The world's largest, non-lethal whale research expedition has returned from Antarctic waters with a range of new information that will help inform future marine mammal conservation.

A draft compromise on whaling released by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on February 23 set a dangerous precedent that the international community must reject, WWF said.

Labour's Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Chris Carter is urging the Government to get behind an Australian proposal to finally phase out whaling, which will be considered at a special meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Florida tomorrow.

The New Zealand Government should follow Australia's lead and call for a gradual phasing out of whaling when it meets with members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) at a special meeting in Florida on 2nd and 3rd March, the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) said today.

On behalf of Nations Supporting Sustainable Use of Cetaceans:

Give it up Jap whaling dudes! So you sunk a boat after you zapped the crew with an evil noise machine? Problem is that more boats will come and plenty of volunteers to crew them.

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Wellington, Jan 8 NZPA - Former Conservation minister Chris Carter -- who took a prominent role when the whale wars in the Southern Ocean went awry in 2007 -- says Foreign Minister Murray McCully's "passive role" in the latest debacle is putting the lives of protesters at risk.

The New Zealand Government is taking a passive role while Kiwi lives are put at risk and Japan's whalers get a green light to continue their whale hunt in the Southern Ocean, says Labour's Foreign Affairs spokesperson Chris Carter.

In an announcement that has taken the world by surprise, the Japanese Fisheries Agency has announced that after killing 59 Minke whales they have discovered they eat krill.  

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Wellington, June 20 NZPA - The government is being urged to speak out against any proposal at the International Whaling Commission's meeting next week which would threaten the current whaling ban.