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(STANDARD) 11月 14日 星期三 05:30AM

The world’s only known white humpback whale could be slaughtered as Japan’s whaling fleet prepares to embark on its annual hunt in the Southern Ocean, Australians fear The male whale, named Migaloo - an Aboriginal word for “white fella” - has become a celebrity in Australia since first being seen in 1991. Each year, Migaloo - along with thousands of other humpbacks - migrates from the seas of Antarctica to the warm shallows of the South Pacific and the Great Barrier Reef. A few months later, the females leading their newly born calves, return to Antarctica.

Conservationists fear 14-meter-long Migaloo is so accustomed to whale watching and fishing boats, that he will be easy pickings for Japanese hunters.

With the southern hemisphere summer approaching, the Japanese whaling fleet is preparing to leave port within days. It refuses to say exactly when, but has declared that for the first time it will kill 50 humpbacks, as well as 50 fin whales and hundreds of minke whales.

The Japanese argue that the international ban on whale hunting means fin and humpback whales have recovered to sufficient levels that they can now withstand being harpooned again.

The Fisheries Agency in Tokyo refused to rule out killing Migaloo yesterday, with officials offering a blunt “no comment” to media inquiries.

Instead, the agency called on Australia and New Zealand to ensure that the Japanese fleet would be protected from anti-whaling ships operated by a militant environmental group, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Last year, Sea Shepherd threatened to ram the Japanese fleet with a ship fitted with a bulldozer-type blade.

The group has been branded environmental terrorists by Tokyo.

But the society says the law is on its side because whale hunting was illegal.

Japan uses a loophole in International Whaling Commission laws to hunt around 1,000 whales each year in the southern hemisphere, ostensibly for the purposes of scientific research.

Scientists are uncertain whether Migaloo is a true albino, or simply has white pigmentation.