Armed guards on whaling vessels

Photo / Supplied.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully is appealing to Japanese whalers - who will have armed guards with them this summer - and to anti-whaling protesters to avoid loss of human life in the Southern Ocean.

He made the comments yesterday after announcing that New Zealand would continue to pursue a diplomatic end to whaling instead of joining Australia's legal case in the International Court of Justice.

"Here you have a pretty explosive cocktail," he said yesterday.

The Japanese whalers would have armed coastguards on the vessels for the first time in three years.

The whalers were going there feeling angry about the developments last year, during which the New Zealand skipper of the Ady Gill which was destroyed in a collision with the Shonan Maru boarded the Japanese vessel and was arrested.

The protesters were heading down there saying they were going to take a very robust approach.

"Now anyone who looks at what happened last year has got to be fearful that there will be loss of human life."

Mr McCully said he had spoken to Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara last week and would probably do so again this week.

It was reported that the Japanese whaling boats would have armed coastguards.

Mr McCully said New Zealand was not intending to send one of its new offshore patrol vessels to the Southern Ocean because they had not completed their cold weather sea trials and a demanding deployment before then might have some effect on their warranties.

Australia was pleased that New Zealand would not join the legal case because that would have denied Australia a judge on the case.

However, New Zealand will make a submission.

But with Australia not due to file its memorandum in the International Court of Justice until May next year, and Japan a year after that, the case could stretch out into 2014.

The two countries are characterising their approaches as "complementary".

Mr McCully said New Zealand remained absolutely committed to the elimination of whaling in the Southern Ocean at the earliest possible time and would work directly with the Japanese Government and possibly involve the United States.

Before the International Whaling Commission talks in Morocco were "parked" for a year last June, Japan's last negotiating position was to reduce the kill to 200 a year within five years.

"It simply doesn't make any economic sense for Japan to continue to spend large amounts of taxpayers' money subsidising a dying industry in the Southern Ocean."