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Greenpeace Rammed by Illegal Whalers

Southern Ocean - 21 December 1999 14.00hrs (08.00hrs GMT): The Japanese whaling vessel Nisshin- maru today rammed the Greenpeace ship MV Arctic Sunrise while making an illegal overtaking manoeuvre in the remote Southern Ocean around Antarctica.

“The Japanese whaling fleet has further placed itself outside the law,” Greenpeace campaigner on board the vessel MV Arctic Sunrise John Bowler said. “Not only is Japan defying the UN Law of the Sea by hunting whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, but now their whalers have flaunted maritime law and in the process endangered lives.”

“With this most recent display of lawlessness the Japanese whaling fleet is further demonstrating its determination to hunt whales - no matter what laws they trample in the process. But how is it that at the dawn of a new millennium one nation can trample international law without facing a storm of diplomatic pressure?” Bowler said.

Greenpeace has called on national governments to demand that the Japanese Government cancel its illegal Antarctic whaling program. To date only British, US, Australian and New Zealand governments have made soft diplomatic moves to pressure Japan to abandon the whaling program.

Greenpeace is a peaceful, non-violent organisation committed to safety at sea, especially in the isolated and freezing waters of Antarctica. Following today’s incident Greenpeace has written a letter of protest to the Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR),a government subsidized Japanese agency responsible for whaling in the Southern Ocean. Greenpeace is continuing to track the Nisshin-maru and remains committed to disrupting Japan’s illegal whaling activities.

This year Japan intends to hunt 440 Minke whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary (50 more than last year), as part of its so-called “scientific research” program. However the whale meat produced by the 'research' is sold on the open market in Japan. By continuing to whale in defiance of continued International Whaling Commission (IWC) requests to stop hunting, Japan is in breach of the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). 144 nations of the world (including Japan) agreed in 1982 to respect UNCLOS.