The word "whale" is correct and usable in written English
You can use it to refer to the enormous ocean-dwelling mammals, or in figurative language to mean something large. Example sentence: The company bought a whale of a yacht for their summer vacation.
The whaling fleet would collect "data necessary to calculate the number of whale catch allowed" after the eventual resumption of commercial whaling and "construct a model of the Antarctic Ocean ecosystem," Agence France-Presse quoted an agency official as saying.
Japanese officials declined to comment on specifics ahead of the ruling, but a fisheries agency official said it maintained the view that "Japan's whaling is purely for the purposes of obtaining scientific data, so that whale resources can be sustainably maintained".
A Japanese official told AFP: "Japan's whaling is purely for the purposes of obtaining scientific data, so that whale resources can be sustainably maintained".
What will today's decision mean for these whale hunts being carried out on our own doorstep?
Vilove4 For whale watching trips from June to December, head to Puerto Madryn, where the warmer waters of the Golfo San José attract more species.
You will hear whale song and see them breech, fluke and nurse their babies – who themselves are often very curious about humans.
Across the two areas are about a million pairs of Adélie penguins, more than a dozen species of whale, more than a third of the world's population of emperor penguins, abundant krill and fish species and the Ross Sea region's top predator – the toothfish, which can grow to two metres weighing 200 kilos (they've evolved special anti-freeze like proteins to survive in the frigid waters).
It turned out to be his white whale; as he hunted it and obsessed about destroying it, it eluded him and succeeded.
A private 15-day tour of the Atacama, Huasco coast (for whale-watching), Santiago and Valparaiso, including accommodation, activities, some meals and internal but not international flights, starts from £1,985pp.
There are infinity pools, a private chef to whip up the day's lobster catch and Ugo de Castro, the manager, can set up fishing, whale-watching, yoga or surfing classes.
Scattered across the Atlantic Ocean almost 900 miles off the coast of Portugal, the nine volcanic islands of the Azores are a remote haven boasting amazing wildlife (whale-watching's among the best in the world) and lush, unspoilt landscapes fringed by dramatic black sand beaches.
