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An anti-whaling group claims its latest Southern Ocean activities cost Japan's programme tens of millions of dollars and was its most successful anti-whaling trip to date.
The Steve Irwin docked in Wellington on Friday afternoon, sailing into much calmer waters after three months protesting against whaling in a trip filled with controversy.
"I think we've cut their kill quota by more than a half and that means we've cost them $75-$80 million which means they didn't make any profits," says Steve Irwin captain Paul Watson.
But while the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is hailing its latest campaign, the captain of the Ady Gill remains in custody in Japan. New Zealander Peter Bethune was arrested after boarding one of the Japanese whaling ships to make a citizens arrest of the captain.
The Ady Gill was destroyed following a collision with the Japanese ship the Shonan Maru in January and Bethune is now in custody in Japan.
Watson says there has been no communication with Bethune and he says the Japanese system means Bethune is not allowed to talk to a lawyer until after three weeks.
Watson has made an official complaint to Australian police, calling for the Japanese captain to be prosecuted and is shocked the New Zealand government isn't taking action.
However Foreign Minister Murray McCully says the government is waiting to see the results of a Maritime New Zealand investigation.
The Australian government has told Japan to end whaling by November or it will take legal action but New Zealand still wants a diplomatic solution which it says would end whaling sooner.
However Watson says Japan likes that tactic. "The diplomatic approach has failed for 23 years...as long as people are talking they're killing," he says.
The Steve Irwin's next mission is in the Mediterranean to protest bluefin tuna fishing.
