Japan kills several hundred whales a year WDCS says that St Vincent has received millions of dollars from Japan in the last decade. It says the money was paid to secure St Vincent's support for Japan in the IWC, where Tokyo is arguing for a resumption of commercial whaling. WDCS says officials from Japan and several West Indian islands have been discussing a commercial whaling programme in the Caribbean. It believes any further kills like that in Mustique could damage the Caribbean tourist trade. The heyday of whaling is thought to have killed more than 100,000 humpbacks, and the world population is now put at no more than 15,000.
Male humpbacks sing the longest and most complex songs of any animal.
They also swim in a spiral beneath a shoal, expelling air from their blowholes to form a net of bubbles up to 45 m across. This surrounds the shoal, allowing the whale to swim up through it and swallow the fish. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.