Australians board Japanese whaling ship

Three WA men Geoffrey Owen Tuxworth 47, Simon Peterffy 44 and Glen Pendlebury 27


The Japanese have been following the Sea Shepherd’s anti-whaling flagship, the Steve Irwin, presumably to keep them occupied while they continue their whale slaughter without interference.


Frustrated by the Labor government’s broken promise to end whaling in the Southern Ocean, three Aussie activists snuck onboard the Shonan Maru 2 and delivered a message. It said “Return us to shore in Australia and then remove yourself from our waters.” But they have continued to follow the Steve Irwin with the Australians still on board.


Spokesman for the Japanese whaling program, New Zealand-based Mr Glenn Inwood said the men are unhurt and are being questioned. He insists that the men boarded the vessel well outside Australian territorial waters – about 40 kms from the coast and any suggestion otherwise was false.


Not so, says the Sea Shepherd's Paul Watson, it happened 16.2 miles off the coast which is outside territorial waters but inside Australia’s 24-mile contiguous zone. So we’ve got a stand-off. Our embassy in Tokyo has contacted the Japanese Government asking for more information, especially about where they are now and is it likely they will be put back onto Australian soil?


Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said the Government’s options were restricted because the incident happened outside territorial waters. "It is likely that these three Australians may be taken back to Japan," she said. Captain Paul Watson urged the government to take swift action to prevent that from happening. "Japanese vessels have no right to take prisoners in Australian waters" he said.


Opposition spokesman Greg Hunt said the government had ignored repeated warnings this sort of incident might happen. "They should immediately dispatch a Customs vessel" and added "They should also seek the immediate transfer of the prisoners from the Japanese ship to Australian authorities."