Japan has decided to abandon this year's Antarctic whale hunt after a deadly fire crippled the main processing ship of the whaling fleet.![The fleet had been hunting mainly Minke whales in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica [ICR]](http://mwcnews.net/images/stories/Sci-Tech/8/hunt-1.jpg "The fleet had been hunting mainly Minke whales in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica [ICR]")
The fleet had been hunting mainly Minke whales in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica [ICR]
All six-ships of the fleet have been ordered to pull out of the region and return to port, officials said.
The fire aboard the Nisshin Maru two weeks ago killed one crewman and left the vessel unable to sail under its own power for 10 days.
The drifting ship had prompted protests from environmental groups worried about pollution, although Japanese officials said there was never any danger of a spill.
Takahide Naruko, Japan Fisheries Agency
"This is the first time in 20 years that we've had to cancel our research," said Takahide Naruko, the head of the Fisheries Agency's Far Seas Division.
"We are very disappointed." Naruko said he hoped the ship would be repaired in time for its next hunt in the Pacific northwest in May.
Japan, which is pushing for a return to "managed" commercial whaling, says its annual whale hunt is carried out for research purposes.
![The Nisshin Maru is the mothership of the Japanese whaling fleet [ICR]](http://mwcnews.net/images/stories/Sci-Tech/8/hunt-2.jpg "The Nisshin Maru is the mothership of the Japanese whaling fleet [ICR]") |
| The Nisshin Maru is the mothership of the Japanese whaling fleet [ICR] |
It says the hunt provides crucial scientific data for the International Whaling Commission - which sanctions the annual hunts - on populations, feeding habits and distribution of the whales in the seas near Antarctica.
The research is funded by the sale of whale meat captured in the hunt, but environmental groups such as Greenpeace argue that research can be carried out without killing the whales.
The fleet had been targeting a catch of 860 whales, but officials say they only killed 505 minke whales and 3 fin whales before the fire on the Nisshin Maru brought an end to the hunt. ![Environmental groups say research can be carried out without killing whales [Greenpeace]](http://mwcnews.net/images/stories/Sci-Tech/8/hunt-3.jpg "Environmental groups say research can be carried out without killing whales [Greenpeace]")
Environmental groups say research can be carried out without killing whales [Greenpeace]
The fire has been a major embarrassment for Japan, and sparked a row with the New Zealand government which said the ship, carrying 1.3 million litres of fuel oil, posed a huge risk to the pristine Antarctic environment.
A Greenpeace vessel, in the area to protest the hunts, offered to tow the crippled ship into calmer seas, but the whalers declined the offer.
The announcement that the fleet was abandoning the hunt came as Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), a partly government-funded body that oversees the whaling programme, hit out at the tactics of environmental activist group Sea Shepherd.
It said the group used its ship to ram Japanese vessels during the hunt, as part ofwhat it called acts of "spiteful and mindless terrorism."
It says the group also threw harmful chemical substances and smoke bombs and released ropes and nets to try to jam the ships' propellers.
"Such vicious and reckless actions by the Sea Shepherd not only violate the international agreements established in order to prohibit piracy and guarantee the safety of navigation, they are inexcusable criminal acts," said Hiroshi Hatanaka, head of the ICR.
Tags: Antarctic Nisshin Maru Japan whaling