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		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/activists-halt-japanese-whaling.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="Japan has suspended its Antarctic whaling operations after disruption by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (AP/Sea Shepherd)" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/min-activists-halt-japanese-whaling.jpg" alt="Japan has suspended its Antarctic whaling operations after disruption by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (AP/Sea Shepherd)"/></a></p>
<p>Japan has temporarily suspended its Antarctic whaling operations after repeated disruptions by a conservation group, a government official said.</p>
<p>The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been chasing the Japanese whaling fleet for weeks in the icy seas off Antarctica, trying to block Japan&#8217;s annual hunts, planned for up to 945 whales.</p>
<p>Fisheries agency official Tatsuya Nakaoku said Tokyo halted the hunt on February 10 &#8220;to ensure safety&#8221; after persistent disruption by the anti-whaling protesters.</p>
<p>He said the fleet plans to resume hunting when conditions are deemed safe.</p>
<p>The annual whale hunts &#8211; for scientific purposes &#8211; are allowed by the International Whaling Commission as an exception to the 1986 ban, but opponents say they are a cover for commercial whaling.</p>
<p>So far, the attacks have not caused any injuries or major damage to the whaling vessels, Mr Nakaoku said, but the protesters are throwing rancid butter in bottles and got a rope entangled in the propeller on a harpoon vessel, causing it to slow down.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have temporarily suspended our research whaling to ensure safety,&#8221; he said. The fleet plans to resume hunting when conditions are deemed safe, he added, but declined to say how long the suspension is planned for.</p>
<p>The Sea Shepherd group has been shadowing Japan&#8217;s whaling fleet for several years, and its campaign has drawn high-profile donor support in the US and elsewhere and spawned the popular Animal Planet TV series Whale Wars.</p>
<p>Last year, one of the group&#8217;s boats sank after colliding with a Japanese vessel. The boat&#8217;s captain, New Zealander Peter Bethune, was later arrested when he boarded a whaling ship from a jet-ski, and brought back to Japan for trial. He was convicted of assault, vandalism and three other charges and given a suspended prison term. Bethune has since returned to New Zealand.</p>
<p>Japan&#8217;s fisheries agency has called Sea Shepherd a terrorist group for its actions.</p>
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