Wellington  - Greenpeace, an international environmental organization, hailed the beginning of the end of Japanese whaling in the Antarctic on Thursday following news reports of the first cut in the season's target kill for 21 years.

A Greenpeace statement quoted Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper as saying that Japan cut its target of whales to be caught in the Southern Ocean for its so-called scientific programme this year by 20 per cent.

The report cited lack of demand for whale meat, pressure from protests at sea and continued opposition from Europe and Australia as reasons for cutting the previous season's minke whale quota from 945 whales to 750. Greenpeace said the quota of 50 endangered fin whales remained unchanged.

Last whaling season, which runs from autumn through spring, Japan caught 551 whales for "research purposes" in the Antarctic, 60 per cent of its target catch for the region, the Asahi Shimbun said. Its current total annual target is 1,300 whales.

"We are seeing the beginning of the end of whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary," said Karli Thomas, Greenpeace New Zealand oceans campaigner. "If today's reports are true we congratulate the Japanese government for making this first step, but they can and must go further and we will not stop until the quota is zero."

Earlier, Greenpeace claimed that the industry was unable to crew this year's programme with all-Japanese crews for the first time, the traditional ceremony seeing the fleet off from its base in Shimonoseki had been cancelled. Furthermore Yushin, the flagship whale meat shop and restaurant in Asakusa, Tokyo, would close in 2010 due to ongoing financial problems.

Greenpeace said two of its Japanese activists, Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, had been held in custody for 145 days since exposing corruption in the industry and faced 10-year jail terms at their trial early next year for intercepting whale meat stolen by crew from the whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru.

Jun Hoshikawa, executive director of Greenpeace Japan, said, "The whale meat market has clearly collapsed and is unprofitable, and the stigma of scandal and corruption has made it an unattractive and less lucrative industry to work for."

"The whaling industry's days are numbered, and it's time for the Japanese taxpayer to demand the government stops subsidising this bankrupt programme."