A mock graveyard of black minke whale tails, symbolic of those killed in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, has been displayed on an Auckland beach.
Greenpeace says the tails represent the more than 900 whales killed by Japan this season.
Conflict between the Japanese whaling fleet and Greenpeace protest boats in Antarctic waters has been happening for several weeks.
More than 100 people turned up at Mission Bay beach on Tuesday morning to mark the International Day of Action against Whaling.
Around 250 wooden whale tails were placed in the sand and a giant whale tail of sand was made on the beach by children and their parents.
Whales campaigner Pia Mancia said Greenpeace plans to continue protest action in Antarctic waters despite some inclement weather in the region.
Greenpeace said the day of action is being marked in several other countries including Australia, the USA, Germany and Canada.
Greens call on New Zealand government
The Green party has called on the government to use legal tactics to try to stop the whaling programme.
Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research says its whaling is legal and scientifically necessary for sustainable resource management. But the Greens say Japan is off-loading whale meat for consumption.
They say diplomatic measures have failed to stop the whaling and the government should now explore legal options, including the Antarctic Treaty which allows observers to inspect research ships.
The Whaling Commissioner, Sir Geoffrey Palmer, has said the issue has been studied closely and he cannot see any legal remedies available.
Australia urges calm
Australia
has joined in urging Japanese whalers and Greenpeace to calm down
following life-threatening confrontations between them in the icy
Southern Ocean.
In the latest incident on Saturday, a harpoon fired at a minke
whale narrowly missed a protest boat.
In Tokyo, the top government spokesman defended Japan's research
whaling activities.
"Our country's research whaling is being conducted based on
international rules, to study matters such as the ecological system
of whales," Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe told
reporters.
Abe added that he wasn't aware of the specific circumstances
related to Saturday's incident.
The Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise has been shadowing the
Japanese whaling fleet for several weeks in a bid to disrupt
Japan's annual whale hunt, prompting a heated exchange on January 8
when the Greenpeace ship and a Japanese factory ship
collided.
On Saturday, a Greenpeace activist was flung into the freezing sea
when the line attached to the harpoon fell across his inflatable
boat. He was later picked up uninjured after spending several
minutes in the water.
Greenpeace and Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research blame each
other for the incident.
Japan abandoned commercial whaling in 1986, in line with an
international moratorium, but began catching whales again the
following year for what it calls scientific research.
Despite international disapproval, Japan last June announced plans
to double its annual catch of minke whales to 850, and to add fin
whales and eventually humpbacks - two types of whales
conservationists say whose survival is threatened.
