Anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd Australia releases a new video showing collisions between one of their vessels and two Japanese ships. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).
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.
A Minke whale loaded on to the slipway of the Japanese whaling fleet's factory vessel, the Nishin Maru (left), as the Yushin Maru No. 2 (right) looks on in the Southern Ocean. AFP PHOTO / "Sea Shepherd Australia / Glenn Lockitch
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.
A photo taken by whalers shows Sea Shepherd's Bob Barker, right, colliding with the Japanese fleet fuel tanker the San Laurel off Antarctica. Picture: AFP
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.
A photo taken by conservation group Sea Shepherd shows its vessel Bob Barker sandwiched between the Japanese whaling ship Nisshin Maru, left, and the whaling fleet's fuel tanker, the San Laurel. Picture: AFP
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.
Sea Sheperd activists took vdieo of this minke whale which ahd been harpooned by one of the japanese whaling vessels on february 15. Picture: Sea Shepherd
Japanese whaling vessel Nisshin Maru, right, collides with the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin in waters near Antarctica. (AP Photo/Sea Shepherd Australia, Tim Watters)
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