SHIMONOSEKI, Japan — A Japanese whaling fleet sailing toward waters off Antarctica to kill protected humpback whales was itself the target of a hunt Monday by environmental activists who vowed to disrupt the expedition. Greenpeace said its protest ship Esperanza was searching for the fleet south of Japanese territorial waters and would shadow the ships to the South Pacific to try to reduce their catch. ‘It’s a large ocean, but we’re going to track them down,’ expedition member Dave Walsh told The Associated Press by telephone Monday. The Japanese fleet was embarking on the country’s largest whaling expedition, targeting protected humpbacks for the first time since the 1960s. In a farewell ceremony Sunday for the four-ship expedition, officials told a crowd at the southern Japanese port of Shimonoseki that Japan should preserve its whale-eating culture. ‘They’re violent environmental terrorists,’ mission leader Hajime Ishikawa said. ‘Their violence is unforgivable … We must fight against their hypocrisy and lies.’ Families waved little flags emblazoned with smiling whales and the crew raised a toast with cans of beer, while a brass band played ‘Popeye the Sailor Man.’ The whalers plan to kill up to 50 humpbacks in […]