TOKYO, April 14 (Reuters) - Repeated "sabotage" by activists forced Japan's whaling fleet to catch only 55 whales in the Antarctic, far short of its target under what it calls an annual research whaling programme, the Fisheries Agency said on Monday. Japan had planned to catch about 850 minke whales in the Antarctic during the hunting season. "We caught 551 minke whales, far below our original target," said a Fisheries Agency official. "Sabotage by activists is a major factor behind our failure to achieve our target." Militant anti-whaling campaigners from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society had repeatedly confronted Japan's whaling fleet earlier this year. Shepherd Conservation Society had repeatedly confronted Japan's whaling fleet earlier this year.
Japan's whaling fleet has killed about 7,000 Antarctic minkes over the past 20 years. (Reporting by Teruaki Ueno; Editing by David Fogarty)