A Japanese whaling fleet is heading home after clashes with environmental groups and a fire that crippled its lead ship and ended the hunt in the Antarctic hundreds of whales short of its goal.
The return of the six-ship fleet brought to an early end this year's hunt, which had been scheduled to continue through March. Officials said it was the first time in the 20 years since the scientific hunts began that one had to end early.
Japanese officials lodged a strong protest over "vicious and reckless" attempts by whaling opponents to sabotage the hunt, which killed 508 whales out of a target of 860.
The fire aboard the Nisshin Marutwo weeks ago killed one crew member and left the vessel unable to sail under its own power for 10 days, prompting protests from New Zealand and from the environmental group Greenpeace over potential oil and chemical spills or damage to penguin colonies.
A fisheries spokesman said the Nisshin Maruwould likely be repaired in time for the next hunt, in the northwest Pacific in May, when Japan plans to kill 350 whales.
The fleet is part of a scientific whaling programme that Japan says provides crucial data for the International Whaling Commission - which allows the hunts - on populations, feeding habits and distribution of the mammals.
But the program has long been the target of environmental groups, which say it is a pretext for Japan to keep its whalers afloat despite an international ban on commercial whaling imposed by the International Whaling Commission in 1986.