Police Board Vegan Pirate Vessel, Seize Video

SYDNEY — Police boarded the ship of a militant anti-whaling group and seized videotapes of violent clashes between the activists and Japanese whalers, the group said Saturday.

Police said they were investigating the clashes after Japanese authorities reported them to Australian officials, but would not to go into further detail.

Paul Watson, head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, said Australian Federal Police agents with search warrants boarded the group's ship, the Steve Irwin, as it docked late Friday in the southern Australian city of Hobart.

The police seized video being shot for the television series "Whale Wars" about the group's campaign to stop a Japanese fleet from killing whales in waters off Antarctica, the Sea Shepherd said in a statement.

The federal police said it had held discussions with crew aboard the Steve Irwin and was investigating events in the Antarctic Ocean "as a result of a formal referral from the Japanese authorities."

The investigation was being conducted in accordance with Australia's obligations under international law, though it was not clear what law, if any, may have been broken.

A police spokeswoman said it would not be appropriate to comment further until the investigation is finished.

The Steve Irwin and Japanese whaling ships collided twice in recent months, and the activists have staged hit-an-run attacks on the fleet with rancid butter-filled bottles hurled from motorized runabouts, according to both sides. Video taken by the conservationists shows the whalers responding with water cannons.

Each side has accused the other of putting lives in danger.

The skirmishes were the latest between Sea Shepherd activists and Japanese whalers in Antarctic waters, where the hunters each season kill about 1,000 whales as part of its International Whaling Commission-sanctioned scientific whaling program.

Critics say the program is a front for commercial whaling.

Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research _ the government-affiliated organization that oversees the hunt _ has long demanded Australia do more to prevent the clashes and suggested the Steve Irwin be barred from refueling and restocking in Australian ports.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's government strongly opposes whaling, and during the 2007-08 season sent a Customs vessel to collect video and photographs of the Japenese fleet that officials said could be used as evidence in an international court case to stop the hunt.

Nothing came of the threat, and the government now says it prefers to use diplomacy to persuade Japan to stop whaling.

Comments

[QueenCeleste]

God bless Captain Paul Watson and the crew of the Sea Shepherd. They are among the bravest animal activists in the world. Risking their lives for this cause is extraordinarily heroic.

And Japan: leave the damn whales alone! Decades ago an elderly Japanese man told me, as he signed my petition to the Japanese government to end whaling, "Japan kill too much." Enough.

[story1]

this article is from the Huffington post Japan, which might explain the title.

[story1]

Not sure why the title of the article does not mention Sea Shepherd.
By simply referring to the organization as "Vegan Pirate", it is only one step away from referring to Sea Shepherd as group of eco terrorists.
The title should have read: Police board ship of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

[QueenCeleste]

I agree. What gives HuffPost?

[story1]

By decimating already endangered species, man is actually killing himself.
The threat is very serious, and illegal whaling is decimating not only whales, but accelerating the decline of the ecosystem.
Once the ecosystem is destroyed, which could very well be in the lifetime of our children, then it will be the turn of our children to struggle for survival.
We cannot live for ourselves any longer. We are past the turning point.

[Connee]

The Japanese people, for the most part, are unaware of the activities of the Japanese Whalers. Most of them do not eat whale meat and find it unpalatabl­e.It is time to put a stop to this pillage of a highly intelligent species.Th­e Japanese Whalers are in a whale sanctuary killing whales illegally and in violation of numerous international laws. The fin whales they kill are on the CITES endangered species list and the minkes are well on the way. The Japanese people are a proud people and they consume twenty five percent of the world's fish. They are probably afraid if we stop them from whaling we will stop them from fishing. Every one of the world's fisheries are in collapse and ninety percent of the ocean is devoid of life due to commercial fishing practices. Sea Shepherd is the only group that directly intervenes for the lives of the whales, seals and other ocean life. Paul Watson is a very smart man and he anticipated the confiscation of these tapes. Believe me we will see the tapes and the world will see how these whales die. That is what they do not want, is for the world to see this sham scientific research!

[RTIII]

...So... If you're ever part of such green activity (or any "activist" activity), your FIRST step after taking footage should be to make a backup copy and stash it VERY well...
.

[haramagoti]

Good, the illegality over the non-commercial use of the senseless murders of our decreasing whale population can be aired that much more publicly, thanks to those perpetuating the crimes. It's not enough to show the world that the murders are taking place, it's how the whale killers are lying to divert laws in place to prevent the whales from ending up in the places that they are, as opposed to the legal places they rest, which shouldn't be legal at all. Ban whaling. Go green already, so far as energy. Eat tofu whale already, so far as food.

[ChaiKat]

I totally agree with you. This is a disgusting and barbaric practice, and it's sickening that they hide behind the veil of "research". How many whales do you need to do research, and what the he!! are you researching that needs so many to be killed? It's obscene.

[DrFelch]

I love Japan and Japanese culture and history. That being said, I agree with haram. Whaling should be totally banned and criminalized. There is no reason to kill these animals at all. Even the japanese do not eat whale anymore. I really do not know why they are killing them. It makes no sense. It's an amazing thing. There are still whales alive today that have been around since the dawn of mechanized commercial whaling, and even before. They are actually superior to us in many ways.

[uglyhumanbeing]

japanese don't eat whale?
native americans don't eat whale?

[UbiVeritas]

Please get your terms straight. Murder is the killing of a human being. Whales aren't human beings, at least the last time I checked.

[GoldenAgeMaster]

Ubi,

Plus Whale tastes a whole lot better!

[Joethepauper]

Whales are intelligent. I would go as far as saying that they are MORE intelligent than most humans. Just because they don't build structures (that get destroyed every time a natural disaster hits) and fight wars (against their own kind) doesn't mean they aren't as smart as us, it just means that their way of life is sustainable. So, does one of the most intelligent mammals in the ocean feel pain? It's arrogant and species-centric to think that they don't. We are all animals, no matter what the creationists tell you. If you were swimming around minding your own business and someone harpooned you and gutted you ALIVE on a boat, would that be murder? Killing that takes place in war isn't called "murder" either, but that's what it is: Organized killing of any species is mass murder. Don't think that just because you belong to a priviledged species that you're special. Which is smarter, the dumbest human on Earth, or the smartest whale? I hope the Buddists are right and UbiVeritas is reincarnated as a cetacean.

[QueenCeleste]

This sort of arrogance is why such killings continue.