Greenpeace's anti-whaling ship to head to Japan

SYDNEY, Mar 9 (Reuters) Environmental group Greenpeace's anti-whaling ship Esperanza sailed into Sydney Harbour today to re-supply after protesting against Japanese whalers in the Antarctic and heads on from there to Japan to pursue its protest.

Japan last month abandoned its Antarctic whale-hunting season after its main whaling ship was crippled by a fire.

The Nisshin Maru, the 8,000-tonne flagship of what Japan calls its research whaling fleet, is now sailing back to Japan and is due in Tokyo in late March.

The fleet caught 505 minke whales and 3 fin whales since it set out in November last year, compared with a planned catch of 850 minke and 10 fin whales, Naruko said.

Greenpeace said the Esperanza spent over a week on stand-by to assist the fire-disabled whaling factory ship in the Ross Sea, then escorted the Japanese whaling fleet out of Antarctic waters.

''We began a positive dialogue from ship to ship in the Southern Ocean during the emergency with the Nisshin Maru,'' said Junichi Sato, Greenpeace Japan whales campaign coordinator.

''We plan to continue and broaden that dialogue from ship to shore when the Esperanza comes to Japan,'' Sato said.

The Esperanza will spend 48 hours re-supplying in Australia and then sail directly to Japan, where Greenpeace will invite officials from the Fisheries Agency of Japan and the Institute for Cetacean Research onto the Esperanza.

Greenpeace said it believed Japan planned to repair the Nisshin Maru and resume whaling in the Southern Ocean.

''What we saw in the Southern Ocean should be a clear signal to the government and people of Japan that this must be the last season that a whaling fleet goes to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary,'' said Esperanza expedition leader Karli Thomas.

One Japanese crewman was killed in the fire and Greenpeace warned the fire-hit ship posed a serious environmental threat, if its oil and fuel had leaked into the pristine environment.

''Whaling on the high seas will only stop when the Japanese government commits to ending it,'' Thomas said.

Japan says whaling is a cultural tradition and that its whale hunting is for scientific purposes. But the whale hunt has come under growing pressure from environmental groups, who say it is cruel and violates a 1986 global ban on commercial whaling. The meat ends up in restaurants and on supermarket shelves.

Reuters SY DB1018