AussieWhales

Japan kills more than 1,000 whales a year in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary near Antarctica using a loophole in the international moratorium for a ban on whaling that allows catching whales for so called "research" purposes.

This year Japan is planning on expanding the catch to include 50 humpback whales, which are considered "endangered" in some regions of the world. The Japanese expedition also plans to kill 50 endangered fin whales - the world's second largest animal after blue whales - as well as 850 smaller minke whales.

Japan is singled out as it is the only country to have breached the:

- United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,

- United Nations Charter on Nature,

- The Antarctic Treaty System,

- The Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES) and

- The International Convention on the Regulation of
Whaling

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