SEA SHEPHERD anti-whaling activists say they have intercepted a Japanese whaling fleet using a military-style drone.   

A Sea Shepherd Conservation Society spokesman said they caught up with the fleet 1600 kilometres outside Antarctic waters yesterday.

Captain Paul Watson said it would be a long and arduous pursuit to the coast of Antarctica but by using the drone technology, distances could be covered more quickly.   


''We now have an advantage we have never had before - eyes in the sky. We can cover hundreds of miles with these drones and they have proven to be valuable assets.''

The opposition has called on the government to seek an emergency injunction on Southern Ocean whaling.

The opposition spokesman for climate action, environment and heritage, Greg Hunt, said the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, had not sent a customs vessel to Australian territorial waters in the Antarctic to patrol against whaling and called on her to ''seek an urgent interim injunction to stop the Japanese whale hunt before it is too late''.

Mr Hunt predicted there would be ''tense and bloody encounters'' between protesters and whalers.

Mr Hunt said the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea could rule on an injunction within a month.

''Due to the urgency of the situation, it is vital that this legal action be initiated no later than December 31 in order to have any hope of being effective,'' he said.

Commercial whaling is banned under an international treaty, but Japan hunts whales for what it claims is scientific research.   

The Environment Minister, Tony Burke, said Australia's case against Japan to cease all forms of whaling in the Southern Ocean was currently in front of the International Court but would not provide details of proceedings.

But he lashed out at Mr Hunt's call for an injunction labelling it a ''media stunt''.   

''It is a bit much for the party who spent 12 years launching no action to suddenly act as the font of legal advice on this issue,'' he said. ''The truth is, if legal proceedings had commenced when the Coalition had the chance, this issue would be well and truly resolved.''   

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/whale-watch/activists-use-drone-to-track-whaling-fleet-20111225-1p9on.html#ixzz1hZooilMY

December 28, 2011

PAUL WATSON . FOUNDER OF SEA SHEPHERD CONSERVATION SOCIETY.



JAPANESE whalers are ''out for revenge'', Sea Shepherd conservationists have said.

They warn that whaling ships will try ramming, or maybe even storming, the anti-whaling ship in what is an ''inevitable'' conflict within days in the Southern Ocean. 

Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson told The Age yesterday that he expected greater aggression from whalers when the ships, now racing south towards Antarctica, reached whale hunting areas within days.


''This is going to be our most challenging year but we can't be deterred by this,'' he said by phone. ''We're not going to be scared off. That's one of the reasons I was asking the Australian government to send down a vessel to police the situation, because I think the Japanese are just completely out of control.   

''It's no longer about whaling; it's about pride, and they're going to want to make an example out of us. We humiliated them last year by the fact that they only got 17 per cent of their quota, so it's revenge time. I'm certain they're out for revenge.''

Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt said it was ''almost inevitable'' there would be some conflict at sea.

He said the government had failed not only to send a ship to keep an eye on the conflict, but had also failed to take ''injunctive action''.

Now it was turning a blind eye to an increasingly likely conflict at sea.

Environment Minister Tony Burke has previously labelled Coalition calls for an injunction a ''media stunt''.

Yesterday he said the government was taking legal action in the International Court of Justice to end whaling.

''We have taken the strongest action of any nation,'' he said.

Mr Watson said the Sea Shepherd would follow its usual method of blocking the slipway, the ramp up which whales are dragged onto the ships.

''They can deal with that in two ways,'' he said. ''One, they can put an armed boarding party on and try to take our ship, which would be highly illegal, but then again I don't expect our governments to stand up - they don't have much guts, any of them. The other thing they can do is ram us.''   

Mr Burke urged all parties to take responsibility for safety at sea.


Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/whale-watch/revenge-warning-as-whale-protest-gears-up-20111227-1pbot.html#ixzz1hoVQmQCd