Anti-whaling groups claim partial victory

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Anti-whaling groups have claimed partial victory in their attempts to disrupt Japan's annual whale hunt in Antarctic waters.

Dogged by Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessels during the 101-day hunt, the Japanese whaling fleet caught 551 minke whales during its recently completed hunt -- more than a third less than its goal of 850.

"This year's mission was disrupted intensively by Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd, who use violent means for disturbance," Hajime Ishikawa, the head of Japan's whaling mission, said Tuesday.

"Putting aside our own safety, their action put their own lives in danger ... Therefore, we had to stop whaling a total of 31 days."

The Web site for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a hardline conservation group, called the operation a "huge success," and the proclamation comes ahead of a key International Whaling Commission meeting in Chile this June. The commission is meeting to discuss reaching an agreement on whale conservation rules.

In March, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its Fisheries Agency lobbied a dozen members of the whaling commission, making their case to officials from Angola, Eritrea, the Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Palau, Micronesia, Cambodia, Laos and Vanuatu.

Sea Shepherd uses its boats to interfere with whaling and fishing boats, and its efforts have included ramming a Portuguese whaler, the Sierra, in 1979, according to the group's Web site.

In the early 1980s, the International Whaling Commission determined that there should be a moratorium on commercial whale hunting. Whaling is allowed under international law when done for scientific reasons, which Japan cites as the legal basis for its hunts.

The country's annual hunt kills up to 1,000 whales a year -- the fisheries agency insists it wants "sustainable whaling."

Many in the international community -- particularly Australia -- believe that such hunts amount to needless slaughter. Critics say that Japan's research is actually a pretext for retrieving whale meat to be sold in markets and restaurants.

Greenpeace also claimed success interfering in the Japanese whale hunt.

"Greenpeace played a significant part in nearly halving the amount of whales killed this season," said Junichi Sato, Greenpeace Japan's whales campaigner. "However, 551 whales is still over a hundred more than Japan took three years ago ... This blatantly commercial whale hunt must end immediately."

The head of Japan's whaling operation promised to press on.

"The biggest achievement of this mission was to complete the mission without giving into the disruption by anti-whaling groups," Ishikawa said. E-mail to a friend