New Zealand Press Association December 29, 2008
Japanese whalers say Animal Planet cameras aboard the protest vessel Steve Irwin could lead "extremists" to take even riskier actions in the Antarctic waters south of New Zealand.
Anti-whaling campaigners aboard the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship say they have driven the Japanese whaling fleet from Australian Antarctic waters into waters off New Zealand's Ross Dependency.
The Japan Whaling Association (JWA) said it feared for the lives of the Japanese crew, as well as the safety of the vessels, because of the actions of Sea Shepherd and Animal Planet "extremists" aboard.
The JWA said in a statement that the protest expedition was extremely volatile and had the ingredients to turn "very nasty, very quickly" because of the film crew on board.
"Last season in the Antarctic, the presence of the Animal Plant film crew pushed the Sea Shepherd extremists into committing more and more dangerous actions, all for the benefit of the camera," said JWA president Keiichi Nakajima.
"(Captain) Paul Watson even orchestrated a fake event to make it look like he was shot, all of which was aimed at denigrating Japan and boosting the ratings of the Animal Planet un-reality TV series.
"We expect more dangerous and criminal activity will be carried out by the Sea Shepherd-Animal Planet crew because they want to make an exciting television series and this fills us with very great concern for the lives of the Japanese crews and scientists," Mr Nakajima said.
Steve Irwin captain Paul Watson earlier said his ship had chased the whalers for over 1280km since last Saturday through bad weather and heavy ice.
The whaling boats have been pelted with rotten butter and slime.
The whalers also say the activists rammed their boat, Kaiko Maru, and have branded the group terrorist vigilantes, but Mr Watson said the two ships simply brushed together as his crew were pelting the Kaiko Maru with 25 bottles of butyric acid, found in rotten butter.
"It's probably still smelling," Watson told The Dominion Post newspaper.
They also threw a slimy gel made from methyl cellulose, a white powder that turns to slime when dissolved in cold water. The aim was to make it impossible for the whaling crew to work on deck.
Watson said his ship was about 150km behind the Japanese boats and was keeping track of them from the air as they gave chase.
The Steve Irwin had enough fuel to stay at sea until mid-January when the crew planned to refuel in Dunedin. They also had hundreds more bottles of butyric acid.
The Japanese aim to catch 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales this summer. They say the catch is entirely for scientific purposes.
The Institute of Cetacean Research, which runs the hunt, said its activities were legally accepted by the International Whaling Commission.
"Sea Shepherd is a terrorist vigilante group that is operating outside of the confines of international maritime law. Their activity threatens the safety of our crews and scientists and should not be condoned," director-general Minoru Morimoto said.
© 2008 NZPA
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