Watson says Japanese Should be Treated as Poachers

Watson says Japanese Should be Treated as Poachers



January 2008  - The captain of the Sea Shepherd 
vessel the Steve Irwin, says the location of a Japanese whaler with two Sea 
Shepherd hostages aboard is no longer known. "The vessel is no longer in 
sight or within radar range of the Steve Irwin," Captain Paul Watson said 
today. 
Twenty-four hours ago, Sea Shepherd crew members Giles Lane of the UK and 
Benjamin Potts of Australia boarded the Japanese Yushin Maru No. 2 on 
Watson's orders to deliver a letter to its captain demanding a halt to 
Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean. 
An Australian federal court had just ruled that Japanese whaling in the 
Australian Whale Sanctuary is illegal and ordered the Japanese to stop 
killing whales within 200 nautical miles of Australia's Antarctic 
territory. Japan plans to kill up to 935 minke whales and up to 50 
endangered fin whales this season under a self-imposed "research" whaling 
quota. 
When Potts and Lane boarded the Japanese vessel they were immediately 
taken into custody. 
Watson says, "Media reports that the hostages have been released to the 
Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin are false. Reports that the Steve Irwin will 
not accept calls from the Japanese vessels or authorities are false. No 
calls have been received. The Yushin Maru No. 2 has refused to return 
radio calls from the Steve Irwin." 

The Australian government says Japan last night agreed that the men should 
be returned to their own ship, and the request was repeated when that did 
not happen, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported today. 
A Japanese government spokesman says the whaling ship has been trying to 
contact the Steve Irwin but it has not responded. He says they want to 
arrange the handover of the two men as requested by the Australian 
government. 
Watson says no one from the Japanese or Australian government has 
contacted Sea Shepherd to organize the transfer of the hostages from the 
Japanese whaler back to the Steve Irwin. 
The Institute for Cetacean Research, which manages Japanese whaling 
operations, did send a letter via email with demands to be met prior to a 
release. 
The whalers said they would return the hostages in return for Sea Shepherd 
agreeing to no longer interfere with their whaling operations. 
Watson said the Sea Shepherd "is not interested in any demands based on 
the holding of hostages." 
"Using hostages to make demands is the hallmark of terrorism and Sea 
Shepherd has no interest in negotiating with terrorist groups," said 
Watson. "The hostages must be released unconditionally." 
"The Institute of Cetacean Research is acting like a terrorist 
organization," said Steve Irwin's First 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 Watson. 
The Institute of Cetacean Research says the two Sea Shepherd activists 
"illegally" boarded the Yushin Maru No. 2 "after they made attempts to 
entangle the screw of the vessel using ropes and throwing bottles of acid 
onto the decks." 
In photos released by the Institute, Japanese crew members on the Yushin 
Maru No. 2 can be seen spraying water from high pressure hoses at an 
inflatable vessel carrying the Sea Shepherd activists. 
Minoru Morimoto, director general of the Institute, said the men have not 
been harmed and were taken to a secure room. "The two men are being held 
in an office," he said. 
Watson said Tuesday that the two hostages had been tied to the whaler's 
radar mast. 
"Any accusations that we have tied them up or assaulted them are 
completely untrue," Morimoto said. "It is illegal to board another 
country's vessels on the high seas. As a result, at this stage, they are 
being held in custody while decisions are made on their future." 

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