Japanese vessels leave for Antarctic for "research whaling"

Whaling vessels left a western Japan port on Thursday to conduct what Tokyo calls "research whaling" in the Antarctic Ocean for the third time since an international court ruled against the practice in 2014.Two vessels set sail from Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, on a mission to catch 333 minke whales through March and collect scientific data necessary to manage whale stocks and the ecosystem in the Antarctic, according to the Fisheries Agency.They will join the 8,145-ton mother ship Nisshin Maru and two other ships departing from different parts of Japan before heading for the far sout…READ FULL ARTICLE