Damaged Japan whaling ship arrives home

TOKYO, March 23 (Reuters) - Japan's main whaling ship limped into port on Friday with a haul of 508 whales after an Antarctic hunt marked by confrontations with environmentalists and cut short by a fatal fire.

The blaze aboard the Nisshin Maru, the 8,000-tonne flagship of Japan's whaling fleet, killed one crew member, crippled the ship and raised fears at one point that oil or chemicals could spill into the Southern Ocean, close to the world's biggest Adelie penguin breeding colony.

Japan's whaling is a focus for protests by environmental groups, who say it is cruel and violates a 1986 global ban on commercial whaling.

It was the first time in 20 years that Japan was forced to shorten its Antarctic whaling expedition, and its fleet took 505 minke whales and three fin whales instead of a planned 850 minkes and 10 fin whales.

Plans for the rest of the year, including whether the ship can return to service for next season's hunt, have yet to be determined, a Fisheries Agency official said.

"Everything depends on the results of our inspections of the ship, but the fact that it returned all the way to Japan on its own suggests there aren't major machinery problems," he said.

Japan began what it calls "scientific research whaling" in 1987. The meat from the whales it catches ends up on supermarket shelves and restaurant tables, although it is far from a daily menu choice for most Japanese.

Environmental group Greenpeace criticised Japan's whaling, saying it had not learned anything about whale populations with its activities.

"The Japanese people have spent 18 years and millions of yen funding a so-called research programme that has produced nothing of substance," said Junichi Sato, Greenpeace Japan whale campaign coordinator.

This season's hunt was marked by several violent clashes with anti-whaling activists, including one in which acid was poured onto the decks of the Nisshin Maru, slightly injuring two crew members, and another in which protest vessels collided with another ship.

After the fire broke out, Greenpeace offered to tow the stricken Nisshin Maru with its anti-whaling ship, Esperanza, but Japan declined, saying it could get help from nearby Japanese vessels if necessary.

The Esperanza is set to arrive in Tokyo on March 28, where Greenpeace will invite officials from the Fisheries Agency and the Institute for Cetacean Research on board.

Japan, which says whaling is a cultural tradition, has expressed increasing frustration with the International Whaling Commission in recent years.

Last month it hosted a special meeting of the commission aimed at shifting its focus to whale management and away from the whaling ban and repeated a threat to leave the group if changes were not made within months.
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