A book about ambergris has created a s***storm in the South, with some Stewart Islanders unhappy their spot has been outed as a lucrative place to find sperm whale poo.

The resumption of so-called "scientific'' whaling in the Southern Ocean has been condemned by Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully.

Australia will be monitoring Japan's whale hunt from the air instead of the sea in a decision both the Greens and whaling protesters have called a broken election promise.

A 12-year-old boy has made an impassioned plea to politicians to do more to stop whaling by the Japanese in the Southern Ocean.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT. A dead sperm whale has exploded after stranding on a beach in the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic.

Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, testified in a contempt of court hearing in Seattle.

New Zealand has accused Japan of treating the whaling convention as "an industry cartel" during an international court battle against whaling.

The International Court of Justice will hear arguments from New Zealand this week that Japan is breaking its agreement to hunt whales in the Antarctic only for scientific purposes.

A New Zealand surfer remembers seeing the eye and skin barnacles of a huge whale before it flung him 3m into the air.

A survey to work out how many humpback whales migrate through Cook Strait is to end today.

NZ and Australia's opposition to whaling is "an emotional moral crusade" that tolerates violent extremism, Japan has told the world's top court.

Lawyers for Japan are due to state its case today for continuing its whaling programme, at the International Court of Justice.

Australia and New Zealand join forces to fight Japan's whaling programme, with their legal battle starting in The Hague today.

While humans were stayed indoors out of the cold yesterday, orcas were enjoying a swim and a meal in the Bay the Islands.

The breathtaking aerobatics of a humpback whale astounded onlookers at an Australian marine resort.

A group of Hawaii fishermen is asking the US federal government to remove northern Pacific humpback whales from the endangered species list.

A US court's decision declaring anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd "pirates" could have potentially far-reaching implications, a Kiwi law expert says.

Anti-whaling vessels from the Sea Shepherd organisation have collided with the whaling ship Nisshin Marym.

Anti-whaling Sea Shepherd vessels have collided with the whaling ship Nisshin Marym. The Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), which owns the Japanese ship, said in a statement its vessel was rammed at least five times by Sea Shepherd vessels Steve Irwin, Bob Barker and Sam Simon. The incident occurred yesterday as the Nisshin Marym came along its supply tanker for refuelling, ICR said. There were no injuries to the crews of the Nisshin Marym or its supply tanker. ICR claimed video of the incident showed Sea Shepherd deliberately ramming its vessel.

Crews aboard an anti-whaling protest ship in the Southern Ocean have escaped injury but are struggling to mend "significant damage" to their vessel after it was rammed by Japanese whalers.

Sea Shepherd's launching a massive campaign against Japanese whalers in the waters around Antarctica.

Natalie Fox, a co-founder of the campaigning group Women for Whales, is to be a key player in the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's Operation Zero Tolerance.

New Zealand has joined Australia in questioning the validity of Japan's whaling for scientific purposes in the Southern Ocean, says MP Murray McCully.