Japan whale hunting: 'By-catch' rule highlighted after minke death By Flora Drury image captionThe whale initially became trapped in the fishermen's nets but was later killed A video showing the final, brutal 20 minutes of a minke whale's life at the hands of Japanese fishermen sent a ripple of shock through international media. But activists says the footage of the whale being slowly drowned, after becoming trapped in their nets, has merely highlighted an entirely legal loophole which is used to kill dozens of whales each year. "This is neither an exceptional nor unexpected occurrence," Mark Simmonds, senior marine scientist at Humane Society International (HSI), said in a release after the whale's death.