February 22, 2008
AUSTRALIAN activists say they will board Japanese whaling ships, destroy equipment and make citizen's arrests "fairly soon" in the latest attempt to drive the hunters out of the Antarctic. The captain of the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin, which made international headlines after two crew members were detained by the Japanese last month, says he has a team of 17 specially-trained crew members - nine of them Australian - ready to put their lives on the line. Paul Watson told NEWS.com.au the group would risk being shot at to stop the killing of whales by "criminals" in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. He said the Japanese fleet was in "clear violation of an Australian (Federal) Court order prohibiting whaling operations inside the Australian Economic Exclusion Zone".
Crew members had been trained to board a whaling vessel, destroy hunting equipment and make citizen’s arrests of crew members, he said from on board the Steve Irwin. But the ANU’s Don Rothwell, an expert on international and maritime law, said anyone involved in such action would most likely be prosecuted under Commonwealth law and be regarded as pirates. Professor Rothwell said the panned “citizen’s arrests” could also be deemed as an act of terrorism under international law. Mr Watson said Australian and international laws needed to be upheld by someone. “Australia really should really be down here enforcing these laws, like they do against illegal fishing operations,” Mr Watson said. “The crew are involved in training every day - on the decks, on running the small boats, on boarding operations.”
Mr Watson said after two of his crew members were “kidnapped” by whalers last month, there were fears about how the Japanese might react to an attempted citizen’s arrest. “I guess the biggest fear is that armed… people who are with the Japanese whaling fleet might open fire on us,” he said. “But I don’t think there’s much you can be trained to defend yourself from that, other than to try to be cautious. “We have to be conscious of the fact that they may use violence.” An Australian member of the boarding group, Alex Wallman, told NEWS.com.au that he was keen to attempt to get on one of the whaling vessels, but was unsure what would happen afterwards.
“It’s all looking quite promising and everyone’s fairly excited,” Mr Wallman said. “(But) there’s always an element of fear… this is something that’s never been done before by anyone and we have no idea what is actually going to happen.” “I’m personally angry about the fact that some species of whales may become extinct.” Prof Rothwell said there was little legal defence for the Australian crew members if they did succeed in the planned action. “If Australian citizens were involved in what Mr Watson is proposing… it would most likely result in criminal prosecution,” Prof Rothwell said.
Prof Rothwell also said if a “citizen’s arrest” were to happen, it would raise diplomatic concerns between the Australian and Japanese governments. He said the Japanese Government would probably call on the Australian Government to come down hard on the Sea Shepherd crew. On January 16, Australian Benjamin Potts and British citizen Giles Lane were held in custody by Japanese whalers after they boarded a vessel to deliver a letter that said the whaling operation was illegal. The pair, who were crew members of the Steve Irwin, were released two days later.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23257923-5005961,00.html