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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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Risky Showdown Looms as Eco-Ships Near Whalers

High noon on high seas as rival vessels battle to save mammoth creatures

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(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.

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 whaling fleet, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008, in the Antarctic Ocean. The Greenpeace ship on Saturday confronted the Japanese whaling...
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 fleet that had initially planned to hunt protected humpbacks, the environmentalists said, setting off the latest round of cat-and-mouse...
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 fleet that had initially planned to hunt protected humpbacks, the environmentalists said, setting off the latest round of cat-and-mouse...
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 Shepherd Conservation Society has sailed to the Antarctic Ocean vowing to use whatever means necessary to block Japan...
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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Greenpeace • Australia • Japan • Antarctica • whaling • Japanese whale hunt • whaler

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