15.01.2008 – [latest update at bottom]
In what has been an unpredictably dramatic day for the campaign against whaling in Antarctica, the crew of a Japanese harpoon gunboat have seized Australian and British crew mebers of the Sea Shepherd vessel, Steve Irwin.
Astounding! Last year around this time, things were really getting dramatic in the Sea Shepherd pursuit of the Japanese whaling fleet across Antarctica. Crew missing at sea, shipboard fires, the risk of a pristine environment being chemically decimated, and even one human death as an accompaniment to the slaughter of hundreds of mammoth sentient beings.
Not to be outdone, the 2007/08 season of resistance has just kicked into overdrive. Today, the Australian Federal Court called Japanese whaling – in Australian waters, at least – what it is: illegal. The Honourable Justice Allsop issued an injunction ordering that all Japanese whaling within Australian Antarctic waters (which Japan and most other countries don’t recognize) stop immediately. So, technically, since about 3pm Australian East Coast time every single crew member of the Japanese whaling fleet has been eligible for arrest should they enter Australian territories.
But the Japanese whaling fleet, as always, needed to up the ante. In the last 50 minutes it has been reported that the crew of the harpoon gunboat Yashin Maru II have taken two Sea Shepherd activists – Australian Benjamin Potts and a Briton, Giles Lane – hostage, and tied them to the radar mast of their ship. Earlier today the Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin broke off its pursuit of the whale-processing factory vessel, also known as the Cetacean Death Star, the Nisshin Maru. With Greenpeace’s Esperanza still pursuing the factory ship away from the rest of the whaling fleet, the Shepherds turned about to disrupt the activities of the rest of the scattered fleet.
Obviously, they found them alright. Shepherd Captain Paul Watson reports that the two men, who have now been effectively kidnapped on the high seas – ironically, a genuine act of piracy by the Japanese whalers – had boarded the ship to deliver a letter to the captain proclaiming their whaling activity illegal and demanding an immediate cessation of whale-hunting, as per the order made today by the Federal Court.
Seems that Australian concerns about creating a diplomatic incident with Japan pale in comparison to what the whaling fleet are clearly eager to create.
Stay tuned.
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The Japanese harpoon vessel Yushin Maru No. 2 has taken two Sea Shepherd volunteer crew members hostage. Benjamin Potts 28, an Australian citizen and Giles Lane, 35, a citizen of Great Britain are being held hostage onboard the whaling vessel. Both men were assaulted and then tied to the railings of the whaler. They were then moved and tied to the radar mast by the whalers.
Japanese Whaling Fleet On the Run With Two Sea Shepherd Hostages
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s ship Steve Irwin is in full pursuit of five vessels of the Japanese whaling fleet including the Japanese supply vessel Oriental Bluebird.
Both men boarded the Yushin Maru to deliver a message to the Japanese captain that the whalers were in violation of international conservation law by targeting endangered species in an established whale sanctuary in violation of a global moratorium on commercial whaling. They also notified the captain that Australia had just passed a court ruling barring Japanese whalers from the Australian Antarctic Economic Exclusion Zone.
All of this activity has taken place in the area of 60 Degrees South and 78 Degrees East. All activity has been documented from the Sea Shepherd helicopter and the fast moving Delta vessel. The Steve Irwin has dispatched a small fast Delta boat and a helicopter to attempt to persuade the Yushin Maru No. 2 to stop and release the hostages.
Captain Paul Watson has notified the Australian Federal Police that he would like to see kidnapping charges brought against the Japanese whalers. The Australian government and the British Embassy have been informed that their citizens are being held hostage on an illegally operated Japanese whaling ship in International waters.
The Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru has fled over 700 miles to the Northwest and is heading towards South Africa accompanied by the Greenpeace ship Esperanza. The entire whaling fleet is on the run and outside of the whaling area with the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin in hot pursuit of five vessels of the Japanese fleet.
No whales have been slaughtered for the last four days and it does not look as if the whaling operations are going to begin again for another week at least, and not at all if the vessels are prevented from regrouping. The Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin has a good supply of fuel and can remain in the area for some time and will continue to police the illegal whaling operations by the Japanese fleet.
Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson will turn over authority to the Australian government to enforce the court ruling against illegal whaling in the Australian Antarctic Economic Exclusion Zone upon request from the Australian government and an agreement that Australia will enforce the court’s ruling to bar all Japanese whaling activities in the Australian Antarctic Territory.
The letter taken aboard:
To: The Captain of any Japanese ship involved with poaching operations in The Australian Antarctic Territorial Economic Exclusion Zone.
Sir,
My name is Giles David Lane
I am a British citizen and an unpaid volunteer on the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel Steve Irwin
I have come onboard your ship because you have refused to acknowledge communication from our ship pertaining to your illegal activities in the waters of the Australian Antarctic Territorial Economic Exclusion Zone.
I am not boarding your ship with the intent to commit a crime, to rob you or to inflict injury upon your crew and yourself or damage to your ship. My reason for boarding is to deliver the message that you are in violation of international conservation law and in violation of the laws of Australia. It is my intent to deliver this message and then to request that you allow me to disembark from your vessel without harm or seizure.
I am empowered to act to uphold these laws in accordance with the United Nations World Charter for Nature and the laws of Australia.
I am boarding you with the request that you please refrain from any further criminal activity in these waters and cease and desist with the continued killing of endangered whales in this designated Whale Sanctuary in violation of the IWC global moratorium on commercial whaling and that you cease and desist in continued violations of Australian law by killing whales within the territorial waters of Australia without permit or permission from the government of Australia.
I am boarding you on the orders of Captain Paul Watson who requests that you treat me with respect and in accordance with the Geneva Convention.
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Picket at 2.15pm 16/1/08 at Japanese Embassy, London. Nearest Tubes Green Park & Hyde Park Corner.
The address is:101-104 Piccadilly, London, W1J 7JT
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It would be great if everyone could take a moment to email the Japanese embassy and Foreign office and ask them to do whatever they can to effect Giles’ release. Japanese Embassy: info@jpembassy.org.uk
Foreign and Commonwealth Office: It would be good to copy them in to whatever you send to the Embassy. I had some trouble getting hold of an email address, but you could try the following one – msu.publicin@fco.gov.uk; Meg Munn is the Minister “responsible” for Asia and the Pacific.meg.munn@fco.gov.uk or munnm@parliament.uk
020 7008 1500
Suggestion of what to write: Dear Japanese Ambassador,I am writing to you to protest in the strongest possible terms the taking of two hostages on board a Japanese Whaling Ship this morning.Press reports (see links below) have suggested that the two men, (one of whom is a UK National by the name of Giles Lane), who peacefully boarded the Yushin Maru No. 2 to deliver a letter, were assaulted and then tied up. Photographs from their own vessel, the Sea Shepherd, show the two men being tied up outside. The incident happened several hours ago and I am greatly concerned for their safety.I demand that you intervene at once to ensure that these men are released, protected from the elements, and returned safely to their vessel as soon as possible. I also hope that your government will ensure that the captain and crew of the Yushin Maru No. 2 be prosecuted for their actions.Yours sincerely, etc
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16/1/2008
Japanese Whalers Make Demands for Return of Hostages
The Institute of Cetacean Research, the front group for the illegal Japanese whaling operations are making demands for the release of the two Sea Shepherd crew being held hostage onboard the Japanese whaling vessel Yushin Maru No. 2.
The whalers said they will return the hostages in return for Sea Shepherd agreeing to no longer interfere with their whaling operations.
“The Institute of Cetacean Research is acting like a terrorist organization,” said Steve Irwin’s 1st Officer Peter Brown. “Here they are taking hostages and making demands. Our policy is that we don’t respond to terrorist demands.”
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has heard reports from the media that Japan has agreed to release the hostages but the Steve Irwin has not heard anything official from either the Australian or Japanese governments.
“The activities of the Japanese whaling fleet are illegal under international conservation law. The Japanese are poachers and should be treated in the same manner as elephant or tiger poachers,” said Captain Paul Watson.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will not negotiate with poachers and demands that the Japanese whalers release Benjamin Potts and Giles Lane as soon as possible.
The location of the Yushin Maru No. 2 with the hostages onboard is not known presently. The vessel is no longer in sight or within radar range of the Steve Irwin.
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