THE Greenpeace ship Esperanza last night gave up the chase for the Japanese whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru, claiming to have saved more than 100 whales.

Running low on fuel, Esperanza headed for port at the end of a 7800-kilometre pursuit over two weeks across the Antarctic waters south of Australia.

Greenpeace campaign spokesman Dave Walsh said the peaceful protests in the Southern Ocean had led the Japanese public and media to question why public money was being wasted on fake research to generate tonnes of whale meat no one wanted to eat.