Japan's whale hunt could be over, say Sea Shepherd leaders

SEA Shepherd believes Japan may have ended its annual whale hunt after its smallest ever catch.

THE Japanese whaling fleet is heading north, prompting hopes of an early end to the whaling season.

Sea Shepherd Australia director Bob Brown said the whalers were now well out of Australia’s whale sanctuary and he was hopeful, although not certain, it signalled the end of the whaling season.

“It’s been steering north for two days now and has moved out of the whale sanctuary,’’ Dr Brown said today from Tasmania.

“Both groups are being followed by our ships.

“The whales themselves are beginning to migrate and the plankton is rapidly diminishing. It’s very, very good news, but not absolute yet.’’

"Is whaling over for the season? We are not positive but we are 80 per cent sure that it may be over," Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson said in a statement posted on the group's website.

Sea Shepherd has been chasing the Japanese fleet since it arrived in the Southern Ocean on January 28.

The season would usually end this month.

Dr Brown said he believed the number of whales killed by Japanese whalers this season was well short of 100, which could make it the lowest in nearly 200 years with the exception of the world wars.

Mr Watson believes the fleet managed to kill no more than 75 whales, dramatically below both its target and last year's catch.

"Although Operation Zero Tolerance did not realise zero kills, this campaign will see the lowest take by the Japanese whaling fleet in the entire history of their Antarctic whale hunts," he said.

Barring an early decision by the International Court of Justice, the whalers are expected to be back at work in December.

Even if that court case by Australia begins in a few months as tipped, a decision is not likely until next year.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society then Sea Shepherd Australia have been trying to hinder the Japanese Antarctic season, provoking criticism by both sides of dangerous manoeuvring.

Japan insists its whaling is for scientific purposes, which would make it allowable under international convention.

Japan hunts whales every year under a loophole in a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling that allows lethal scientific research.

Japan defends its hunts as part of its culture but anti-whaling countries such as Australia and New Zealand have sought an end to the practice.

Comment is being sought from Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research.