SYDNEY - Greenpeace and federal Labor have urged Prime Minister John Howard to try to pressure Japan to end its whaling program when he visits the country next week.
Greenpeace also will take the fight to Japan, sending its anti-whaling ship Esperanza from Sydney to Tokyo next week.
The Japanese whaling fleet cut short a whale hunt in the Southern Ocean late last month after a fire broke out on its processing ship, the Nisshin Maru.
One crew member died and the ship was temporarily disabled, forcing its departure a month earlier than scheduled.
Greenpeace estimates the ships' early departure probably saved 500 minke whales.
The Esperanza arrived in Sydney Harbour today after 42 days shadowing Japan's six-vessel whaling fleet, which started hunting near Antarctica in November for more than 900 whales.
Federal opposition environment spokesman Peter Garrett said today Labor would use the international courts and also put pressure on the government to end Japan's whaling program.
"Labor calls on the Prime Minister to use the opportunity of his forthcoming visit to Japan to express Australia's outrage at Japan's continuing slaughter of whales," Mr Garrett told reporters in front of the Esperanza.
He said Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull had this week described Iceland's resumption of commercial whaling as barbaric.
"If the Howard government is serious about ending whaling, the Prime Minister must echo Mr Turnbull's message to Japan," he said.
Greenpeace chief executive Steve Shallhorn said the Japanese people were the key to ending whaling, because whale meat consumption was continuing to drop in Japan.
"Japanese people are voting with their forks," Mr Shallhorn told reporters.
He added that Japan's whaling program only continued because a small and influential group within Japan's fisheries agency had maintained government subsidies for whaling.
The Esperanza is due to depart Sydney on Monday with hopes of docking in Tokyo.
Esperanza expedition leader Karli Thomas will invite officials from the fisheries agency, the company that owns the whaling fleet and Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research on board to hold discussions "about the validity of whaling in the 21st century".
- AAP
