Activist falls overboard in clash with whalers

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Activist falls overboard in clash with whalers

 

SYDNEY (AP) Japanese whalers fired a harpoon over a

Greenpeace boat, throwing one of the environmental

group's activists into Antarctic waters, the group

said Sunday.

 

The incident was the latest escalation in increasingly

acrimonious clashes between whalers and

environmentalists intent on halting the annual hunt of

the marine mammals.

 

Last week, a whaling factory ship and a Greenpeace

vessel collided on the high seas, with each side

blaming the other for the crash.

 

Greenpeace Australia chief executive Steve Shallhorn

said a harpoon came within a meter of a small

inflatable launch.

 

As it hit a whale and the animal submerged, the

harpoon's rope snagged the Greenpeace boat, tossing

Canadian activist Texas Joe Constantine into the water

for a short time before he scrambled back aboard,

Shallhorn said.

 

" He may have swallowed some sea water and whale

blubber, but he is all right, " he said.

 

The Institute of Cetacean Research in Tokyo accused

Greenpeace of taking increasing risks in its campaign

to harass the whaling fleet.

 

" The fact that the rope fell onto their inflatable and

one of the activists fell into the water is entirely

their fault, " Hiroshi Hatanaka, director general at

the institute, said in a statement.

 

" We are also concerned that they tried to cut the line

because it makes it more dangerous for them, " he

added. " Greenpeace are taking more and more dangerous

risks to maintain media interest in their (public

relations) campaign. "

 

Two Greenpeace ships have for weeks been chasing

Japan's whaling fleet in Antarctic waters, hampering

their hunt for 850 minke whales and 10 fin whales as

part of Japan's scientific research program.

 

The Japan Times: Jan. 16, 2006