Japan considers upgrading its whaling mother ship, a sign that hunts will continue

Japan is considering upgrading its ageing lead whaling ship, a fisheries official confirmed Wednesday, in a sign that the country’s controversial Antarctic hunts will continue despite international protests.

The Fisheries Agency has requested 100 million yen (US$910,000) in the national budget for a study into the future of commercial whaling, an agency official said, including the fate of the 30-year-old Nisshin Maru, the lead vessel of Japan’s whaling flotilla.

“That study will include discussions on what to do with the Nisshin Maru – if its life should be extended (by repairs), or should be replaced with a used ship or a new ship, among other ideas,” according to the agency’s Takato Maki.

The 8,145-tonne vessel has been the mother ship of Japan’s whaling flotilla since 1987 but is now old, said Maki.

He said Japan has no plans to change its policy of staging an annual “research” hunt to prepare for an eventual return to commercial whaling.

Japan is a signatory to the International Whaling Commission’s moratorium on hunting, but exploits a loophole that allows whales to be killed in the name of scientific research.

Tokyo says lethal research is necessary for in-depth knowledge of whale behaviour and biology, but it makes no secret of the fact that whales killed in the hunts often end up on dinner plates.