JAPANESE whalers have radically changed their plans this summer, doubling the area of the Southern Ocean in which they say they may hunt.The change, notified to the International Whaling Commission, will make it more difficult for anti-whaling activists to find the whalers. Japan's self-awarded scientific permit for 2010-11 gives the whaling fleet millions of square kilometres of ocean south of Australia in which to hunt, as well as south of New Zealand.
In previous seasons, the fleet has alternated between these two areas. Until the notification was given to the commission's secretariat in Britain, it was thought to be the turn of New Zealand, whose authorities would be mainly responsible for search and rescue, monitoring and surveillance.
The Greens leader, Bob Brown, said the shift made it imperative for Australian authorities to watch the hunt, at least through aerial surveillance.
''I will be talking to the Japanese ambassador in Canberra and offering the opinion that this is criminal behaviour in the Australian Antarctic Territory,'' Senator Brown said.
The Environment Minister, Tony Burke, said there had been no decision to send a monitoring vessel south this season, and there were adequate international protocols to fulfil search-and-rescue obligations.
The permit confirms that a four-ship fleet plans to take up to 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales this summer. Humpbacks also have been included, but Japan told the commission it would continue to suspend this catch ''as long as progress is being made in the discussions on the future of the IWC''.
These talks stalled at the commission's annual meeting in Morocco last June, and no further talks have been scheduled.
Greenpeace's international whales campaign co-ordinator, John Frizell, said the fleet's size had been reduced for the second year, and the season shortened by one month.
''Whatever they are doing, it is not business as usual, and I suspect it is being driven largely by the fact that sales of whale meat in Japan are poor and that they need to cut operating costs,'' he said.
The marine conservation organisation Sea Shepherd has three ships preparing to search for the fleet, which it is believed will arrive in Antarctic waters in about a week.
Sea Shepherd's founder, Paul Watson, said: ''The wider area will of course make it more difficult for us to find the whaling fleet, and this new special permit has Japan thumbing their noses at both Australia and New Zealand.''
Sydney Morning Herald