Anti-whaling activists call off their chase

Activists who have clashed violently with Japanese whalers in Antarctic waters in recent months were headed back to port today because they were running out of fuel.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship Steve Irwin is leaving the hunting region for this season, which is due to end in less than two weeks,

Sea Shepherd claimed the whalers had not killed any animals since at least February 23 and that its campaign had succeeded in curtailing the Japanese program, which had targeted about 1,000 whales.

“We’ve done everything we can do down here for this season, and it has been an enormous success,” Watson said, claiming to have saved more than 500 whales. Japan has not made public the numbers of whales killed.

Watson also rejected a rebuke from the International Whaling Commission, which at a meeting in London last week accused the group for “jeopardising safety at sea” and urged it to drop dangerous tactics.

“While they were in London talking about whales, we were down here actually protecting the whales,” Watson said.

“So they can condemn us until the cows come home, but I think we served our clients, the whales, as best we could, and every whale’s life saved has been a victory for us.”