Following a sustained pursuit by activists from the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd, the whalers have had their kills slashed at a time when financial demands are tightening in Tokyo and diplomatic pressure is rising.
The sudden shift has raised hopes that Japan may be moving to end its 23-year program, which has killed about 10,000 Antarctic whales.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare said government sources had told it Japan had decided to cut short the season and bring the fleet back to port.
''Under pressure from all fronts, the Japanese whaling fleet is apparently withdrawing early this season from the internationally recognised sanctuary around Antarctica,'' said the fund's global whales campaign director, Patrick Ramage. ''We hope this is a first sign of Japanese government decision-makers recognising there is no future for whaling.''
An official from the Fisheries Agency of Japan, Tatsuya Nakaoku, told Reuters in Tokyo yesterday that putting safety as a priority, the fleet had called a halt to whaling for now.''We are currently considering what to do hereafter,'' he said. When asked if Japan was considering bringing back the fleet earlier than planned, Mr Nakaoku said this was an option and added that Japan's whaling plans were not going smoothly.
The director of Greenpeace Japan, Junichi Sato, said: ''When the government says it is 'considering' something, they have already decided.'' The leader of Sea Shepherd, Paul Watson, was unconvinced and said he would not relax pressure on the fleet's factory ship, the Nisshin Maru, which is about 2000 nautical miles from its whaling grounds, and still steaming away.
Rather than heading north for Japan, the Nisshin Maru, closely pursued by the Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker, was at last report running east, near the Antarctic Peninsula, and approaching Drake Passage, below South America.Mr Watson said he was concerned the Nisshin Maru might try to circumnavigate Antarctica and return to its whaling zone south-west of Western Australia.
The Chilean government said its navy would monitor the factory ship's movements. Chile has banned whaling in its waters, as well as the transport of cetacean parts through them. Nevertheless, the Nisshin Maru should be able to navigate Drake Passage without entering the Chilean exclusive economic zone. Revenue for the whaling industry is falling in Japan as whale-meat sales plummet, and key figures in the Fisheries Agency have been disgraced for allowing a black market in the meat.
In a joint statement yesterday the prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand, Julia Gillard and John Key, reaffirmed their commitment to the elimination of whaling in the Southern Ocean.
Sydney Morning Herald
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