The agency in charge of Japan's whaling program says it will ask the Japanese government for an extra $30 million for this year's Antarctic hunt.

Japan's fisheries agency wants the extra money so it can better protect the fleet against harassment from the militant Sea Shepherd conservation group.

It plans to send a patrol boat to the Antarctic to shadow the whaling fleet.

Sea Shepherd says its members are prepared to die to protect whales from Japanese fleets.

Last whaling season, Sea Shepherd's militant tactics forced the Japanese fleet to call off the hunt a month early and return home with just one-fifth of its quota.

The fisheries agency has also linked the continuation of the whaling hunt with the reconstruction of tsunami-hit whaling communities like Ishinomaki.

It says the revenue from the whaling program will help Ishinomaki recover from the tsunami.