National Dec. 01, 2008 - 05:11AM JST ( 3 )

The New Zealand air force is to track the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctic waters this season, Defense Minister Wayne Mapp announced Sunday. New Zealand also urged both whalers and anti-whaling protesters to show restraint after a series of clashes on the high seas last year.

The Japanese fleet sets sail in mid-November and the Sea Shepherd activists, who have vowed to stop the whaling, are sending their vessel “Steve Irwin” into the area.

In a joint statement, Mapp and Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said they did not want the situation to get out of hand.

“Protesters and whalers alike need to appreciate that the Southern Ocean is a remote and inhospitable stretch of ocean. Both sides need to be fully aware of the dangers, and act responsibly,” McCully said.

“We’re urging all parties to refrain from any actions that may put their lives, or the lives of others at risk.”

Mapp said the New Zealand Defense Force would not station craft in the region to monitor developments, but “regular Orion surveillance flights will provide updates.”

McCully said New Zealand remains firmly opposed to the Japanese whaling program and he made that “unambiguously clear” to Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone at the recent APEC summit in Peru.

“We are actively engaged in a diplomatic process including through the International Whaling Commission, to try to find a resolution to the problem,” he said.

Japan aims to kill 1,000 whales a year using a loophole in a 1986 global whaling moratorium that allows “lethal research” on the ocean giants.

But last season they were restricted to just over half their target because of harassment by anti-whaling activists.

Tokyo says whaling is part of its culture but makes no secret the meat ends up on dinner tables.

It argues that Western opponents of whaling are insensitive to Japan’s culture of whaling. But few Japanese eat whale on a regular basis and surveys show that many young people are questioning the hunt.

Wire reports