Whale attacks and kills Japanese fisherman (Video)

A shocking video from Japanese TV news:

TOKYO, March 13 (Reuters) – A Japanese fisherman drowned on Tuesday after a whale he was trying to rescue capsized his small fishing boat, a coastguard official said.

Three fishermen tried to rescue the sperm whale, about 10-metre (yard) long, after it strayed into a bay off the southwestern island of Shikoku, about 800 km (500 miles) southwest of Tokyo.

But the panicked creature turned on them and struck the vessel, the coastguard official said.

A 58-year-old fisherman drowned while two other fishermen were rescued, he added.

Update: It has been reported that the whale has left the coastal area and returned to the open ocean.

16 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - March 15, 2007 at 6:49 am

Categories: General Japan, Japanese TV Tags:

http://whatjapanthinks.com Ken Y-N

Would have been safer making it into whale sushi.
kenji

lol. well they dont use sperm whales for sushi do they? thought it was some other species. cuz i thought the sperm whale was hella endangered. anyway condolences go out to that fisherman. he was jus tryin to help…poor guy.
http://david-in-tokyo.blogspot.com david@tokyo

Sperm whales endangered?

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/cetaceans/spermwhale.htm

“The best estimate, that there are between 200,000 and 1,500,000 sperm whales, is based on extrapolations from only a few areas that have useful estimates.”

Despite this, the US still classifies the species as “Endangered” anyway, and permits hunting of other species that are accurately known to number only 8,200 – 13,500.

That’s the USA for you.
Pingback: whales 1: Japan 0 « raincoaster
http://www.transpacificradio.com/2007/02/03/enoki/ Garrett

I’m a little confused. They were banging on iron bars in the water, which is done when hunting to disorient whales by screwing with their sonar. Why would they disorient it when rescuing it? Were they really going to try to tow it out?

(different) James

Maybe by “rescue” they meant “fillet” ha ha

http://david-in-tokyo.blogspot.com david@tokyo

Garrett,

http://www.e-kujira.or.jp/zasyou/zasyou4-4_4-5.html#4_4

Dunno whether you read Japanese or not, but the manual above explicitly recommends using such noise to attempt to persuade the whale to go back out to sea, noting that the noise making should be positioned on exactly the reverse side of the whale to the open sea to which the rescuers want to drive it.

I imagine the opposite position is employed when hunting.

The manual also mentions using rope to tow the cetaceans out if required, but says that for larger whales this is not possible and there is nothing to do but leave the whale as it is.

In this instance they risked their lives to try to tow it back out to sea anyway. I guess we’ll be hearing more about the reasoning for the judgments that they made.
Pingback: Nature: 1, Japan: 0 - Whale Attacks Fisherman, Flips Boat at TV in Japan
Ken

Sperm whale is usually living in the deep sea.
Coming to this shallow sea is the proof that the whale would be overcrowded.
The part close to the caudal fin used to be the most expensive meat.
Robyn

Yay for whales! Revenge is sweet
Ken

Robyn,

You do not have human heart, do you?
You are same with the terrolists who were pleased to hear non-related people’s death at the 9.11 or the Koreans who congratulated innocent people’s deat at the earthquake in Japan.
WujouMao

Erm ken, i agree with Robyn. what sort of guy whould go for a huge sea creature like that with a boat as flimsy as a rubber raft.

ok, i do have a heart, and i feel sorry for the japanese family, but its jus not really using your common sense is it. the poor animal was most likly confused to where it was, and jus panicked
Ken

WujouMao,

The whale had gone aground.
It must have died if they did not pull out.
You say it is better, don’t you?
So, you do have a heart but not of human.
WujouMao

mate… i understand why they have done it, i love nature, but wouldnt a larger ship with a cargo net be safer?
Ken

Those who do not blame Robyn are not my mate.
amaunator

Ken, you are an awesome troll!

Whale attacks and kills Japanese fisherman (Video)

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