KUSHIRO, Japan (NBC) – Japanese whalers returned to port Monday with their first catch after resuming commercial whaling for the first time in 31 years.
A fleet of five boats left the northern Japanese port of Kushiro earlier Monday and brought back two minke whales.
A crane lifted them and slowly placed them on the back of a truck to be taken to a portside factory for processing.
It was the first commercial hunt since 1988, when Japan switched to what it called “research whaling” after commercial whaling was banned by the International Whaling Commission.
Japan gave six months’ notice that it was withdrawing from the IWC, a move that took effect Sunday.
The resumption is condemned by many conservation groups, but others see it as a face-saving way for the embattled whaling industry to come to a natural end.
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