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| Down Under |
| Australians Remove Anti-Whaling Protesters from Japanese Vessel |
| 2008-01-19 |
| The transfer of the two campaigners Thursday has ended a tense standoff in the icy waters of the Southern Ocean. The two men from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society had boarded the Japanese whaler Yushin Maru No. 2 on Tuesday. They ostensibly wanted to deliver a letter protesting the annual Japanese whale hunt, but the boarding - captured on video by their colleagues - was also meant to give international visibility to their anti-whaling campaign. After jumping aboard the Japanese ship, Briton Giles Lane and Australian Benjamin Potts were detained by the Japanese crew for almost three days. During that time the whaling fleet and the protesters traded accusations of kidnapping, piracy, and even "terrorism." The Australian government finally offered to end the impasse by sending a customs ship, the Oceanic Viking, to retrieve the activists. Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says the transfer worked smoothly because of Canberra's close diplomatic ties with Tokyo. "If we didn't have such a strong relationship with Japan, then over the last couple of days we wouldn't have seen both the Australian government and the Japanese government at one wanting to secure and affect the safe and speedy transfer of Benjamin Potts and the U.K. national," said Smith. The Japanese had offered earlier to send the men back to their ship, if the protesters would stop harassing the whaling fleet. The captain of the protest ship refused to accept the condition. The men are now back on board the Sea Shepherd vessel. Potts, the Australian, says the campaign against the whalers will continue. "Hopefully we'll continue with the chase until such time that we have to head back - same as before, we'll continue to harass the Japanese fleet and prevent them from whaling," he said. The Japanese plan to kill about a thousand whales during the Antarctic summer. Now that the two Sea Shepherd members have been released, the controversial whaling expedition will resume. The Australian government calls the whale hunt an unnecessary slaughter, while the Japanese say their fleet is conducting scientific research. Australian police are investigating the actions of two men. Law experts say the pair are subject to Australian law, and could face a range of charges including a criminal act of terrorism. Australia sent the Oceanic Viking to the Antarctic last month to collect evidence that could be used in international court action against the Japanese whaling program. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #6 Yes, that is a damn fine name for a customs ship. Actually, a leased commercial vessel (with a hull strengthened for ice-breaking). Also has a 'boarding party' armed with .50 cal machine guns; the latter stowed below decks. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-01-19 23:15 |
| #5 Sea Shepherd crew attacks Japanese Whaling Ship with stink bombs http://news.smh.com.au/stink-bombings-to-continue-sea-shepherd/20080119-1mwb.html (Link button didn't work for me- am using Firefox) |
| Posted by: Oztralian 2008-01-19 22:30 |
| #4 a customs ship, the Oceanic Viking Yes, that is a damn fine name for a customs ship. |
| Posted by: Thomas Woof 2008-01-19 19:02 |
| #3 If they claim they are harvesting a thousand whales, they are harvesting 10 thousand whales. I call bullshit on the scientific research thing also. |
| Posted by: Tiny Omerens2017 2008-01-19 09:47 |
| #2 Concur AP. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2008-01-19 09:33 |
| #1 Harvesting a thousand whales does seem to be a bit of an excess for scientific research, but there are more appropriate ways of dealing with this than with attempts at fouling the screws of the whaling ship. The protesters' behaviors are smacking of piracy, and need to be treated as pirates. The protestors could easily have used telephoto lenses with video and still cameras and could have made a propaganda video that would make one weep. They are moroons and pirates. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2008-01-19 00:30 |