Australia's government is unlikely to send ships to monitor Japanese whaling in the Antarctic this season, lawmakers said Tuesday, after clashes with activists last year led to a diplomatic protest from Tokyo.

Canberra last year sent a customs and fisheries icebreaker to shadow anti-whaling activists and the Japanese fleet , gathering photo evidence of the yearly research hunt for a possible international legal case against Tokyo. But after high-seas clashes between the whalers and activists in the frigid Southern Ocean, the brief detention of activists on a whale hunting ship and diplomatic protests from Japan, Environment Minister Peter Garrett would not promise a repeat.