Japanese and American officials discussed taking action to weaken the prominent anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd, with Tokyo insisting it was hurting efforts to reduce whaling, U.S. diplomatic cables show.

The anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd was at the centre of discussions between officials in the U.S. and Japan, which insisted the U.S.-based group was hurting efforts to reduce whaling, according to a document released by WikiLeaks. (Yuriko Nakao/Reuters)

The U.S. representative to the International Whaling Commission, Monica Medina, discussed revoking the U.S.-based conservation group's tax exempt status during a meeting with senior officials from the Fisheries Agency of Japan in November 2009, according to the documents released by WikiLeaks on Monday.

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's yearly protest campaigns — which chase Japan's whaling fleet in boats trying to disrupt the hunt by fouling fishing lines and throwing rancid butter at whalers — have drawn high-profile donors and volunteers. It has also spawned the popular Animal Planet series Whale Wars. In Japan, the harassment is seen by some as foreign interference in national affairs and has made politicians wary of getting involved.

Action against Sea Shepherd would be a "major element" in achieving success at international negotiations on the number of whales killed each year, the cables cite the director general of Japan's fisheries agency, Katsuhiro Machida, as saying.

Referring to Sea Shepherd, Medina said "she believes the USG [U.S. government] can demonstrate the group does not deserve tax exempt status based on their aggressive and harmful actions," according the cables.

Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd's founder, said Japan has previously pressured foreign governments to take action against the group, such as revoking the registration of its ships. He said the organization had last been audited about two years ago, which is before the exchanges detailed in the cables.

"We have had our tax status since 1981, and we have done nothing different since then to cause the IRS [Internal Revenue Service] to change that," he told The Associated Press by telephone from his ship.

The diplomatic cables, posted on WikiLeaks' secret-sharing website early Monday but dated Jan. 1, show Japanese officials repeatedly told U.S. counterparts the group's actions were making whaling a political issue and hurting any chance of a compromise on the numbers of whales killed each year.

Sea Shepherd vessels are currently chasing Japan's whaling fleet in the Antarctic Ocean in the hopes of interrupting its hunt, which kills up to 1,000 whales annually and typically lasts from December to February.

Japan hunts whales under the research exemption to a 1986 worldwide ban on commercial hunts. Critics say there is no reason to kill the animals, and the research program amounts to commercial whaling in disguise because surplus meat from the hunt is sold domestically.