(CNN) -- Japan has suspended its annual Antarctic whale hunt because an anti-whaling group is tailing its ship, a government official said Wednesday.
"We temporarily suspended the whale hunt in the Antarctic form February 10th because Sea Shepherd has started chasing the vessel," said Hiroshi Kawamura, an official at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
"We have experienced dangerous attacks from them, it might take the life of crews. Considering safety as the first priority, we decided to halt the whaling temporarily".
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society regularly dogs Japanese whaling vessels during their hunts to make their task more difficult and to lower the number of whales harvested.
Japan annually hunts whales in the Antarctic, despite a worldwide moratorium on whaling, under the loophole that a country may legally do so if its purpose is scientific research.
Sea Shepherd has said the science argument is a sham, noting that the whale meat is sold in Japan and served in restaurants. CNN
