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Whalers and activists clash again in
Antarctic waters
AP, SYDNEY
Friday, Feb 19, 2010, Page 4
A group of conservationists threw bottles of butyric acid at Japanese whalers
and blasted their ship with paint balls, while the Japanese fired water cannons
in their latest Antarctic Ocean clash, both sides said yesterday.
No one was injured in Wednesday¡¦s confrontation, the most recent in a string of
increasingly aggressive clashes between US-based activist group Sea Shepherd and
the whaling fleet. Japan condemned the conservationists¡¦ actions as dangerous
and violent. Sea Shepherd said they are simply doing what is necessary to
protect whales.
Sea Shepherd has long used butyric acid, produced from rancid butter, in their
annual fight to stop the whalers and maintains that the substance is nontoxic.
Earlier this month, Japan said three crew members on one of its whaling vessels
suffered face and eye injuries from an acid attack.
¡§We don¡¦t throw acid on them ¡X we throw rotten butter, which technically is
butyric acid,¡¨ Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson said by satellite phone from the
Antarctic yesterday. ¡§We¡¦ve been throwing rotten butter at them for five years.¡¨
Watson said his crew also shot paint balls at the Nisshin Maru to cover up a
sign that said ¡§research.¡¨ Japan hunts hundreds of mostly minke whales ¡X which
are not an endangered species ¡X in Antarctic waters each year under its whaling
research program, an allowed exception to the International Whaling Commission¡¦s
1986 ban on commercial whaling. Whale meat not used for study is sold for
consumption in Japan, which critics say is the real reason for the hunts.
Glenn Inwood, spokesman for Japan¡¦s Institute of Cetacean Research, which
sponsors the whale hunt, called Sea Shepherd¡¦s use of paint projectiles
dangerous.
¡§If they hit somebody on the boats, they could easily kill them,¡¨ Inwood said.
On Monday, Sea Shepherd activist Peter Bethune jumped aboard the Shonan Maru 2
from a Jet Ski with the stated goal of making a citizen¡¦s arrest of the ship¡¦s
captain and presenting him with a US$3 million bill for the destruction of the
Ady Gil.
He was taken into custody by the whalers and will face charges in Japan of
trespassing and assault.
Earlier this month, Sea Shepherd¡¦s ship the Bob Barker and a Japanese harpoon
boat collided, causing minor damage to both vessels. On Jan. 6, a Japanese
whaler struck Sea Shepherd¡¦s high-tech speedboat Ady Gil, which sank a day
later.
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