Bloody whale hunt off Japan 'shocks tourists'

Whale watching tourists have encountered hunters in waters off northern Japan and witnessed the bloody killing of a Baird's Beaked Whale.

Some 20 tourists on board the whale watching ship Evergreen, some of them foreigners, saw the hunt yesterday off the eastern coast of Hokkaido island, touching Okhotsk Sea, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper reported.

The crew on Evergreen initially noticed a whaling ship and sprays from a whale's blowhole about 3.5 km from them, the newspaper said, citing a Japanese whale watching guide.

When Evergreen approached within about 100 metres of the whaling ship, the tourists saw a harpoon shot into a Baird's Beaked Whale, according to the guide.

Two other whale watching ships were also in the area, and the hunt sickened a few tourists and shocked children, the guide said.

Baird's Beaked Whale is not considered to be endangered.

"Our job is to show whales, and their job is to hunt. But can we do something about this situation?" the Evergreen's captain told the newspaper.

The whaling ship has asked local authorities to warn tourism vessels that they have been getting too close to the whaling ship and operating dangerously, the paper said.

From news.com.au

http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,23483,22313613-27977,00.html

Contributed by Tim Hochgrebe added 2007-08-27