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Japanese whalers have officially called off their annual Antarctic whale hunt following a devastating fire aboard the fleet's mother ship.
Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR) has released a statement saying the whaling ships were on their way home early.
The ICR's Glenn Inwood would not confirm whether Japan had completed its kill quota of 935 minke and 10 endangered fin whales.
It had been expected the fleet would be forced back to Japan following the fire aboard the factory ship Nisshin Maru on February 15.
Crewman Kazutaka Makita, 27, died in the blaze that also knocked out power to the whaling vessel for nine days.
The blaze sparked concerns from green groups and New Zealand's Conservation Minister Chris Carter that the ship, reportedly carrying 1.3 million litres of fuel oil, could have caused an environmental catastrophe in the pristine Antarctic waters.
The fire sparked a call from the WWF conservation group for sweeping protections for Antarctica's Ross Sea.
WWF said the Nisshin Maru incident and another in which a Norwegian cruise ship ran aground and damaged its hull near Antarctica's Deception Island, spilling up to 750 litres of diesel into the ocean, highlighted the need for international action.
"The Ross Sea is a physically and ecologically unique part of the Southern Ocean and home to many species including the world's largest invertebrate - the 450kg colossal squid," Constance Johnson, the leader of WWF's Antarctic programme, said in a statement.
In a statement ICR Director General Dr Hiroshi Hatanaka denied the fire had been an embarrassment for the whalers.
"Far from an embarrassment, the situation in the Antarctic was an unfortunate event that no-one could have predicted," Hatanaka said.
Japan's annual hunt, which it insists is for scientific purposes, normally continues until late March.
