A leading marine conservation group has claimed that Japan is considering seizing ships that protest against whaling.

A whaler passes close across Farley Mowat's bow. Photo: Sea Shepherd

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society says it has been told by a reliable source that "Japan has dispatched a warship to the Southern Ocean for the purpose of protecting their whaling fleet from interference by whale conservation activists".

Sea Shepherd fears that Japan could use the UN's Law of the Sea to justify its actions, on the basis that protesting vessels are carrying out acts of piracy.

The law defines piracy as "any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship..." against "another ship...or against persons or property on board such ship".

And a state can seize, "on the high seas", a ship judged to have committed an act of piracy against one of its registered vessels, and decide what penalties should be imposed.

Sea Shepherd's ship Farley Mowat has been chasing Japanese whalers off Antarctica where, it alleges, the whalers are violating international agreements. Over Christmas, close manoeuvres occurred when one whaler was intercepted.

Sea Shepherd denies that its actions could be defined as piracy, and that Japan's use of the Law of the Sea to seize its vessel would be unjustified. It says it can order the whalers to leave the Southern Ocean under the authority of the United Nations World Charter for Nature.

Related links
Sea Shepherd website


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