KEY POINTS:
The skipper of the Sea Shepherd conservation group's ship Farley Mowat has abandoned his plan to ram a Japanese whaling vessel.
On Monday, Captain Paul Watson said his vessel was almost out of fuel and he was considering giving the whaler Nisshin Maru a "steel enema" by ramming its slipway.
After an urgent call yesterday from Conservation Minister Chris Carter, Captain Watson withdrew the threat.
But he said that unless New Zealand and Australia brokered an agreement stopping the Japanese hunting humpback whales, Sea Shepherd would attack whaling vessels.
"We're not going to ram the Nisshin Maru, but we will obstruct any whaling activities that we come across," Captain Watson said.
"I will not watch a whale die. I've not seen a whale die since I left Greenpeace in 1977. When we show up, whales don't die, that's the way it is.
"These guys are afraid of us because we've sunk whaling vessels in the past, we've rammed whaling vessels in the past.
"When we say we're going to do something, we will do it."
Captain Watson said the Farley Mowat and its sister ship, the Robert Hunter, had enough fuel to enable them to dog the Japanese fleet for a few more days. They would then return to port.
An annual cat and mouse game is played out between protesting conservation groups and the Japanese whaling fleet when the fleet travels to fish in the Southern Ocean.
The confrontation escalated on Monday when the Robert Hunter and the Japanese observation vessel Kaiko Maru collided - a crash each captain claims was as a result of being rammed by the other vessel.
"The Japanese are accusing us of ramming their boat," Captain Watson said. "I can tell you if we had rammed it we would have taken credit for it."
A spokesman for the Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research said Sea Shepherd's crews were behaving like pirates.
"Sea Shepherd threw smoke pots on to the vessel, they released ropes and nets to entangle the screw and the propeller has been damaged," Glenn Inwood said.
Chris Carter said he was relieved Sea Shepherd had agreed not to ram the Nisshin Maru.
"We will worry about next year when it comes about. The point of my call was to stop Sea Shepherd ramming the Nisshin Maru. That's not going to happen now and I'm pleased about that."
Mr Carter said New Zealand shared Sea Shepherd's opposition to whaling and would do all it could to prevent the hunting of humpbacks.
Both the Sea Shepherd vessels were last night in pursuit of the Japanese whaling fleet, which gave them the slip in foggy, windy conditions.
They were being joined by the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza. Its skipper Karli Thomas said the confrontation between Sea Shepherd and the Japanese was a concern, but would not deter Greenpeace from "direct but peaceful" protest.
"We are in a harsh environment in the Southern Ocean, and I think the primary concern does need to be the safety of our crew and of other vessels' crews in the area," she said.
"We don't want to get drawn into discussing the tactics of other groups. We are here on our expedition, and we are committed to non-violent direct action."
