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Japan's hunt for whales

Japanese ships are in Antarctic waters hunting whales. They say it's for scientific research but the International Court of Justice disagrees.

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The story

From a BBC report on 1st December 2015:

Japan's whaling fleet has set sail this morning for the Antarctic with a plan to kill hundreds of whales. A year ago, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that Japan's so-called scientific whaling programme is neither scientific nor legal.

Report from the BBC's correspondent in Japan, Rupert Wingfield-Hayes

This morning, the eight thousand tonne Nishi Maru and three smaller harpoon ships slipped out of the port of Shimono Seki and headed south. Over the next three months, the fleet will hunt and kill up to 333 minke whales in Antarctic waters. The Japanese government says it's all in the pursuit of science. But that is directly contradicted by last year's ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The judges there ruled that it is not necessary for Japan to kill whales in order to study them.

Key words and phrases

fleet
group of vehicles brought together for a particular purpose

Japan whaling fleet/Japanese whaling fleet/Japan's whaling fleet
three different ways to describe nationality in news headlines

in the pursuit of
tells us the reason why we are doing something

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