SYDNEY: A Japanese whaling fleet suspended its work for the second day in stormy conditions yesterday as environmental group Greenpeace defended its tactics in disrupting the controversial hunt.

The whalers and two Greenpeace ships have been playing cat and mouse in the icy Southern Ocean for almost a week. The environmental group said it had received a statement from Japanese whaling authorities accusing it of breaching maritime safety laws.

The captain of Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise, Arne Sorensen, said the complaint from Japan's of Institute of Cetacean Research related to a minor collision last Wednesday between a Japanese vessel trying to unload a dead whale and a Greenpeace ship blocking access to the fleet's factory ship.

"I hope they go ahead and complain because we will simply lodge a counter-complaint about the behaviour of the captain of the factory ship," Sorensen said by satellite phone.

"He's been trying to create collisions with our ships."

Sorensen said no whaling was being carried out as both the protest vessels and the whaling fleet rode out a powerful storm that began Sunday.

"There's a slight possibility that they'll be able to resume whaling tomorrow afternoon and if they do, we'll be there to stop them," he said.

When conditions have permitted in the past week, protesters have placed their inflatable boats between the harpoons and the whales, prompting the Japanese to spray them with fire hoses.

The International Whaling Commission imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986 but Japan says its whale hunts are carried out for scientific research.

Critics say the programme is a cover for commercial killing of whales for consumption in Japan, where whale meat is popular.

Source: China Daily