Japan to drop humpback whale hunt

Japan has suspended its first humpback whale hunt in seas off Antarctica since the 1960s, backing down in an escalating international battle over the expansion of its hunt.

Japan dropped the planned taking of 50 humpbacks, which have been off-limits to commercial hunting since 1966 at the behest of the United States, the chair of the International Whaling Commission, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura. The government has decided to suspend hunts of humpback whales while talks to normalize IWC are taking place. Japan dispatched its whaling fleet last month to the southern Pacific in the first major hunt of humpback whales since the 1960s, generating widespread criticism. Japanese whaling officials said Friday they had not harpooned any humpbacks yet.

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