Confrontation likely between Greenpeace and Japanese whalers

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http://news./s/afp/20091119/sc_afp/japanwhaling Japan whale fleet

leave for Antarctic: Greenpeace

[image: AFP]

by Frank Zeller Frank Zeller – 2 hrs 28 mins ago

 

TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese whaling ships left port Thursday for Antarctic waters

for their annual hunt of the ocean giants, Greenpeace said, setting the

stage for high-seas confrontations with anti-whaling activists.

 

The factory ship Nisshin Maru and the smaller Yushin Maru 2 and 3 set sail

from western Innoshima port while the Shonan Maru left eastern Shiogama

harbour for their planned five-month voyage, said the environmental activist

group.

 

Japan kills hundreds of whales a year in the Southern Ocean Whale

Sanctuaryby using a loophole in a 1986 international moratorium on

commercial whaling

that allows the sea mammals to be hunted for lethal " research. "

 

Anti-whaling nations led by Australia and New Zealand and environmental

groups including Greenpeace have long attacked Japan for its annual whaling

expeditions, criticizing them as cruel and unnecessary.

 

Japan, which says whaling is part of its culture, makes no secret of the

fact that whale meat ends up on its dinner tables.

 

Japan's fisheries agency declined to confirm the ships' departure, citing

security reasons, and urged anti-whaling activists to refrain from violence.

 

" We don't say you shouldn't campaign against whaling, but there is a strict

line between peaceful campaigns and violence, " said Shigeki Takaya, a

fisheries agency official in charge of whaling.

 

Militant activist group the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has harassed

the whalers in recent years, moving their own ships and inflatable boats

between the harpoon ships and the sea mammals.

 

Last year their ship the " Steve Irwin " collided with a whaling ship.

Activists were also accused of hurling stink bombs and rancid butter at the

whalers, who allegedly deployed ear-piercing sonic weapons against them.

 

During their five-month hunt last season, the six Japanese ships

caught 679 minke

whales and one fin whale -- well below the fleet's planned haul of between

765 and 935 whales, Japan's fisheries agency said.

 

The captain of the " Steve Irwin, " Canadian Paul Watson, has vowed to " be

their ongoing nightmare every year until they stop their horrific and

unlawful slaughter of the great whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary

.. "

 

This year the activists say they also plan to deploy a super-fast, space-age

powerboat, the " Ady Gil " , formerly known as " Earthrace, " which jetted round

the world in just under 61 days last year, a new record.

 

The tri-hulled, kevlar-and-carbon vessel, which can manage speeds up to 50

knots (57 miles/93 kilometres per hour), will chase the harpoon boats during

their annual hunt in the icy seas south of Australia.

 

" The Ady Gil will be our interceptor. It will be able to latch on to a

harpoon boat and prevent it killing any whales, " said Watson. " It should be

able to run rings around them. "

 

Watson said the boat, bankrolled to the tune of one million dollars by

Hollywood businessman Ady Gil, will accompany the " Steve Irwin " during its

three-month campaign from early December.

 

Norway and Iceland are the only other nations that hunt whales in open

defiance of a 1986 IWC moratorium on commercial whaling.

 

Japan agreed in 2007 to suspend plans to expand its hunt to include humpback

whales, which are popular with Australian whale-watchers.

 

A new Japanese centre-left government which took power mid-September has

said it has no plans to change Japan's position on whaling.

 

Greenpeace has voiced hope that moves to cut government waste will slash the

budget of Japan's Overseas Fisheries Cooperation Fund, which in turn

finances the whaling body, the Institute for Cetacean Research.

 

The environmental group has lodged a submission recommending that the

whaling programme be cut, labelling it corruption-ridden and a waste of 795

million yen (8.8 million dollars) in government subsidies this year.

 

" Japanese taxpayers? money is being squandered on life-support for a whaling

programme that produces virtually nothing of value, " said Jun Hoshikawa,

executive director of Greenpeace Japan.

 

" With well over 9,000 minke whales killed in 22 years and no useful data

produced, Japan's so-called ?research? in the Antarctic is an international

embarrassment. "