National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Japanese Firms Quit Whaling


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Japanese whalers primarily target Minke whales, such as the animal pictured above. Most international governments signed a moratorium on whaling in 1986. Japanese fishers have been using a loophole in that ban to kill whales under an allowance for scientific research, but most of the meat ends up on store shelves.

Now, in a move hailed as a victory by anti-whaling activists, five private Japanese firms are donating their shareholdings in a jointly-owned whaling company to public groups and removing themselves from the industry.

Photograph courtesy NOAA