Whale kill footage 'no smoking gun'

GRAPHIC footage captured by Customs vessel Oceanic Viking of two slaughtered minke whales being hauled aboard a Japanese whaling vessel did not constitute a knockout legal blow, experts warned.

As Attorney-General Bob Debus announced that the Oceanic Viking would extend its evidence-gathering mission in the Southern Ocean, international lawyer Don Rothwell said pictures alone would not be pivotal in any legal action against Japan.

Mr Debus and Environment Minister Peter Garrett released footage of what Mr Garrett said was a whale and its calf harpooned by Japanese hunters. The images were taken by a Customs crew in an inflatable boat 10 nautical miles from the Oceanic Viking "within the last several weeks", Mr Debus said.

He said the footage demonstrated the effectiveness of the Oceanic Viking in gathering evidence and that Australia remained committed to pursuing legal action to stop the hunt.

Mr Debus said the Government had yet to decide on the appropriate course of legal action. Nor could he say when it would launch any action.

However, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said any legal case would take place before either the International Court of Justice or the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research denied the whales were mother and calf and accused the Government of misleading the public. ICR director-general Minoru Morimoto said the variance in size was simply "random sampling".

However, a spokesperson for Mr Garrett said he had received independent scientific advice that the whales were, in fact, related.

Japan plans to kill about 950 minke whales and 50 fin whales.

Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt welcomed the release of the footage, but questioned why the Government had delayed making it public.

He called on the Government to lobby for a global whale sanctuary.

In other whaling news, Norway has announced plans to kill 1052 minke whales this year, the Associated Press reports.

This quota is the same as in 2007.

The Fisheries Ministry said 900 whales would be allowed to be caught in coastal areas including the North Sea and the Barents Sea.

Norway resumed whaling in 1993, arguing that otherwise the minke whale population would increase and threaten fish stocks.

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