NEW TWIST IN JAPAN'S WHALING DUPLICITY

It has been widely acknowledged that Japan carries two types of minke whale stocks:
1) the O-stock, which is hunted under the IWC loophole of "scientifc and research" whaling;
2) the J-stock, which is substantially depleted and has been protected since 1986 but continues to be killed as "bycatch."

A new study now finds that Japan slaughters just as many J-stock whales as they do the O-stock. Much of this bycatch is unregulated and goes unreported. Using DNA testing, green activists have also matched meat from the hunts with that sold and served in markets and restaurants, even though Japan has consistently maintained it does not hunt whales for commercial purposes.

ICELAND RECORDS LARGEST COMMERCIAL WHALE HUNT

According to the the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, Iceland killed at least 93 endangered fin whales this summer. Fin whales are second to blues in size and are still only now slowly recovering from the unregulated yester-years of whaling. Along with the 63 minke whales that Iceland slaughtered during the same period, this total represents the biggest commercial whale hunt the North Atlantic has seen in several decades.