The United States, Britain and other nations, along with environmental groups, have protested that the hunts are merely a disguise for commercial whaling - which the International Whaling Commission banned in 1987. Despite the ban, whale meat is indeed sold in Japan - primarily in pricey specialty restaurants which get their stock from the research program. Last month three Japanese whaling boats returned home with 440 minke whales caught in a five-month hunt in the Antarctic Ocean. Don't miss the Norwegian politician who says that Keiko would be better served up in a whale burger. Last year, Norwegian whalers killed 589 minke whales, a small whale now the major target of whalers since many populations of larger whales are still depleted due to over-hunting.
Japan is, potentially, the biggest and most lucrative market for Norwegian whale meat and blubber.
2 Japan steps up killing power of whale boats Jonathan Leake and Cherry Norton, Tokyo Sunday Times UK MOBY DICK would not have stood a chance. The Japanese have re-equipped their whaling fleet with grenade harpoon guns that can catch whales from further away, and bigger barbs to stop them struggling free. One hundred of the new weapons have been installed in the fleet, which was steaming towards the north Pacific killing grounds this weekend in search of its biggest catch since commercial whaling was banned in the 1980s. These include 10 sperm whales, the breed immortalised by Herman Melville in the novel Moby Dick . While commercial whaling remains banned, scientific research is still permitted - a loophole exploited by Japan.