Former Greens leader Bob Brown says the Federal Government must do more to uphold its own whaling laws, after claims a whale was killed in Australia's Antarctic territory.

Dr Brown, who is the head of Sea Shepherd Australia's anti-whaling campaign, says Japanese whalers illegally harpooned a large minke whale near the Davis Research Base on Friday.The base is inside Australia's Antarctic territory. Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson says the anti-whaling activist group tried to stop the carcass from being transferred from the harpooning ship onto another vessel.He alleges the whalers attempted to ram their boat - the Bob Barker - but backed off.