Japan Charges Sea Shepherd Captain With Five Crimes

Japanese prosecutors have indicted a New Zealand anti-whaling activist that boarded a Japanese whaling vessel in the Southern Ocean.

Captain Peter Bethune of the U.S.-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society reportedly used a jet ski to approach the whaling ship SHONAN MARU 2 on Feb. 15th, and then cut through an anti-boarding net that was draped around the hull and climbed on board. He presented the captain of the whaler with a bill for $3 million for damages to the ADY GIL, a former racing trimaran that was skippered by Bethune when it collided with the Shonan Maru 2 on Jan. 6.

Bethune was taken into custody by the crew of the ship, who held him for a month until the Shonan Maru 2 returned to Japan. When the vessel arrived in Tokyo on March 12th, he was then taken into custody by the Japanese Coast Guard.

Bethune has been charged with five criminal counts — trespassing, assault, illegal possession of a knife, destruction of property and obstruction of business. The assault and obstruction of business charges alone carry prison terms up to 15 years, and a trespassing conviction can result in a three-year prison sentence.

On January 6 the Ady Gil was being used by the Sea Shepherd to interfere with Japanese whaling ships during their annual hunt in the Antarctic. Its bow was sheared off in a collision with a whaling vessel. The destruction of the Ady Gil endangered the lives of its six volunteer crewmembers, which were rescued by the BOB BARKER, another Sea Shepherd boat. Each ship blamed the other for the incident.

The incident occurred as Sea Shepherd activists attempted for the sixth year in a row to halt Japan's annual whale hunt in Antarctic waters.

Media reports out of Japan state the government intends to use the Bethune case as a stern warning to Sea Shepherd and others to end its confrontations with Japan’s whaling fleet.

Japan’s whaling fleets returned this year with the smallest catch in years. Japan kills about 1,000 whales a year — primarily minke whales — as part of a government-financed program for scientific purposes. Activists say the program is a cover for commercial whaling, which was banned globally in 1986.