Japanese testing new whale killing 'warhead'

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http://www.cdnn.info/news/eco/e060130a.html

 

Japanese testing new whale killing 'warhead'

 

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by JONATHAN LEAKE and JULIAN RYALL

 

TOKYO, Japan (30 Jan 2006) -- Japanese whalers are

testing a high-tech fragmentation harpoon, equipped

with an enlarged charge of high explosive, to help to

slaughter endangered whales in the seas around

Antarctica.

 

The device is being used to kill humpback and fin

whales, after Japan's unilateral decision to break

with an international consensus to protect them.

 

The revelation comes just a week after Britain was

held spellbound by attempts to rescue a bottlenose

whale that became disoriented in the Thames. It died

of dehydration.

 

The explosive harpoons hurl shards of metal through

the whale's body to sever major nerves and blood

vessels and so cause rapid death.

 

Experts from Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research

are aboard the whaling fleet of eight catcher boats

plus support vessels to determine the effectiveness of

the super-harpoon.

 

Masayuki Komatsu, executive director of the Japan

Fisheries Research Agency, said that standard

harpoons, used to kill minke whales, could not ensure

a swift death for larger whales.

 

" Because new species have been added to the research

project this year which are larger than a minke whale,

we thought we would need a bigger grenade on the end

of the harpoon to ensure the killing is

instantaneous, " he said.

 

The move has infuriated Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd, a

more radical group, which regard it as a step towards

the resumption of commercial whaling.

 

To international condemnation, Japan announced last

year that its whaling fleet would kill up to 50

endangered humpback whales and 50 fin whales, along

with the 935 minke whales that it would catch within

the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary around Antarctica

this season. Tokyo does not recognise the sanctuary.

 

" This is commercial whaling in disguise, not a

scientific programme, " said Mizuki Kitana, a

spoksewoman for Greenpeace Japan in Tokyo. " When the

ships return to Japan, the meat will go straight to

market even though most people in Japan never eat

whale.

 

" The fisheries agency already has plenty of whale meat

in stock and it's clear they are trying to expand the

market and get more whale back on menus, " she said.

 

The new weapon uses a " warhead " redesigned to

penetrate the thickest layers of skin, blubber and

bone. The body of the harpoon has also been

redesigned, using research from battlefield weapons,

so that it shatters into sharper fragments.

 

" This is the new, advanced version of the harpoon

grenade and a big improvement on previous versions, "

said Shigeko Misaki, an author who specialises in

whaling issues and was until recently an official of

the Japan Whaling Association.

 

" If the grenades that used to be fired missed the

target they just prolonged the whale's death, so this

grenade is a far more humane method, " she said.

 

However, the environmental groups monitoring the fleet

say that the harpoons do not always work as intended

so the animals can take a long time to die.

 

" Our campaigners have watched the harpooners in action

and say that death is seldom instantaneous, " said

Kitana.

 

According to the International Whaling Commission, it

can take up to 14 minutes for a whale that has had a

grenade explode inside its body to die.

 

Mortally wounded whales used to be electrocuted via

another harpoon fired into the body that would shock

the heart, but this method was outlawed by the

International Whaling Commission in 2001.

 

Nowadays, whales that do not die immediately are

supposed to be shot in the head with large-calibre

rifles. However, according to Greenpeace campaigners

who witnessed such incidents, some are dragged

backwards until they drown.

 

Source - Reuters