Institute of Cetacean Research
Citing environmental concerns, specifically the disabled ship's proximity to Cape Adare, Antarctica and the world's largest Adelie penguin rookery, New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter joined international citizens' groups in urgently requesting that the ship be towed away. Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), which used to administer the ship with the Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha, declined offers of a tow from the Greenpeace ship , which had been nearby and monitoring the situation since February 17. On February 28, the ICR released a statement on its decision to cut short its Antarctic whale hunt for 2006/07 due to unrecoverable equipment, and "Nisshin Maru" departed for Japan.