ST. HELIER, Jersey, UK, July 12, 2011 (ENS) - The seas around Antarctica will be the scene of confrontations over whaling again this year.

Japan will send its whaling fleet to the Antarctic again, a senior Japanese official has told BBC News, and the Sea Shepherd's anti-whaling vessels will be there to disrupt the hunt.

On the eve of an international meeting to decide the fate of thousands of whales, New Zealand's foreign minister is warning  that the International Whaling Commission (IWC) is facing total collapse.

Murray McCully told TVNZ's Q and A programme that could result in anarchy on the high seas and open slather on whales. "Essentially we could end up with anarchy, in terms of the whaling activity on the open sea, there'll no real effective constraint if the IWC ceases to exist or...ceases to be fully representative," says McCully.