After five months at sea, the "Nisshin Maru" arrived in Japan this week having taken 551 whales from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary - around half the number planned. However, Greenpeace says that this is 551 too many.
The whale hunt in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is over for another year with a final tally of 551 whales dying for what Greenpeace says is the sake of fake and discredited research.
Although the number of whales taken was just over half the number the whalers had hoped, it is still over 100 whales more than the whalers took just three years ago.
The whale hunt was disrupted for 15 days during the height of the southern summer when Greenpeace's ship the "Esperanza" chased the "Nisshin Maru" across 4,300 miles of the whale sanctuary, shutting down the whole whaling operation for the entirety of the chase.
