An anti-whaling activist was detained by the crew of a Japanese whaling ship on Monday after secretly boarding the vessel to “arrest” the captain over last month’s sinking of the Sea Shepherd conservation group’s speedboat.
Pete Bethune, jumped aboard the Shonan Maru No 2 on Monday morning from a jet-ski driven by Larry Routledge, a British campaigner, Sea Shepherd said.
Bethune, a New Zealander, planned to attempt a citizen’s arrest of the Shonan Maru‘s captain for the alleged attempted murder of six members of the Ady Gil, a 78-foot trimaran that sank following a collision with the Japanese ship on January 6.
Sea Shepherd claimed the Ady Gil was deliberately rammed by the Shonan Maru, which is providing security for a fleet on an annual “scientific” hunt in the Antarctic. Japanese fisheries officials insisted the boat had been hit accidentally. One protester suffered cracked ribs in the collision.
The Cetacean Research Institute, a government-funded body that organises the hunts, said Bethune had violated maritime law, and dismissed the boarding as a “publicity stunt”.
Donald Rothwell, a professor of international and maritime law at the Australian National University, said Bethune’s actions would only be considered illegal if he had planned to harm the crew or jeopardise the safety of their ship.
Bethune, the skipper of the Ady Gil, was also expected to present the captain with a $3-million bill for the cost of replacing the sunken boat. In an invoice for the damage, Bethune said that if payment had not been made within four weeks, Sea Shepherd would seek criminal charges against Kyodo Senpaku, which operates the six-vessel whaling fleet.
Sea Shepherd’s founder, Paul Watson, said Bethune had not been heard from since he made his presence known to the Shonan Maru‘s crew about 90 minutes after he boarded the ship at 6.30am local time.
“This was an impossible mission,” said Watson. “Captain Bethune boarded a Japanese whaling fleet security ship at high speed in total darkness, breached the spikes and anti-boarding nets and is presently onboard. He is there to demand justice for the sinking of his ship.”
This year’s hunt has been disrupted by several confrontations between Sea Shepherd and the whaling fleet in the Southern ocean. At the weekend the conservation group was accused of injuring three whalers with stink bombs made from rancid butter. Sea Shepherd claimed that the crew members had accidentally injured themselves while attempting to fire pepper spray at protesters in high winds.
New Zealand’s prime minister, John Key, described Bethune’s actions as “downright dangerous”.
“These people are operating in Antarctica, where if you land in the water and [stay] there for more than about 12 minutes, you’ll be dead. I don’t really think its terribly sensible, that kind of behaviour.”
Bethune may have to stay aboard the Shonan Maru until it returns to Japan in the spring, as the crew reportedly has no means of transferring him back to his ship.
The whaling fleet left port in November and plans to kill 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales in the name of “scientific research.” A clause in the International Whaling Commission’s 1986 ban on commercial whaling permits the sale of meat from the hunts on the open market. – guardian.co.uk