Originally published on February 25, 2014
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Environmental group Sea Shepherd said that Japanese whaling ships staged an "unprovoked" attack on one of its ships in the Antarctic waters on Monday (February 25).
This incident marks the second time that the activists and whalers have clashed this month. Their ship, the Bob Barker was tailing two Japanese harpoon ships at six nautical miles in the Southern Ocean on Sunday.
The captain radioed the Japanese ships, informing them that the campaign's operations were "completely lawful and that any aggressive action on their part would be reported to the Australian government and New Zealand Search and Rescue".
At nightfall, the activists said that the two Japanese vessels, the Nisshin Maru and Yushin Maru 3, crossed the bow of the Bob Barker up to 30 times, dragging steel cables in attempt to damage its engine and rudder. The whalers also directed their blinding searchlight at the bridge of Bob Barker while attempting to escape.
"The assault was an attempt to deter the Bob Barker from blocking the slipway of the Nisshin Maru, where it was preventing the whalers' ability to load whales poached from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary," Sea Shepherd said in an AFP report.
A Japanese fishery official in Tokyo said that the Sea Shepherds were the aggressors in this incident.
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