CANBERRA, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Australian and international scientists will meet in Sydney on Monday to discuss non-lethal whale research.

    It offers a new perspective on the numbers and distribution of whales in and around the Antarctic sea-ice, Australian Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett said in a statement.

    According to Garrett, the data on whale populations in pack ice of the Southern Ocean, which has collected by Australian Marine Mammal Center and CSIRO scientists would be the focus of Monday's meeting.

    "The data collected and the research techniques involved will make a major contribution to global understanding of whales," Garrett said.

    The inaugural Southern Ocean Research Partnership was announced at the end of last year in an attempt to debunk Japan's controversial lethal whaling research methods in the southern oceans.