Environmental activists combing the Pacific Ocean for Japan’s whaling fleet managed to locate it and disrupt its work, forcing the whalers to give up before reaching their quotas.

 

After catching up to the fleet, the group Sea Shepherd threw stink bombs at the ships and used ropes to try to tangle their propellers. The whalers retaliated by using water cannons.

 

The harassment proved so disruptive that the fleet decided to return home after only killing 266 minke whales and one fin whale. Their goal was to harvest 900 of the mammals.

 

Commercial whaling was banned in 1986, but the Japanese claim they are doing research because lethal research is still allowed. This time around, the Japanese government, through its Fisheries Agency, chipped in $30 million to help the whalers, claiming it would aid the reconstruction of one village, Ayukama, which was devastated by last year’s tsunami.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Saboteurs Blamed As Japan Whale Catch Falls Short (by Harumi Ozawa, Agence France-Presse)

Eureka! The Whaling Fleet Has Been Found and Shut Down! (Sea Shepherd)

Anti-Whaling Activists Use Drone to Track Japanese Fleet (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)