A Japanese wailing fleet returns home from an Antarctic hunt with more than 300 Minky whales. The whalers said sail in December, despite international opposition, particularly from Australia and New Zealand, and despite a worldwide moratorium on commercial wailing. The 115-day hunt was Japan's first in the Antarctic since the International Court of Justice ruled that the hunt was not for scientific purposes and must stop. A 1986 International Band on commercial wailing exempts wailing for scientific research, which is what Tokyo claimed it was doing. Japan says it's trying to prove that the whale population is big enough to sustain commercial hunting. But critics of Japan's hunt argue that that's just a cover because the surplus is sold. Despite objections, Japan's fleet returned on March 24, saying it met its quota of 333 whales.