JAPANESE whalers appear to have abandoned their Antarctic hunt, with Sea Shepherd activists saying they are tracking the fleet as it steams away from the Southern Ocean.

After a series of heavy collisions between the whaling vessels and the Sea Shepherd fleet, the factory ship Nisshin Maru and its harpoon ships were on Saturday headed away from the Australian Antarctic Territory into the Indian Ocean.

''Things are looking good for the end of whaling for this season,'' said Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson. ''We came, we intervened, we stood fast, we won.''

The Japanese government was yet to comment, but it appeared that the whalers had quit the southern hunting grounds after a shorter-than-usual season, having taken no more than 75 whales by Sea Shepherd's estimation, far fewer than previous seasons.

Japan's consul-general in Melbourne, Hidenobu Sobashima, said his government did not discuss the movements of the fleet.