AT SEA WHALING

In a statement on it's website, The U.S Based group said its ship, the Steve Irwin, had forced The Japanese Whaling fleet into waters off the ross dependency, which is a New Zealand possession. Australia has declared an economic exclusion zone, known by the letters "EEZ", in waters off the coast ot its Antartic territories, and an Australian court order bans whaling there.

However, Japan does not recognise the zone and says its whaling fleet is in international waters. Japan's institute of cetacean research has accused sea shepherd of "eco-terrorism" and of ramming its vessel the Kaiko Maru during a protest action last Friday. Sea shepherd has blamed The Japanese for the collision.

In a video of the incident released on its website, the organisation showed the crew of The Japanese ship warning sea shepherd in English that its protesters would be treated as "illegal intruders under Japanese law" if they tried to board. Despite an international moratorium on whaling since 1986, Japan its whaling is for "scientific" pupposes.