Antarctic Whaling Conflict Leads to Injuries, Arrests

The Japanese government reported that three crewmen were injured when members of the anti-whaling activist group Sea Shepherd struck them in the face or head with butyric acid stink bombs. Sea Shepherd stated that the aggression originated from the Japanese vessel when they turned their water cannons on the activists as they tried to lay propeller-snarling cables in the path of the whaling ship. Sea Shepherd activist Locky Maclean said that the acid in the stink bombs is "a harmless liquid. You can handle it, it's not corrosive." Sea Shepherd later denied that they caused any injuries.

The Japanese government is taking the attack very seriously, with Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano calling Sea Shepherd's actions "unforgivable." In addition to the butyric acid bombs, which are propelled by a deck-mounted slingshot and a rocket launcher-like device, Sea Shepherd is employing water cannons of their own and a high-powered laser that causes temporary blindness.

"We will not tolerate the death of a single whale," said Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson. This is the third high-profile confrontation between Sea Shepherd and Japanese whalers since the season began in January. The first two conflicts involved ship collisions, one of which sunk a Sea Shepherd vessel.

A Sea Shepherd activist, Peter Bethune, boarded the Japanese whaling vessel Shonan Maru 2 via jet ski in order to deliver a $3 million bill for the replacement of the Ady Gil. The expensive "stealth boat" was sunk in January after a collision with Japanese whalers. Sea Shepherd says that Bethune will attempt to make a citizen's arrest of the Shonan Maru 2's captain for the attempted murder of the Sea Shepherd crewmen aboard the Ady Gil at the time of collision. The two groups blame each other for this collision and another that occurred in February with Sea Shepherd's icebreaker, the Bob Barker.

Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research said that they have no safe way of returning Bethune to his ship, and that he may be brought back with the whaling crew to Japan to face prosecution.

New Zealand and Australia, countries typically lenient of Sea Shepherd's Antarctic activities, criticized the activists for their part in escalating the conflict and risking the lives of their crewmen. "These people are operating in Antarctica, where if you land in the water and [remain] there for more than about 12 minutes, you'll be dead," New Zealand Prime Minister John Key told the Associated Press. "I don't really think it's terribly sensible, that kind of behavior."