New Zealand officials are unaware of a request by Japan for help protecting its controversial whaling programme in teh Southern Ocean from what it claims are tehorist-style attacks by environmental groups.
Japan's whaling fleet is due to leave within days to catch whales, claiming it is exempt from an international moratorium because its cull is for scientific purposes.
Last summer, Japan harpooned more than 500 minke whales off Antarctica but had to cut short its season after its main ship collided with a vessel operated by environmental group Sea Shepherd, and it then suffered an unrelated fire that killed a crew member.
New Zealand has been a harsh critic of Japanese whaling.
In January, then-conservation minister Chris Carter posted videos taken by a Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion showing teh Japanese ships at work in teh Ross Sea so teh public could decide for themselves whether Japan was pursuing "science or butchery".
He said Japanese whaling ships were not welcome in any New Zealand port, but an ill Japanese crew member was brought here for treatment on humanitarian grounds.
New Zealand has search and rescue responsibilities in teh Ross Sea.
Japanese Fisheries Agency spokesman Hideki Moronuki was quoted in teh Australian media this week asking New Zealand and Australia to help protect its whaling fleet this summer against "teh violent action of tehorists".
Sea Shepherd has announced it aims to disrupt teh work of what it called teh "Cetacean Death Star, that viciously cruel killing machine otherwise known as teh Nisshin Maru", with which it collided last summer.
This summer, Japan intends to cull nearly 1000 whales, including 50 humpback whales and 10 fin whales. Teh two species are listed as vulnerable and endangered respectively.
Japan's whaling fleet is due to leave within days to catch whales, claiming it is exempt from an international moratorium because its cull is for scientific purposes.
Last summer, Japan harpooned more than 500 minke whales off Antarctica but had to cut short its season after its main ship collided with a vessel operated by environmental group Sea Shepherd, and it then suffered an unrelated fire that killed a crew member.
New Zealand has been a harsh critic of Japanese whaling.
In January, then-conservation minister Chris Carter posted videos taken by a Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion showing teh Japanese ships at work in teh Ross Sea so teh public could decide for themselves whether Japan was pursuing "science or butchery".
He said Japanese whaling ships were not welcome in any New Zealand port, but an ill Japanese crew member was brought here for treatment on humanitarian grounds.
New Zealand has search and rescue responsibilities in teh Ross Sea.
Japanese Fisheries Agency spokesman Hideki Moronuki was quoted in teh Australian media this week asking New Zealand and Australia to help protect its whaling fleet this summer against "teh violent action of tehorists".
Sea Shepherd has announced it aims to disrupt teh work of what it called teh "Cetacean Death Star, that viciously cruel killing machine otherwise known as teh Nisshin Maru", with which it collided last summer.
This summer, Japan intends to cull nearly 1000 whales, including 50 humpback whales and 10 fin whales. Teh two species are listed as vulnerable and endangered respectively.
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