Australia has issued a final warning to Japan to shelve plans to slaughter 50 humpbacks under its "scientific" whaling program, saying the two nations' good relationship hangs in the balance.
The warning came as Japan threatened to quit the International Whaling Commission (IWC), having failed in its bid to lift a moratorium on commercial whaling.
Japan also said it would consider defying the ban and "unilaterally" carry out whaling along its economic exclusive zone.
Tokyo officials left the annual IWC meeting in Anchorage, Alaska with none of the things they had sought, including support for a proposal to allow four Japanese coastal villages to hunt the animals.
Japan had argued its proposal to catch minke whales should fall under the umbrella of community whaling because whaling has been part of its culture for thousands of years.
Australia was a fierce opponent of the plan, despite Japan offering to ditch its new humpback cull in return for Canberra's support.
In the end, no formal vote on the issue was called after Japan realised it would not pass.
Australian Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who travelled to Anchorage for the stormy summit, said the coastal proposal would have set a precedent that could not be undone.
"The minute you open the door to commercial whaling, how do you shut it again? That is the problem," he said.
After the summit wrapped up, Turnbull said he sought out Japanese officials with a last warning to stop its annual slaughter of whales in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary.
He had earlier heavily criticised Japan's abuse of a loophole in IWC rules which allow whales to be killed for the purpose of scientific research.
Japan slaughters some 1,000 whales annually under those rules, but critics say data from any research is scant and Japan admits most of the meat ends up in supermarkets and restaurants.
Turnbull said Japan and Australia had enjoyed good relations but friendship had many obligations.
"And one obligation of friendship is to be honest with each other," he said.
"That's why I've said, as carefully and as courteously as I can, that the inclusion of the humpbacks in the scientific whaling program will have a very adverse impact on perceptions of Japan and Japan's standing in Australia."
"If Japan is sincere about seeking to engage constructively and openly with other countries about a revised or a renewed or a reconstructed whaling convention, then the single most effective gesture of goodwill that it could give would be to drop those humpbacks from their scientific program."
Greenpeace Australia said it was now time for Turnbull to put the issue of commercial whaling at the top of Australia's agenda in any dealings with Japan, ahead of trade and security.
And the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said Australia must consider using international courts to stop the slaughter.
IFAW Asia Pacific Director Mick McIntyre said a panel of Australia's top international law experts had advised Japan's scientific whaling program breached the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
"Diplomacy has failed. The Australian government needs to take every action available to halt this illegal activity," McIntyre said.
As the summit concluded, Japan's top delegate Akira Nakamae said "there is a real possibility we will review at a fundamental level our role in the IWC and this would include withdrawing, setting up a new organisation".
He said Tokyo would also consider defying the whaling moratorium and "unilaterally" carry out whaling along its economic exclusive zone.
In another rebuff to the IWC, Japan also withdrew its bid to host the annual IWC talks in Yokohama in 2009.
But critics said Japan's threat to quit the IWC was a standard response.
"The only thing more familiar than their empty threat to leave the IWC is their disregard for decisions they don't like," said Patrick Ramage, who heads the IFAW's global whale campaign.
AAP
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