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Japan concludes annual whaling, capturing 115 whales

Xinhua, July 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

Japan has concluded its annual whaling in the northwestern Pacific, capturing 115 of the sea mammals, the Japanese Fisheries Agency said Monday.

Japan's whaling fleet, which departed on May 12, has spotted 444 sei whales and 104 Bryde's whales, said the agency in a statement. Captured were 90 sei whales and 25 Bryde's whales.

In March 2014, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that Japan's "research whaling" contravened a 1986 moratorium on whale hunting.

The decision led Japan to halt whaling in the 2014 season, but it resumed whaling in December 2015 and captured 333 minke whales during a two-month hunt.

Japan claims that the purpose of its whaling is to examine the animal's impact on marine resources by checking factors such as the contents of their stomachs.

But environmentalists believe that Japanese whale hunting is commercial whaling in disguise. Endi