Boats I: One more chance?

So, Japan's whaling fleet is giving up for the season and heading home early from the Antarctic. A fatal fire aboard their big factory ship a couple of weeks ago has put an early end to their plan to "harvest" 860 whales (according to the AP) or maybe 945 whales (according to Greenpeace). The Nisshin Maru and the rest of her fleet have returned north of 60° (south) latitude, having only killed 508 whales this season. If they really felt bad about leaving those other 352 (437?) whales alive, I suppose they could have just dumped all the fuel oil from the damaged ship. That would've killed at least a few more whales, anyway. The crew of the Esperanza, the Greenpeace escort ship, have been keeping their own blog during their voyage south. Besides all the eyewitness news on the whale hunt, there are some great photos of the southern ocean and its sea life.