Whale Activists "Captured"

Whale Activists "Captured"
By Andrew Darby
The Age AU

Wednesday 16 January 2008

The war between whalers and protesters escalated last night when two activists - an Australian and a Briton - stormed a Japanese ship and were detained on board by crew members.

The drama at sea came hours after the Federal Court in Sydney found that whaling in Australian Antarctic waters was illegal - a ruling that could place pressure on the Rudd Government to take more action to stop the hunt.

In a daring protest, Australian Benjamin Potts, 28, and Briton Giles Lane, 35, boarded the moving Japanese whale catcher, Yushin Maru No. 2, just inside the Australian Antarctic Sanctuary in the Southern Ocean. The pair, from the Sea Shepherd protest vessel Steve Irwin, were reported to have been tied to the whaling ship's radar mast and left out in the cold for several hours after delivering a letter to the captain saying that the crew was "illegally killing whales."

Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research confirmed that two activists had been "taken into custody" and were being held in a "secure room" on the ship.

But the head of the institute, Minoru Morimoto, denied the men had been tied up. "Any accusations that we have tied them up or assaulted them are completely untrue," he said.

"It is illegal to board another country's vessels on the high seas. As a result, at this stage, they are being held in custody while decisions are made on their future."

Mr Morimoto said the activists had boarded the ship after attempting to "entangle the screw of the vessel using ropes and throwing bottles of acid onto the decks."

Sea Shepherd international director Jonny Vasic insisted the men had been tied up. "We have a photo that shows that when they were held they were basically strapped by the arms with zip ties and tied with rope around their chests," he said. "And then they were held there for several hours in the cold."

Sea Shepherd's leader, Captain Paul Watson, said the incident happened after the group's vessel broke up the whaling fleet's attempt to resupply in the Southern Ocean.

Captain Watson said the activists were being held hostage, and he had notified the Australian Federal Police that he would like to see charges of kidnapping brought against the whalers.

The letter given to the Japanese captain said the pair were not intending to "commit a crime, to rob you or to inflict injury upon your crew and yourself or damage to your ship."

As the drama unfolded on the ship, Greenpeace continued to chase the main Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru away from the whaling area, while Oceanic Viking - the Australian customs ship sent south to monitor the whalers - was yet to appear.

Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland last night ruled out using Ocean Viking to enforce yesterday's court ruling against the Japanese whaling company's hunt.

Before the election, Environment Minister Peter Garrett said Labor would enforce the law banning whale slaughter in the Australian-declared sanctuary.

But Mr McClelland said yesterday enforcement would put lives at risk. "More than that, to ultimately end whaling ... is to win the co-operation of the Japanese," he said.

The Japanese Government recently ordered the whalers not to take humpbacks, in a deal reached with the US under Australian pressure.

In the case brought by the Humane Society International, the Federal Court ruled yesterday that the Japanese whale hunt was unlawful under Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

But in his ruling, Justice Jim Allsop acknowledged that enforcing the injunction would prove difficult, given Japan's refusal to acknowledge Australia's sovereignty over the sanctuary's waters.