Sea Shepherd intercepts whaling fleet in Southern Ocean

The first clashes have occurred between Sea Shepherd volunteer activists and Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary bordering the Antarctic continent. Dodging and dancing perilously through the ice flows (Watch video), Sea Shepherd activists in small inflatable zodiacs and their larger three vessels harassed the three Japanese harpoon vessels while in pursuit of the Nisshin Maru whaling factory ship in the first days of 2011. For the first time in seven years of campaigning in the southern ocean Sea Shepherd have been able to locate the whaling fleet before whaling was able to begin.

The legality of whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is being challenged by the Australian Government in a case filed in July 2010 (PDF) before the International Court of Justice, although success is by no means certain. Whaling was found to be illegal under Australian law in a 2008 Federal court ruling. Whaling by Japan is done through a scientific research loophole under the International Whaling Commission (IWC) convention. The whale meat is commercially sold (or stockpiled) in Japan. Under the IWC there is an international moratorium on commercial whaling since 1985.

Cables released by wikileaks on January 1st, 2011 reveal Japan was pressuring the US Government to remove Sea Shepherd's US tax exemption status as a sweetener to negotiating a compromise deal in the International Whaling Commission during 2010 that would have reduced whale quotas but legitimized commercial whaling. Australia remained opposed to the deal, although the cables indicate Australia may have considered conditional commercial whaling outside the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary.

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