According to news reports in Japan last week, there will be a 20% reduction in the number of whales targeted in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary hunt this year - the first reduction since 1987.
The report in Asahi Shinbum cites lack of demand for whale meat, pressure from protests at sea and the continued opposition from Europe and Australia as reasons for the reduction in the minke whale quota from 945 minke whales to 750. The quota of 50 endangered fin whales remains unchanged.
"We are seeing the beginning of the end of whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary," said Sara Holden, Greenpeace international whales campaigner "If these reports are true we congratulate the Japanese government for making this first step, but they can and must go further and we will not stop until the quota is zero."
The news follows hard on the heels of Greenpeace revelations that the industry has been unable to crew this year's voyage with an all-Japanese crew for the first time, that the traditional ceremony seeing the fleet off from Shimonoseki has been cancelled, and that 'Yushin,' the flagship whale meat shop and restaurant in Asakusa, Tokyo, will close shop in 2010 due to ongoing financial problems.
