A Kiwi conservationist who spent months in a Japanese prison after boarding a whaling ship is disappointed Sea Shepherd is pulling the plug on its mission to stop the trade but hopeful the practice might yet come to an end.
Captain Pete Bethune said he had mixed feelings about the organisation's announcement this morning that it would no longer take on Japanese whaling ships because its resources could not compete with those of its opponents, who were backed by a "major economic super-power".
The ocean-focused conservationist group had sent ships to harass and hinder Japanese whalers for the past 12 years, but said Japan's military was now monitoring the group's ships, making it difficult for them to get close enough to disrupt or document the whaling.
The decision comes after Japan introduced new whaling laws in June that lock in public funding for its whaling programme and allow government agencies to dispatch vessels to the Southern Ocean to disrupt the efforts of activists.
Bethune, a former Sea Shepherd captain, was arrested after he boarded a Japanese whaling ship in February 2010. He pleaded guilty to charges including trespassing, vandalism and holding a knife, which he used to cut netting as he climbed on to the ship from a jet ski, but denied the assault charge, and spent about five months in prison during the process.