Sydney  - A protest boat claimed Sunday to be successfully hounding the Japanese fleet on its annual whale hunt out of Antarctic waters.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's ship the Steve Irwin - named after the Australian conservationist killed by a stingray's barb - has been following the Japanese fleet for about a week, ABC Radio reported.

It quoted the ship's captain, Paul Watson, as saying the Japanese fleet, which claims to be catching whales as part of a scientific research programme, is now in Antarctic waters south of New Zealand.

"We've chased them completely out of the Australian Antarctic territorial waters and they're still running, we've got them on the run," he said. "They're not killing any whales, and we're going to keep them on the run."

The Steve Irwin collided with the fleet's whale-spotting vessel, the Kaiko Marui, as the protestors threw bottles of rotten butter and indelible dye onto the Japanese ship's deck on Friday, news reports said.

The Japanese claim that their annual hunt for about 1,000 whales for research purposes is sanctioned by the International Whaling Commission.

Opponents including the governments of Australia and New Zealand say it is a disguised commercial operation, with most of the whales caught ending up on shop shelves for Japanese who regard whale meat as a delicacy. (dpa)