Global/International

Three activists, by boarding the Shonan Maru 2, have highlighted to the international news media the illegal whale-slaughters by the Japanese who argue that they are doing it in the name of scientific research. Campaigners against whale slaughter argue this is not true and a ploy to circumvent a 1978 international ruling prohibiting whale poaching for commercial use, effected as a moratorium by the International Whaling Commission in 1986.

In a press conference Sunday afternoon Federal Attorney General Nicola Roxon said that Government officials are in talks with Japanese authorities over the fate of the 3 Australians now held captive on the Japanese whaling security vessel Shonan Maru No2. She said the Government's primary concern was the safety of the three men.

On Sunday morning Forest Rescue activists boarded the Japanese whaling ship in solidarity with Sea Shepherd.

In the early hours of Sunday, January 8, three forest rescue activists boarded the Japanese whaling fleet security vessel Shonan Maru No 2 off Bunbury, Western Australia as an act of solidarity with Sea Shepherd in their campaign to stop Japanese commercial whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. While in the Antarctic Sea Shepherd activists from the Bob Barker continue to pursue and harass the main whaling fleet.

Related: Sea Shepherd Media Release - Three Australian prisoners detained on a Japanese whaler in Australian waters | Captain Paul Watson on Forest Rescue men go out on a limb for Sea Shepherd

Sea Shepherd Press Release Jan 7th 2012 Early this morning The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society assisted Forest Rescue Australia in a complex and daring move to board the Shonan Maru #2 in waters off Bunbury, Western Australia