Greenpeace chases Japanese whalers

MELBOURNE, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Greenpeace reportedly has chased Japan's whaling ships out of their hunting ground.

After a 10-day search, the Greenpeace protest ship Esperanza found Japan's six-ship whaling fleet Saturday in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary, The Melbourne Herald Sun reported Sunday.

Greenpeace expedition leader Karli Thomas, speaking from the group's ship, said the environmentalists were following the whaling fleet at about 15 knots, maintaining a gap of about two nautical miles between the ships.

"So long as they're on the run, they're not whaling and we're pretty pleased about that," Thomas said. "If they try and turn back and re-enter the hunting ground, we'll do everything we can in terms of non-violent direct action to intervene, including putting ourselves between harpoons and whales to stop them taking a shot."

She said the group is not there to "attack the whalers," but to "defend whales," the newspaper reported.

Japan Whaling Association President Keiichi Nakajima said Saturday research whaling is legal under the International Convention for Regulation of Whaling and warned Greenpeace to stay away.

"Past activities of Greenpeace have been responsible for vessel collisions that risk the lives and safety of our researchers and crew and are illegal under international maritime law," Nakajima said.