鲸委员会1986年通过《全球禁止捕鲸公约》，禁止商业捕鲸，允许科研捕鲸。日本签署这一条约，但一直以科研名义大量捕鲸，捕获的鲸鱼却出现在日本国内市场和餐桌。
日本现任政府想要恢复商业捕鲸、使其合法化，并将其作为一个政治目标在进行。完全无视许多国家反对的声音。日本的捕鲸船队大多来自于西部的下关市，同时也是日本首相安倍晋三的主要选区，其丑陋的政治目的可见一斑。
