By: RTSea,While Japan's last season of whaling was cut short, in part due to the at-sea harassment efforts of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, it appears that the island nation is planning a return this winter. Here is a report from CNN: "(CNN) -- Japan says it will hunt whales in the Southern Ocean this winter and will send a Fisheries Agency ship to guard its whalers against promised intervention by a conservation group. "The Fisheries Agency will send a patrol boat and take increased measures to strengthen the protection given to the research whaling ships," Fisheries Minister Michihiko Kano said at a news conference Tuesday. At its annual meeting in July, theInternational Whaling Commissionpassed a resolution calling on its member countries "to cooperate to prevent and suppress actions that risk human life and property at sea." Last winter, Japan cut short its planned December-to-April hunt by two months after anti-whaling activists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society repeatedly interfered with the whaling vessels. Sea Shepherd claims it saved 800 whales by its actions during last season's hunt. Japanese whalers killed 171 minke whales and two fin whales during the Antarctic hunt, according to IWC figures.Read Full: Japan's Whaling Defiance: whalers prepare to head to Antarctic waters again
