Japan resumes commercial whaling

ON JULY 1st, to the fury of conservationists around the world, Japanese whalers landed their first commercial kill for more than 30 years, a minke whale (pictured above). In 1986 the countries of the International Whaling Commission, of which Japan was one, had agreed to a moratorium on whaling. This allowed the animals to recover to sustainable numbers after several species had been driven to the brink of extinction by untrammelled hunting. Exceptions were permitted, though, for indigenous grou...