WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- A Japanese whaling ship in Antarctica, disabled by an engine-room fire 10 days ago, is moving again.
The 8,000-ton Nisshin Maru restarted its engines over the weekend for a "test run" after the fire below decks that killed a member of the crew.
A Maritime New Zealand spokesman said the ship has moved 200 nautical miles north of the danger zone it was in "but we have no idea yet of its intentions."
The Nishin Maru is the flagship of the fleet Japan insists is killing whales for "scientific purposes." Anti-whaling nations, however, argue the planned harvest of 900 whales violates the 1986 global ban on commercial whaling.
The environmental activist organization Greenpeace, which has a vessel shadowing the fleet, says if the Japanese "attempt to start whaling again, we will take peaceful, direct action to stop them."
