As sure as every crowd has a pilfer lining, every crowd has one of silver. While the quake off the northeast coast of Japan has already racked up a death toll in the thousands, there may still be some good news. Sources have suggested that the Japanese whaling fleet may have suffered serious, permanent damage from the resulting tsunami.

NOTE: Thanks to all the readers and commenters. This story, while satirical in nature, is designed to raise awareness of the illegal slaughter of whales by the Japanese fleets. The tsunami did damage the whaling industry, and destroy a shark fin town (thanks to Johnny for the link. Please visit WorldAgainstWhaling.org to spread the message and get involved. Suggest additional links in the comments.

Due to interference from the Sea Shepherd Foundation, the Japanese whaling fleet was forced to call off their annual whale hunt early. Those whaling ships, sent back to port, returned to the northeast coast of Japan mere days before the tsunami devastated many of the vessels docked.

According to one report, two of the vessels have capsized, with significant damage to a third. There are no reports of fatalities, as the ships were moored at the time.

One vessel, The Yellow Gull, is believed to be a total loss.

“While we regret the damages and great losses suffered, we understand that sometimes these things happen for good reasons,” said local resident Migawi Hoshigawa. Adding, “the whale hunt is something only acceptable in times of history, it should already be a thing of the past.”

While this event may not dismantle the whaling industry, it will certainly cause financial difficuly to an already strained industry.

“Very few [consumers] purchase whale meat,” said Shigatoshi Usan, a seafood wholesaler from Kyoto, “much of [the product] for sale in markets has been frozen since 1995 or before.”

Jason X, a representative for an ecological group who requested we not use his real name, said that “though this is by no means the nail in the coffin we’ve been hoping for, it’s at least tapping on that nail, and we’ll take whatever we can get at this point.”