Terri Irwin to Launch Whale Research

SYDNEY, Australia — The widow of TV "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin announced Thursday she will launch non-lethal research of whales in Antarctic waters next year in hopes of showing that Japan's scientific whale kill is a sham.

Tokyo has staunchly defended its annual cull of more than 1,000 whales as crucial for research, saying it is necessary to kill the whales to properly gather information about their eating, breeding and migratory habits.

Environmentalists and anti-whaling nations say the slaughter is commercial whaling in disguise, because much of the meat from the whales ends up being sold commercially.

Terri Irwin said that a whale watching program she started to honor her late husband would expand into scientific research in 2008. Steve Irwin, the high-profile wildlife show host and environmental campaigner, was killed by a stingray last year off Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

"We are working with Oregon State University to do formalized research in the southern hemisphere," Terri Irwin told the Nine Network television. "We can actually learn everything the Japanese are learning with lethal research by using non-lethal research."

Japan's whaling fleet is run by a government-backed research institute and operates under a clause in International Whaling Commission rules that allows whales to be killed for scientific purposes.

Japan had planned to kill up to 50 endangered humpback whales this season, but backed away from the plan in the face of strong international condemnation.

"We are determined to show the Japanese they can stop all whaling, not just humpbacks," Irwin said.

Further details of Irwin's planned research program were not immediately available.

Earlier this month, Irwin threw her support behind a radical conservation group that has vowed to disrupt Japan's annual whale hunt, allowing the U.S.-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to rename one of its flagship vessels after her late husband.

Sea Shepherd has come under heavy criticism in recent years for engaging in violent tussles with the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctic waters.

Japan halts humpback whale hunt

Tokyo still plans to kill nearly 1,000 whales, mostly of the minke variety [EPA] Japan has dropped a plan to kill humpback whales following strong protests led by Australia.   "Japan will not hunt humpback whales," Nobutaka Machimura, Japan's chief government spokesman, said on Friday.   "It's true that Australia expressed quite a strong opinion to Japan on this," he said. bodyVariable350="Htmlphcontrol1_lblError"; "As a result, I hope that this will lead to better relations with Australia."   Japan had planned to harpoon around 50 humpbacks on its current expedition - the first time since the 1960s that Tokyo would have hunted the species, which are popular with Australian whale-watchers. bodyVariable300="Htmlphcontrol2_lblError"; Antarctic expedition   Tokyo, however, is still going ahead with its expedition in the Antarctic, planning to kill nearly 1,000 other whales, mostly of the smaller minke species.    Machimura said Japan and Australia had cultural differences over whales but that Tokyo hoped to preserve relations with Canberra, where the new left-leaning government has stepped up pressure against the hunt.    "Australians consider whales to be very affectionate, something I can't really relate to. But apparently they give names to every whale and there's quite strong public sentiment," Machimura said.    But he denied that Japan was backing down in response to Australia, saying it made its decision after talks with the head of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).    "Japan is thinking of the IWC as an organisation as a whole and that is why we decided on this, instead of particularly thinking about Australia," Machimura said.    Japan, which says whale meat is part of its culinary culture, hunts whales using a loophole in a 1986 IWC moratorium that allows "lethal research" on the giant mammals.   Welcome move   In Canberra, a spokesman for Stephen Smith, the foreign minister, said: "The Australian government welcomed Japan's announcement.     "While this is a welcome move, the Australian government strongly believes that there is no credible justification for the hunting of any whales and will vigorously pursue its efforts ... to see an end to whaling by Japan," he said.     Meanwhile, the Australian embassy in Tokyo said it, along with other embassies, would deliver a document on whaling to Japan's foreign ministry on Friday.   The embassy has declined to disclose the contents of the document or say how many other countries were involved.     While the whales are killed for "scientific purposes", their meat ends up in Japanese supermarkets and restaurants, although the public appetite for what is now a delicacy is waning.     Some experts say Japan fears that limits on whaling will lead to limits on all Japanese fishing. Others argue the whaling campaign is a form of nationalist diplomacy.