Whaling

A federal judge in Seattle has declined to immediately restrain the activities of a Washington state-based anti-whaling group.

The federal government has reminded Japan that its whaling vessels are not welcome in Australia's territorial waters amid claims one strayed close to Macquarie Island.

Australia is stepping up diplomatic pressure on Japan in a bid to stop this year's whale catch in the Southern Ocean.

Japan will go ahead with its whaling programme in the Antarctic later this year under heightened security to fend off activists who have vowed to disrupt the annual hunt, the country's fisheries minister says.

Plans for a whaling sanctuary in the southern Atlantic were put off by a year after Japan and other pro-whaling nations stalled talks on the proposal at the International Whaling Commission.

Japan's formal announcement today that it will halt its Antarctic whaling mission for the rest of the season may be an indication that whaling in the Antarctic is coming to an end, says a Green Party MP.

Dunedin residents are urged to put pressure on their sister city of Otaru in an effort to stop Japanese whaling.

For those who object to the continuation of whaling in the southern ocean and elsewhere but feel powerless to intervene, there is one simple way to make your feelings known.

The collapse of a meeting seeking international agreement on the future of whaling has come as no surprise to a New Zealand anti-whaling representative monitoring the talks in Morocco.

The nations that make up the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meet next week to decide whether to allow whaling in Antarctic waters for the next decade.