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.

A necropsy on a Bryde's whale found dead on Motuihe Island in Hauraki Gulf has confirmed that the whale was hit by a vessel, the Department of Conservation says.

A critically endangered Bryde's whale has washed up dead on Motuihe Island in the Hauraki Gulf.

The world's rarest whale - the spade-toothed beaked whale - has been sighted for the first time, according to University of Auckland scientists.