By Shino Yuasa
The Associated Press
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s coast guard arrested an anti-whaling activist from New Zealand on Friday for boarding a whaling ship without permission last month, in the latest incident in the ongoing battle over Japanese whaling.
Peter Bethune, a member of the U.S.-based Sea Shepherd activist group, is accused of jumping aboard the whaling vessel from a Jet Ski on Feb. 15 in Antarctic seas, where Japan was conducting its annual whale hunt.
Boarding a Japanese vessel without legitimate reasons can bring a prison term of up to three years or a fine up to 100,000 yen ($1,100).
Sea Shepherd said Bethune jumped aboard the Shonan Maru 2 to make a citizen’s arrest of its captain and hand over a $3 million bill for the destruction of a high-tech protest ship Bethune captained, the Ady Gil, that sank in January after colliding with the whaling ship.
Fisheries Minister Hirotaka Akamatsu told reporters that Japan will bring him to justice.
“Anyone who has done wrongdoing will have to face severe punishment in accordance with the law,” he said.
Since his boarding, Bethune has been in custody aboard the ship, which returned to Tokyo port Friday from the southern seas.
The brazen boarding was the latest incident in Sea Shepherd’s campaign to hamper Japanese whaling activities. The activists trail whaling boats and try to disrupt the hunt by dangling ropes in the water to snarl the ships’ propellers and hurling packets of stinking rancid butter on the whaling ships’ decks.
The whalers have responded by firing water cannons and sonar devices meant to disorient the activists.
Japan has described the Sea Shepherd protesters as terrorists, and Bethune’s arrest received extensive coverage on Japanese TV.
Japan’s annual whale hunt is allowed by the International Whaling Commission as a scientific program, but opponents call it a cover for commercial whaling, which has been banned since 1986.
Whale meat isn’t widely eaten in Japan, but is available in some restaurants and stores.
Sea Shepherd leader Paul Watson said in an interview last week with Japanese public broadcaster NHK that Bethune knew “what he was doing” when he boarded the whaling vessel to confront its captain.
“We are going to expose the illegality of the Japanese whaling operation at every opportunity,” he said.
Coast guard spokesman Masahiro Ichijo says officials have two days to interrogate Bethune before handing him over to prosecutors to decide whether to press formal charges against him to stand trial in Japan.
Ichijo says authorities are also considering additional allegations, including assault and destruction of property.
Japanese authorities say they suspect Bethune might be linked to the injury of two whalers hit by bottles containing rancid butter, and the slashing of a protective net belonging to one of the Japanese whaling boats.
Associated Press Writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.
Capt.E. says
The Japanese whalers are operating under established rules and laws and doing nothing illegal. Sea Shepherd is a terrorist organization and should be shut down by any means. Once again Watson lets a sucker take the heat while he gets fat(ter) on Bob Barkers millions. I hope Bethune is convicted and gets the maximum penalty allowed.
Me So Horny says
The Japanese whalers are criminals not Captain Bethune. If the Australian or US governments had any balls they would use their Navy ships to make these Jap whalers go away.