Australia may intervene in Japanese whaling row: minister

Australia could send a customs ship to end a high-seas standoff in Antarctic waters by picking up two anti-whaling activists held on board a Japanese whaler, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Thursday.

Plans to intervene are being drawn up after the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society refused to meet Japanese conditions for the return of the men to their ship, the Steve Irwin.
The confrontation has forced the Japanese fleet to suspend whaling for the time being and drawn attention to efforts by activists to halt the annual hunt in Antarctic waters for good.
"The good news is that they haven't killed any whales for a week, and all the whaling activity is shut down, so we've effectivly ended whaling for now," Sea Shepherd president Paul Watson told AFP.

The two activists -- Australian Benjamin Potts, 28, and Briton Giles Lane, 35 --were detained Tuesday after boarding the harpoon ship Yushin Maru No 2 to protest Japan's whaling programme.

Australia, which is one of the strongest critics of Japanese whaling, last week sent the Oceanic Viking customs ship to the area to monitor the operation and gather evidence for a possible international legal challenge.

"Obviously one option in rendering assistance is the use of the Oceanic Viking, and that is one of the options we are currently considering," Smith told reporters in Perth.
"I can advise the Oceanic Viking is currently within sighting distance of the Japanese whaling vessel."

Sea Shepherd's Watson has been accused of refusing to agree to their return in order to drag out the drama for publicity purposes, a charge he denies.
"If Sea Shepherd don't comply (with the Japanese conditions) it would be acceptable if the Australian government used the Oceanic Viking to act as an intermediary," a spokesman for the Japanese whalers told AFP.

"You must understand the reluctance of the Japanese to lash their vessel up to the Steve Irwin -- it's just not going to happen like that," said Glenn Inwood. "There are very serious security and safety concerns here."

He suggested that if the men were not picked up, they would have to remain on board for the duration of the hunt and return with the ship to Japan, where they could face charges.
Watson angrily told Sky News he would not rule out a commando style raid to rescue them.
"That would be an act of desperation but I'm not going to let them take them back to Japan and put them on trial for piracy," he said.

He said Japan's whaling authorities had refused to release the men until he agreed to stop disrupting the hunt, and vowed he would not bow to "terrorist" tactics.
Another condition was that the Steve Irwin must remain at least 10 nautical miles away from the Japanese vessel and send a small boat to pick the men up -- something Watson rejects as too dangerous.

But he told Australia's Macquarie Radio he welcomed the possibility of the Australian government picking them up. "That is fine. We just want to get them off that boat."
Japan, which says whaling is a part of its culture, uses a loophole in an international moratorium on the practice which allows "lethal research". It is on a mission to kill 1,000 whales in Antarctic waters this season.

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the release of the two activists should be unconditional.

"We clearly say that that safe return must happen without any conditions," Gillard told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Former environment minister Ian Campbell, appointed to the Sea Shepherd international advisory board last week, said Japan was being "humiliated" by the "hostage" drama.
Direct action by Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace were an important part of the anti-whaling message, he told commercial radio.

"This ensures that on television screens around the world and particularly in Japan night after night after night the Japanese are being humiliated by this stupidity and this pig-headedness.
"It will come to an end."