Whaling Protest: Greenpeacer Knocked Overboard, Sea Shepherd Out of Fuel

SOUTHERN OCEAN, January 16, 2006 (ENS) - A Greenpeace activist was dragged into the sea by a Japanese whaler's harpoon line late Saturday, the group says. The Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise has been chasing the Japanese whaling fleet in tandem with the Sea Shepherd vessel Farley Mowat to prevent the Japanese whalers from killing whales in the Antarctic Sanctuary.

At 6 pm local time, three activists in a Greenpeace inflatable were defending a minke whale from the harpoonist on the Yushin Maru No2 when a harpoon was shot over the heads of the activists. It struck and killed the whale almost instantly as the grenade tipped harpoon exploded. But the harpoon line got stuck on the steering controls of the inflatable, trapping the boat between the dead whale and the catcher ship.

As the harpoon line tightened, the boat's driver, Canadian activist Texas Joe Constantine was thrown overboard. Dressed in a survival suit, Constantine drifted in the icy waters red with the blood of the minke whale for several minutes. As the inflatable turned around, it was able to collect Constantine.

A harpoon line from the Japanese whaler Yushin Maru No2 entangles the Greenpeace inflatable in the Southern Ocean. (Photo courtesy Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR))

Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO Steve Shallhorn says the incident highlights the need for more pressure on the Japanese government to recall their whaling fleet. “It's way past time for [Prime Minister] John Howard and the world's anti-whaling nations to demand that Japan gets its whaling fleet out of the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary," said Shallhorn.

Greenpeace will keep up our intervention, but it will take strong international pressure to make Japan honor the International Whaling Commission ban on whaling in this sanctuary,” said Shallhorn, who has just taken the Greenpeace Australia Pacific leadership after a stint with Greenpeace Japan.

The Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) in Tokyo accused Greenpeace of taking increasing risks to harass the whaling fleet and keep their campaign in the news in New Zealand and Australia.

Greenpeace activist Texas Joe Constantine clings to the harpoon line after having been dragged from his inflatable. (Photo courtesy IRC)

“Our harpooner had a clear shot and took it. The strike was perfect and the whale was killed instantly,” he said. “The fact that the rope fell onto their inflatable and one of the activists fell into the water is entirely their fault.”

"Fortunately the minke whale was killed instantly," the ICR said, "otherwise both inflatable and activists could have been dragged underwater by the whale, with possible fatal consequences.

With their supply of fuel running out, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship Farley Mowat has been forced to leave the Southern Ocean and stop its month-long chase of the Japanese whaling fleet undertaken in tandem, although not in cooperation with the Greenpeace vessel.

“We are disappointed to have to leave, but we now have no alternative as we no longer have the fuel resources to stay. We have over stretched our fuel and now have just enough to reach the nearest port,” said Captain Paul Watson.

Sea Shepherd had made arrangements to refuel from a tanker near the French Kerguelen Islands but the delivery was cancelled. No reason was given.

The Japanese whaling fleet refueled from a tanker inside the Antarctic Treaty Zone. Watson says that action was an illegal violation of the Antarctic Treaty Zone. "The Sea Shepherd ship does not have that luxury of operating in violation of the Antarctic Treaty," he said, "and would not do so regardless."

Captain Paul Watson is taking the Farley Mowat north for refueling. (Photo courtesy Sea Shepherd)

“We wish the Greenpeace crew the best of luck in their efforts to protest the illegal whaling activities of the Japanese fleet. They have done an excellent job in exposing the crimes of the whalers to the public,” said Captain Watson from the Farley Mowat which is now en route north.

It will take the Farley Mowat 10 days to reach the nearest port for refueling. “We pushed it as far as we possibly could,” said 1st Officer Alex Cornelissen of the Netherlands. “If we don’t run into any extreme weather we should have just enough fuel to make land.” The weather in the area now is foggy with light snow.

While the Japanese Institute for Cetacean Research says their whaling entirely legal, Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd say the hunt is nothing more than commercial whaling in disguise. After the whales have been measured and weighed by the scientists, the whales are cut up and boxed for market.

Sea Shepherd is committed to shutting down the 17 year Japanese program that includes plans for the whalers to slaughter over 18,000 minke whales and hundreds of endangered fin and humpback whales.

“This year we have kept them on the run and they ran from us like cowards," Watson said. "We intimidated them. We knew we could not outrun them; we were limited to chasing them. Next year it is our plan to return with a ship that can match the speed of the Nisshin Maru. If we can keep up with the outlaw whalers, we should be able to prevent them from killing whales every day.”

Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO Steve Shallhorn (Photo courtesy Greenpeace)

ICR head Hatanaka said in a statement today, “Our research is perfectly legal in every aspect referred to by anti-whaling opponents and scientifically necessary to ensure the best decisions can be made for sustainable resource management.”

Hatanka claims that the Japanese whaling fleet is operating under a permit issued by the Japanese government based on its right under Article VIII of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW), which reads, “Notwithstanding anything contained in this Convention any Contracting Government may grant to any of its nationals a special permit authorizing that national to kill, take and treat whales for purposes of scientific research subject to such restrictions as to number and subject to such other conditions as the Contracting Government thinks fit, and the killing, taking, and treating of whales in accordance with the provisions of this Article shall be exempt from the operation of this Convention.”

Hatanaka said, “The fact that Article VIII begins and ends by categorically stating absolutely nothing in the ICRW or its Schedule affects research carried out under this provision. This means that the current moratorium on commercial whaling, which in our view expired in 1990, and the Southern Ocean Sanctuary provide no legal basis on which to stop this research."

Dead minke whale aboard the Nisshin Maru is stretched out for measurement. (Photo courtesy ICR)

In Canberra, Australian Environment Minister Senator Ian Campbell said today, "My own strong feeling is that if the activities of protestors become not sensible, then it risks putting what we're both trying to achieve - Greenpeace and the Australian government - backwards.

"I don't think people are going to have respect for tactics that are going to put human life at risk. You don't want to bring the whole cause of whale conservation into disrepute," Campbell said.

Leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Bob Brown, said in Hobart today, "Environment Minister Ian Campbell's call for the activities of whaling protesters to avoid becoming 'not sensible' is ludicrous in light of the Minister's failure to do anything meaningful for the whales."

Campbell said, "I know the Australian government has made our views on whale conservation very, very clear to the extent that we have on many occasions aggravated the Japanese which I… you know, on this issue I have no reservation in doing."

"But I think what is important," said Campbell, "is that we maintain our focus on the main game and that is that whaling will come to an end when the people of Norway and the people of Japan tell their governments unequivocally that the slaughter of whales, that the cold blooded destruction of whales needs to come to an end."

"Australians are outraged by the whaling and want government action," Senator Brown said. "But, sensing that, the minister implies it is not the business of Australians but is up to the people of Norway and Japan."

The Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise was involved in the collision with the Japanese whale processing ship Nisshin Maru last Sunday, putting a 1.5 meter (five foot) dent in the Sunrise's bow and bending its forward mast.

Greenpeace says it was rammed by the Nisshin Maru, while the ICR says the Greenpeace vessel was the one that did the ramming.

Japan has warned it may send armed aircraft to defend its whaling ships in the Southern Ocean if clashes with protest boats escalate.

In addition, Japan says it may ask Australia to take action against protesters.

In New Zealand, the escalating conflict prompted a Green Party call last week for New Zealand to send a frigate to Antarctica in a monitoring role - an action the government ruled out.

Because of the protest, Japan may catch fewer whales than it had planned for the season, head of the whaling section at the Japan Fisheries Ministry Hideki Moronuki said last week.