Whaling research mission to begin

Japan is permitted to hunt whales in Antarctica under what it says is a scientific program allowed by the International Whaling Commission, despite a 1986 ban on commercial whaling. Japan sends a whaling fleet to the Antarctic each year to hunt hundreds of mostly minke whales, which are not an endangered species.

Whale meat not used for study is sold for consumption in Japan, which critics say is the real reason for the hunts.

Last year, several antiwhaling nations came together to form the Southern Ocean Research Partnership, an effort to promote nonlethal whale research in the hopes of seeking an International Whaling Commission ban on whaling for scientific study. Several countries including Brazil, Italy, and the United States have signed onto the partnership, which has scheduled research expeditions.

Tomorrow’s voyage is the group’s first, and will take the scientists from the New Zealand capital, Wellington, to the Ross Sea off Antarctica, where Japan’s annual hunt is also ongoing. There, the researchers will use darts to remove bits of tissue for biopsy sampling and will conduct satellite tracking and acoustic surveys to collect data on the movement of whales, population genetics, and how the creatures interact with the sea ice ecosystem.

Gales said he’s confident his team can prove that whales don’t have to be killed to be studied. But he acknowledges Japan will probably continue to argue that fatal testing is necessary, no matter what the findings.

Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research, which overseas the annual Japanese hunt, says there are many critical pieces of information about whales that can only be achieved by killing the animals.