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AUCKLAND (AFP) – Anti-whaling activist Peter Bethune returned to New Zealand on Saturday, vowing he would never give up his fight to stop Japanese whaling.

Bethune was deported from Japan after receiving a suspended two-year sentence for obstructing Japanese whaling in the Antarctic Ocean.

The sentence was suspended for five years because, the judge said, Bethune had no criminal record in Japan, had apologised and paid for damage he caused, and because he had said he would join no more Antarctic missions.

But when he spoke briefly to reporters on his return home, Bethune said he would never give up his fight to stop Japanese whaling although he was unsure if he would return to Antarctic waters.

"There's a few things that I need to figure out and to have a chat with some people to figure out what I'm doing next," the Stuff website quoted Bethune saying.

"Yeah, sure it was worth it, I have no regrets ... I don't regret anything about what I did, but I don't know if it's made any difference," he added before being taken to a private area to be reunited with his wife and daughters.

Bethune, 45, was detained after he boarded a Japanese whaler in the Antarctic Ocean in February during the campaign by the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to stop the annual Japanese whale hunt.

He pleaded guilty to obstructing commercial activities, trespass, vandalism and carrying a knife, with which he cut the ship's security netting.

Sea Shepherd leader, Paul Watson, said after the trial that the pledge that Bethune would not join future action in the Antarctic was just a legal manoeuvre as Japanese judges would have been hesitant to release him if he were to return to the Southern Ocean.