In a statement on its website (www.seashepherd.org), the U.S.-based group said its ship, the Steve Irwin, had forced the fleet into waters off the Ross Dependency, which is a New Zealand possession.

Australia has declared an ‘economic exclusion zone’, known by the letters “EEZ,” in waters off the coast of its Antarctic territories, and an Australian court order bans whaling there.

Sea Shepherd has said it is enforcing that order by pursuing Japan’s whaling fleet, which is in the area for an annual hunt to kill around 900 whales.

However, Japan does not recognise the zone and says its whaling fleet is in international waters.

In the statement, dated Saturday, Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson promised his organisation would continue its pursuit of the Japanese fleet.

“The good news is that they are no longer whaling in Australian waters and they only managed to hunt in the waters of the Australian Antarctic Territory for about a week before being forced to flee the Australian EEZ,” the statement said.

“They are now in the waters of the Ross dependency and the Steve Irwin is in pursuit.”

Watson said this was “bad news” for whales in waters south of New Zealand.

Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research, which runs the hunt, has accused Sea Shepherd of “eco-terrorism” and of ramming its vessel the Kaiko Maru during a protest action last Friday. Sea Shepherd has blamed the Japanese for the collision.

In a video of the incident released on its website (www.icrwhale.org), the organisation showed the crew of the Japanese ship warning Sea Shepherd in English that its protesters would be treated as “illegal intruders under Japanese law” if they tried to board.

During the last whaling season, two Sea Shepherd activists were briefly held on a Japanese vessel they boarded during a protest action.

Despite an international moratorium on whaling since 1986, Japan justifies the hunt on the grounds that its whaling is for “scientific” purposes.

Much of the meat ends up on supermarket shelves.

World | Africa – Reuters.com

Rescuers have been working since early yesterday to save the long-finned pilot whales, the only survivors from a pod of 65 that became beached near Stanley.

It is hoped the group will be able to rejoin another migratory pod.

Parks and Wildlife Services manager Chris Arthur says 12 whales, up to three metres long, were transported 17 kilometres along the Bass Highway on trucks equipped for the purpose to deep water at Godfreys Beach.

“Unfortunately, one whale died as we were returning it to the water,” Mr Arthur said.

“The efforts of the volunteers and the Circular Head community has been outstanding.”

Mr Arthur says the surviving whales are a mixture of young and old.

Satellite tracking devices were placed on some of the whales and a reconnaissance plane will undertake a flight on Monday to check their progress.

Samples for scientific research have been taken from the dead mammals and a mass burial will be arranged.

Mr Arthur says whale strandings are not uncommon in Tasmania.

“The area where they have stranded this time is an area where there have been strandings for hundreds of years,” he said.

ABC News