Risky Showdown Looms as Eco-Ships Near Whalers

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

By Jane Yager, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 13, 2008 6:00 AM CST

(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... (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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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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Activists Tangle With Japanese Whaler

Sea Shepherd up to its usual tricks; Japan not amused

Japan Uses Disaster Budget to Fund Whaling Hunt

Official defends the controversial move

Japan: We Will Hunt Whales This Year

Activist group will again try to disrupt them in the Antarctic

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Obama administration will consider trade and diplomatic penalties

Activists Halt Japan Whale Hunt

Harassment making Antarctic hunt 'unsafe,' says fisheries official

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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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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

Greenpeace • Australia • Japan • Antarctica • whaling • Japanese whale hunt • whaler

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

Activists Tangle With Japanese Whaler

Sea Shepherd up to its usual tricks; Japan not amused

Japan Uses Disaster Budget to Fund Whaling Hunt

Official defends the controversial move

Japan: We Will Hunt Whales This Year

Activist group will again try to disrupt them in the Antarctic

US Threatens Sanctions on Iceland Over Whaling

Obama administration will consider trade and diplomatic penalties

Activists Halt Japan Whale Hunt

Harassment making Antarctic hunt 'unsafe,' says fisheries official

About Us

Site

Newser By Users

Community

Site Maps

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More News

What is Newser?