Makita, 27, was reported missing soon after the Nisshin Maru sent out a distress call on Thursday when a fire erupted in an area where whale carcasses are processed.
The Nisshin Maru, stranded in Antarctic waters, was on an even keel on Saturday after pumps cleared water that was used to douse the fire that crippled it.
It was not immediately clear where Kazutaka Makita's body was found.
Environmental threat
The blaze aboard the 8,000-tonne whaler has raised concerns about environmental damage and threatened to cut short the Japanese whaling fleet's controversial hunt in the Southern Ocean.
New Zealand officials and environmentalists have expressed concern that the whaler could threaten the Antarctic's biggest penguin rookery at Cape Adare, about 175km away.
The ship is carrying hundreds of thousands of litres of oil and has no engine power.
The environmental group, Greenpeace, has a vessel in the area but its offer to tow the Nisshin Maru out of Antarctic waters has been rejected by
Even keel
"Everything is hunky dory at the moment and we want it to stay that way, but we can't be guaranteed it will stay that way," he said.
"It is extremely unlikely they will be able to restore full power."
The Nisshin Maru was secured to two other Japanese whaling vessels but they would have limited control if the seas rose, Corbett said.
The
Corbett said there were "diplomatic efforts" to have the vessel removed from the area.
Environmental groups say the hunts are a pretext to keep
