Sea Shepherd | Former whaler exposes activists’ dangerous behavior

(Tokyo) A former harpooner, Shintaro Takeda, believes that only luck prevented deaths during the violent clashes, some 15 years ago, between Japanese whalers and activists from the Sea Shepherd organization, led by the American-Canadian environmental activist Paul Watson, in an interview with AFP.

In the 2000s and 2010s, Sea Shepherd played cat and mouse in the Antarctic, with Japanese ships that were fishing hundreds of whales each year.

Its founder, Paul Watson, 73, is currently in custody in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, and Japan is seeking his extradition. A court hearing on his continued detention was due to take place on Wednesday in the autonomous Danish territory.

Japan accuses him of being jointly responsible for damage and injuries on board a Japanese whaling ship in 2010, during a campaign led by Sea Shepherd.

The militants “approached us by boat and tried to wrap ropes around our propeller,” Takeda, now 54, told AFP.

“The Sea Shepherd ship collided with the (Japanese whaling ship) Daini Shonan Maru and sank. No one died, but I think it was a close call,” he said, referring to Sea Shepherd’s high-tech vessel, theAdy Gilwhich sank in 2010.

“I never thought activists could go this far […] “The Japanese ship was rocking from side to side so much that I thought it was going to capsize,” says this former whaler, regretting the intensification of the acts “over the years.”

During one of their many attacks, sometimes carried out at night, the militant group “threw bottles of butyric acid,” causing chemical burns to Japanese crew members, Takeda said.

“I think different opinions should be expressed, including those against whaling, but calling for violence is a bad thing,” said the former harpooner, still employed by the whaling company Kyodo Senpaku, but now on land.

“Terrorist actions”

For its part, Sea Shepherd claims that it was its boats that were repeatedly hit by Japanese ships, and not the other way around.

The Japanese government has been tight-lipped, confirming that it has requested Watson’s extradition and that the decision is up to Denmark, which administers Greenland.

Hideki Tokoro, president of Kyodo Senpaku, said the American-Canadian environmental activist must answer for his actions.

“No matter what argument they use, what they did was a terrorist act. […] “It is right that he (Paul Watson) can come to Japan to face a fair justice decision and be punished for his crime,” Tokoro told AFP.

“If we let him go, he will come back to Japan and continue to sabotage our work, he will put us in danger again,” added the president of the whaling company.

A new “factory ship”

Japan, which considers whale meat to have been a key source of protein in the years following World War II, left the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 2019.

Since then, it has resumed – openly – commercial whaling, only in its own maritime area.

Last May, Japan inaugurated its new whaling factory ship, the Kangei Maruwith the capacity to cut up, prepare and store the meat of 200 marine mammals.

The Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF) suspects Japan is planning to resume the hunt in the South Seas. It also indicated that the environmental activist was apprehended as his ship had just docked in the capital of Greenland to refuel in preparation for intercepting the Kangei Maru.

“As far as commercial whaling goes, we will never, ever go to southern waters,” Tokoro told AFP.

Rorqual meat “melts in your mouth”

Japan traditionally hunts three different species: the Bryde’s whale (or tropical rorqual), the Minke whale (or common minke whale) and the sei whale (or sei whale).

It recently expanded its commercial hunt for fin whales, the second-largest living mammal on the planet. Mr. Tokoro’s company has so far caught four, out of a quota of 59 set by the Japanese government.

After the capture, the 1^er August, of the first animal, which weighed more than 50 tons, Kyodo Senpaku organized a tasting. “It was delicious. They live in the cold waters of the ocean, so the fat is very soft,” the president of the whaling company told AFP.

According to him, “Bryde’s whale has a bit of a crunchy texture, but fin whale meat melts in your mouth. You don’t have to chew it.”