THE dire state of Japan's whaling industry has been highlighted in a Greenpeace analysis showing the whalers sell so little whale meat they are almost wholly dependent on taxpayer help.

The industry has been able to reach deep into government subsidy schemes to prop up its fortunes and set up the key factory ship Nisshin Maru to run for another decade, the analysis says.

Relying on handouts ... the Japanese whaling industry.

And with the return to power of the Liberal Democratic Party leader, Shinzo Abe, as next prime minister of Japan, observers see a strengthened pro-whaling lobby in Tokyo.

Already about a month from departing for its Antarctic season, Nisshin Maru returned to port in Innoshima on Thursday after four hours at sea, Greenpeace said