By ROHAN SULLIVAN, Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — A tense standoff in frigid Antarctic waters ended Friday when two activists who had jumped on board a Japanese whaling boat were returned to their ship by Australian officials.
Their return paved the way for the Japanese fleet to resume killing whales, and for their staunchest opponents to restart their campaign of harassment to stop them.
Paul Watson, head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, said the two crew members were safely back on board the group’s ship, the Steve Irwin.
Earlier Friday, an Australian customs ship picked up the two activists — Australian Benjamin Potts, 28, and Briton Giles Lane, 35 — who prompted the faceoff when they leaped from a rubber boat onto the deck of the Japanese ship Yushin Maru 2 on Tuesday.
The dispute underscored the high-stakes nature of the contest fought each year in the remote and dangerous seas at the far south of the world, thousands of miles from the possibility of regular emergency or rescue services.
At issue is Japan’s foray into the Antarctica in November under a program that allows the killing of minke and fin whales for scientific research, despite an international ban on commercial whaling. Opponents say Japan has used the loophole to kill nearly 10,000 whales over the past two decades and sell their meat on the commercial market.
Sea Shepherd had said the pair wanted to deliver an anti-whaling letter and then leave, and accused the whalers of taking their members hostage. Japanese whaling officials said the activists were acting like pirates.
An impasse emerged when Japan demanded Sea Shepherd pick up the men in a small boat, keeping the bigger anti-whaling ship Steve Irwin at a safe distance. The Sea Shepherd’s head balked at any conditions set by the whalers.
Australia stepped in to break the impasse Thursday, offering to send the Oceanic Viking to collect the two activists and return them to their ship.
The standoff brought Japan’s whaling fleet to a temporary standstill while officials worked out the details of the men’s transfer.
Glenn Inwood, a spokesman for the Japanese whaling program, told New Zealand National Radio on Friday that the whaling fleet would now resume its hunting operations.
Watson, captain of the Steve Irwin, said he would resume aggravating the whalers, though it was unlikely members of his crew would again try to board one of the Japanese fleet.
“We have got them back without any conditions and now we are going to continue on harassing and chasing the Japanese fleet,” Watson said.
“They are down here illegally killing whales, illegally targeting endangered species … These people are no different than elephant poachers in Africa or tiger poachers in India,” Watson had told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. earlier.
A staunch anti-whaling nation, Australia sent the Oceanic Viking to the Antarctic Ocean last month to collect photo and video evidence that might be used in international courts to prove that the program is a front for commercial whaling.
