Halt whale protesters' port calls: Japan

Japan said on Tuesday it would ask Australia and other nations to refuse port calls for refuelling by anti-whaling activists who have been dogging its whaling fleet in the Antarctic.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which has tailed the whalers for two weeks, said on Saturday it had to head to shore due to dwindling fuel supplies.

"We are seeking every possible way for Australia, New Zealand and other countries concerned to cooperate in preventing their sabotage," said Shigeki Takaya, an official with Japan's Fisheries Agency.

"One effective measure is to ask the countries to prevent the ship from entering their ports for refuelling or to prevent it from departing," Takaya told AFP.

Australia and New Zealand strongly oppose Japan's annual whale hunt but have been unable to stop it. Whaling has soured the relationship between Australia and Japan, long-time allies.

A Japanese foreign ministry official refrained from clarifying what action Tokyo has taken to stop Sea Shepherd's port call, saying: "We cannot put all of our cards on the table.

"But their pirate-like actions are extremely regrettable," said the foreign ministry official, who declined to be named.

"We have asked through diplomatic channels for cooperation with countries concerned to prevent their violence and we will do so in the future, too," the official said.

Sea Shepherd has chased the Japanese whalers for five seasons, sometimes hurling projectiles at them, and claims to have saved hundreds of the ocean giants last year.

Japan uses a loophole in an international moratorium on whaling that allows "lethal research" on whales. It makes no secret of the fact that the meat ends up on dinner tables and says whaling is a cultural tradition.

In a statement on Monday, Sea Shepherd lashed out at Japan for suggesting that the US-based group was made up of terrorists.

"These nameless, faceless men who terrorise the gentle whales would have the world believe that they and not the whales are the victims," a statement from Sea Shepherd said.

"These men who kill the whales and the bureaucrats in Japan who support them are an embarrassment to the traditions and the values of the Japanese people."