Activists ready to risk their lives could not prevent Japan from harpooning whales in the Antarctic. But a fire that crippled the fleet’s factory ship has forced the country to cut short its annual whaling operation for the first time in 20 years. The fire aboard the 8,000-tonne Nisshin Maru two weeks ago killed a crew member and left the ship stranded in the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean. It restarted its engines last weekend and can now sail under its own power, but Japan’s Fisheries Agency said yesterday that damage to equipment would make it difficult to continue the hunt. The announcement was greeted with glee by anti-whaling groups, including Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd, which had been stalking the fleet before the fire and trying to disrupt its activities. Japan suffered the indignity of a Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza, offering to tow the Nisshin Maru out of the area. It declined the offer. Takahide Naruko, head of the agency’s Far Seas Division, said: ‘This is the first time in 20 years that we’ve had to cancel our research. We are very disappointed.’ Commercial whaling has been banned since 1986, but Japan has continued to hunt […]