According to the crew of the Esperanza, they’ve managed to cast out that Japanese whaling fleet out of the Antarctic after a 24 hour chase in the seas.

On Saturday the Esperanza found six of the Japanese whalers. The ship spent 10 days tracking down the vessels.

The Nisshin Maru, was followed by the Esperanza beyond the 60 degrees latitude boundary, the limit settled for the southern whale hunting, Telegraph.co.uk reports.

Greenpeace plans to stop the whalers from killing almost 1,000 minke and fin whales in the name of science. The volunteers plan to get between the whales and the whalers’ harpoon gins by placing themselves on boats.

Greenpeace Japan campaigner Sakyo Noda said: "We came here to stop the fleet from whaling and we have done that. Now they are out of the hunting grounds they should stay out."

According to Esperanza spokeswoman Karli Thomas, the other five ships were inoperable without the main ship Nisshin Maru. 

She said: "We've certainly shut down the whole operation for the time being at least," dompost.co.nz informs.

When they were spotted on Saturday, the six vessels decided to separate and flee, put the Greenpeace decided to pursue the Nisshin Maru, which is about four kilometer ahead of Esperanza.

Greenpeace said that due to the fact that the demand for the whale meat is so low, almost 4,000 tones of meat which remained from other hunts were stockpiled.

It was believed that the Nisshin Maru had to re-fuel from the Oriental Bluebird, another tanker.

Thomas said that the Oriental Bluebird is supplying a fleet that is not wanted in Antarctica.

She said:  “In addition, we have seen the Oriental Bluebird re-fuelling the whaling fleet within Antarctic waters in the past, which is a major threat to the pristine environment.

The tanker is not registered as part of the whaling fleet, so should not be here.”

Japan sent its whaling fleet to Antarctica in November in order to kill the whales for scientific purposes, but under international pressure last month it had to abandon the plan to kill 50 humpback whales.

The Japan Whaling Association sent a call to the Greenpeace in order to stay away from the fleet.

Association president Keiichi Nakajima said: “Past activities of Greenpeace have been responsible for vessel collisions that risk the lives and safety of our researchers and crew and are illegal under international maritime law.”