With the capture of the British and Australian activists, there has been a standoff in the ice cold waters of Antarctica. As a result, Australia is forced to contact Japan to secure the release of the two activists.
The Sea Shepard Conservation Society’s head, Paul Watson has accused Japan of using tactics used by terrorists in holding the two activists hostage and making demands in return for their freedom. Currently, both activists have been tied up the radar mass of the whaling crew’s ship.
“I got a letter from (Japan’s) Institute of Cetacean Research saying they’ll release the hostages if we agree to not interfere with their whaling operations,” Watson said to AFP.
“Now when you start making demands for the return of hostages that sounds like terrorism to me,” he added while one board the ship called the Steve Irwin.
Both activists Benjamin Potts and Giles Lane boarded the Japanese harpoon ship Yushin Maru 2 on Tuesday to deliver the written demand that Japan stop killing the whales.
While Japan insists the whale hunt is for scientific purposes, it exploits a loophole in the international moratorium passed in 1986 that bans commercial whaling. It does admit that the meat from these hunts do end up on dinner plates.