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Whaling conducted by the Japanese whaling fleet in the Antarctic is illegal and the government of Australia is covered by the law to stop it, said a group of Australian lawyers in a report published today.


The report, prepared at the request of the environmental organization International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), maintains that the Antarctic Treaty undertakes to examine the environmental impact of any activity that takes place in the waters of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean.


The boats used by Japan, says the report, complied with the regulations required for the hunting of whales in the Subantarctic, but not in the waters of Antarctica, and also very dangerous operations, including refueling at sea.


Professor of International Law at the National University of Australia and chairman of the group of lawyers who prepared the study, Don Rothwell, believes that the findings provide the legal basis for the Australian Government to act to stop the killing of whales.


Antarctica, Rothwell said, is one of the world with a legislation on environmental stricter, and Japan is not exempt from it.


A government delegation will attend the Canberra meeting of the Consultative Mechanism Treaty Atlantis next April, and the group of lawyers, this is the appropriate time to act legally against Japan.


Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith, said last Monday that his government considered undertaking legal action when a diplomatic avenues are exhausted.


Earlier this hunting season, the Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, said that unlike the 2007-2008 campaign, this year Australia will not monitor the operation of the Japanese fishing vessel Oceanic Viking.


Between November 2007 and April 2008, the "Oceanic Viking" filmed the operation of the Japanese whaling fleet, to use the images as evidence before an international tribunal.


Last season, the ships caught 551 whales in Japan's quota was allocated to 900, due to the persistent action of the Sea Shepherd, Animal Planet, which seeks to prevent the capture of whales.


Sea Shepherd has docked temporarily its vessel "Steve Irwin" in the port of Hobart, capital of the Australian state of Tasmania, southeast of the country