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TOKYO - Japan is set to abandon whale-hunting in the Antarctic for this season after its main whaling ship was crippled by a fire two weeks ago, public broadcaster NHK said on Wednesday.
The Nisshin Maru, the 8000 tonne flagship of Japan's whaling fleet, re-started its engines at the weekend after being stranded in the Southern Ocean waters since the fire, which killed a crewman.
A Japanese Fisheries Ministry official said on Wednesday he had no information on any planned withdrawal of the fleet from the area.
Japan's whale hunt, which Tokyo says is conducted for research purposes, had aimed to catch more than 900 whales.
The hunt has come under increasing pressure from environmental groups, which say it is cruel and violates a 1986 global ban on commercial whaling. The meat ends up in restaurants and on supermarket shelves.
The fire aboard the Nisshin Maru had also sparked concern that oil or chemicals could spill into the Southern Ocean, close to the world's biggest Adelie penguin breeding colony.
- REUTERS
