Greenpeace chases away Japan's whalers

    * Justin McCurry in Tokyo
This article appeared in the Guardian on Monday January 14 2008 on p19 of the International section. It was last updated at 10:31 on January 14 2008.
 
Greenpeace said yesterday it had chased Japanese whalers out of hunting grounds in the Southern Ocean, disrupting the planned slaughter of almost 1,000 whales.
 
The Greenpeace vessel, the Esperanza, chased the main Japanese ship, the Nisshin Maru, through hundreds of miles of thick fog after spotting the whaling fleet on Saturday, the group said. The fleet's catcher ships fled in another direction and will be unable to hunt as long as they are separated from the Nisshin Maru, which processes and stores captured whales. "Now they are out of the hunting grounds they should stay out," said Sakyo Noda, a Greenpeace campaigner from Japan.
 
Japan warned the protesters not to interfere with the whalers as they attempt to reach this year's quota of 935 minke and 50 endangered humpback whales. The International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling in 1986 but allows Japan to conduct hunts in the name of scientific research.
 
"Past activities of Greenpeace have been responsible for vessel collisions that risk the lives and safety of our researchers and crew and are illegal under international maritime law," Keiichi Nakajima, president of the Japan Whaling Association, said in a statement. "I urge Greenpeace ... to keep a safe distance."
 
Greenpeace said the chase had so far deprived the fleet of two days' whaling. "If they start whaling again we will launch inflatables and put ourselves between the harpoons and the whales," Dave Walsh, a Greenpeace spokesman, said from the Esperanza. "We are not here to attack whalers; we are here to defend whales."