New rules for safe shipping may save the whales
This might be the best news for the whales this year! Andrew Darby in Hobart July 18, 2009 THE world's only factory whaling ship may be driven from the Antarctic by tighter regulations. The Nisshin Maru is vital to the operations of the Japanese whaling fleet, but it will run foul of new rules imposed by the United Nations' International Maritime Organisation, an investigation by the Herald has found. The ship will fall foul of three new measures that will apply in Antarctic waters: the heavy fuel oil it uses will be banned; its hull-strength and safety will fail new requirements; and its annual dumping of thousands of tonnes of offal at sea will be rejected in the global nature reserve. The regulations were backed by the Antarctic Treaty System after a series of accidents involving tourism cruise ships, including the sinking of the MS Explorer. They pose a dilemma for Japan, one of the world's largest and most law-abiding shipping nations, and threaten to make the operatio