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August 30, 2008 8:24:58 AM CDT

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Risky Showdown Looms as Eco-Ships Near Whalers

Posted Jan 13, 08 6:00 AM CST in Science & Health,  World 

(Newser) – Fears of a deadly battle increased yesterday as a Greenpeace ship began to close in on a Japanese whaling fleet intending to kill 1,000 whales. Also steaming through the Southern Ocean off Antarctica was a far more militant "eco ship," planning to ram the whaling vessels. "We are not down here to protest—we're here to stop them," ominously warned a spokesman for Sea Shepherd International.

Greenpeace officials have disavowed violence and say they refuse to "put whalers' lives at risk." Members of the organization's ship the Esperanza plan to harry the whalers and interfere with attempts to harpoon the minke and fin whales the Japanese are claiming to hunt for scientific research. Greenpeace crew members have refused to share the coordinates of the whaling ships with the militants.

Source Guardian (UK)

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In this photo released by Greenpeace, Greenpeace Japan campaigner Sakyo Noda, center, contacts a Japanese whaling fleet via radio from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza after the first sighting of the Japanese...   (Associated Press)
In this photo released by Greenpeace, The Yushin Maru, a Japanese whaling vessel cruises through the Antarctic Ocean, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008. A Greenpeace ship on Saturday confronted a Japanese whaling...   (Associated Press)
In this photo released by Greenpeace, The Yushin Maru, a Japanese whaling vessel cruises through the Antarctic Ocean, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008. A Greenpeace ship on Saturday confronted a Japanese whaling...   (Associated Press)
The Greenpeace protest vessel Esperanza leaves the New Zealand port of Auckland for Antarctic waters, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2007, determined to find the Japanese whaling fleet. Already the U.S.-based Sea...   (Associated Press)
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Japan  • Australia  • Antarctica  • whaling  • Greenpeace  • whaler  • Japanese whale hunt


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