Japan will halt its Antarctic whaling mission for the rest of this season because of harassment by environmentalists on the high seas, farm and fisheries minister Michihiko Kano says.
Activists from the US-based militant environmental group the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society have pursued the Japanese fleet for months to stop its harpoon ships from killing the giant sea mammals.
The fisheries minister on Friday said Japan will call its harpoon ships home "to ensure the safety of the whaling crew amid the continuing harassment by anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd," said public broadcaster NHK.
Jiji Press news agency quoted Kano as saying about the factory ship the Nisshin Maru: "Even now the mothership is being chased, and it is difficult to ensure the safety of the crew members."
Japan kills hundreds of whales a year under a loophole in a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling that allows "lethal research".
The government has long defended the practice as part of the island-nation's culture and makes no secret of the fact that the meat ends up in restaurants.
Anti-whaling nations, led by Australia and New Zealand, and environmental groups call the hunts cruel and unnecessary.
Greenpeace has long argued the state-financed whale hunts are a waste of taxpayers' money, producing excess stockpiles of whale meat.
Sea Shepherd activists have harassed whalers in recent years, moving their ships and their inflatable and speed boats between the harpoon vessels and the sea mammals, and throwing stink and paint bombs at the whaling ships.
Japan's Fisheries Agency said Wednesday it had suspended operations since February 10 and was considering recalling the fleet a month before its usual return in mid-March.
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