Whalers, environmentalists clash on high seas

After a week of confronting Japanese whalers in Antarctic waters, the group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is heading for port as fuel supplies have become critical aboard its flagship Farley Mowat. On Feb. 12 a collision occurred after the Sea Shepherd ship Robert Hunter crossed in front of the Japanese harpoon ship Kaiko Maru allowing a pod of whales to escape harpooning. According to the Sea Shepherds, the Japanese vessel then swerved, sideswiping the Robert Hunter into an iceberg. The Japanese ship which issued a distress call after the collisions, contend that the collision, which caused two gashes to be ripped in the hull of the Robert Hunter, was the fault of the Sea Shepherd vessel. According to the Sea Shepherds, the collision was fully documented by a film crew onboard the Robert Hunter, and the evidence shows the Japanese ship was at fault. A statement released by the Sea Shepherds after the collision stated, "Sea Shepherd has no problem with admitting to ramming a whaling ship involved with illegal whaling, if we had in fact done so.... In this case, Sea Shepherd categorically refutes the Japanese accusations that they were rammed." The Sea Shepherds have sunk 10 whaling vessels since 1979, all in the North Atlantic. The Japanese whaling fleet has also intentionally rammed vessels before. On Jan. 8, 2006, the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise was deliberately rammed and damaged by the Japanese whaling vessel Nisshin Maru. Earlier in the week, both the Farley Mowat and the Robert Hunter confronted the Nisshin Maru, a factory processing ship where harpooned whales are hauled aboard for slaughter. The fleet of harpoon ships that accompany the Nisshin Maru fled the area and a pod of whales that were being hunted escaped. Zodiac boats from the Sea Shepherds vessel then threw butyric acid (a nontoxic butter acid with a noxious smell) onto the flensing deck, where whales are hauled aboard the ship. The Zodiac crews also nailed plates to the drain outlets on the Nisshin Maru that spill the blood of the whales from the flensing deck into the sea. This caused the blood to back up onto the flensing decks. The Japanese claim that two whalers were injured when six liters of butyric acid were tossed onto the flensing deck of the Nisshin Maru. "Nice try, but a total fabrication," said Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherds. "The butyric acid is contained in one-liter glass bottles, all of which broke upon contact with the flensing deck of the Nisshin Maru. These bottles are sealed and the acid released after being broke, so it is impossible to be hit by an empty bottle. Secondly, no one squirted butyric acid into anyone's eye, and even if they did, this is a simple non-toxic butter acid, basically rancid butter. It will not cause eye injury." The Japanese whaling fleet plans on catching over 1,000 whales this year in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary. Japan has recently expanded whaling quotas, doubling the harvest of piked (Minke) whales and endangered Fin whales. The Japanese fleet will also be hunting Humpback whales for the first time since the 1980s. A Greenpeace ship, The Esperanza, is in route from New Zealand to intercept the whalers. Though the two environmental groups seem often at odds, the Sea Shepherd has relayed the coordinates of the Japanese fleet to the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza stating "the whales need every anti-whaling ship in the area." The Sea Shepherd ships had searched thousands of square miles for six weeks before finding the Japanese fleet. They contend that the Japanese are in violation of international environmental law by engaging in commercial whaling, targeting endangered species and violating the internationally protected Southern Ocean Sanctuary. The Japanese contend their whaling activities are for scientific research despite the size of their hunt and the sale of whale meat to Japanese consumers.