Sea Shepherd Captain Peter Bethune Takes on Japan

The Japanese whaling ship Shonan Maru 2 arrived in Tokyo today with the first New Zealand prisoner of war to be transported to Japan as a political prisoner since World War II.

As soon as his foot touched Japanese soil, Captain Bethune reestablished himself as a national hero in New Zealand and an international hero in Australia, France, Britain, the United States, and every other country whose citizens deplore the continued illegal whaling activities of the Japanese whaling fleet.

The situation is a comedy of over reaction by the Japanese. The Japanese ship Shonan Maru 2 deliberately rammed and sank Captain Pete Bethune’s New Zealand registered vessel the Ady Gil without any penalty, not even a reprimand. Captain Bethune boarded the vessel that destroyed his ship, politely knocked on the bridge door, and presented himself to the Captain.

Scores of police and TV camera crews on the pier awaited the arrival of the harpoon ship Shonan Maru 2, while nationalist protesters flew Rising Sun flags and rude and abusive signs demonizing Captain Pete Bethune as an "eco-terrorist."

Japanese nationalists have seized the whaling question as an opportunity to broadcast their anti-western sentiments. Sea Shepherd looks on this as an opportunity to use the Japanese nationalists to further illustrate the illegality of Japanese whaling operations in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is prepared to back Captain Peter Bethune with a top legal assistance team and the Society will work to use this extraordinary case to further expose and embarrass the Japanese government concerning their whale poaching operations in the Southern Ocean.

Captain Peter Bethune understands the consequences that may face him for the courage he has displayed in defending endangered whales. He told Captain Paul Watson that, “you don’t change the world by sitting on your ass and being afraid to do the right thing.”

Simply being arrested took the Shonan Maru 2 out of the whaling operations for a month so they could return Captain Bethune to Japan. That was an enormous cost in fuel to transport one prisoner to Japan from Antarctica and it saved the lives of dozens of whales at the same time.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is confident that the operations of Operation Waltzing Matilda saved the lives of over 500 whales this year. Despite the loss of the Ady Gil and the taking prisoner of Captain Bethune, the campaign has been an awesome success.

“Ships are expendable, the whales are not,” said Captain Paul Watson. “My crew is prepared to risk their lives to save the whales. Compared to that, being held as a prisoner is easy stuff.”

The Sea Shepherd ships will return to the Southern Ocean in December for a seventh campaign to defend the whales of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary should the Japanese whalers insist on continuing their criminal operations.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Australian Federal Police Return Sea Shepherd’s Logbooks
No Charges and All Crew are Free to Go Where They Wish

On March 11, the Australian Federal Police returned the logbooks for the Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker.

No arrests have been made following the raid on the two ships based on a request by the Japanese government. Sea Shepherd expects no arrests.

The Australian Federal Police boarded the Steve Irwin last year when the ship returned from defending the whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

Nothing was heard of that boarding afterwards, and Sea Shepherd is not expecting to hear anything concerning the most recent boarding.

“The police are obligated to act on the Japanese request, but I don’t think the Australian Federal Police feel there is sufficient evidence to make any arrests,” said Captain Paul Watson.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society would actually welcome any arrests and the opportunity to take this entire issue before the courts. It would be an opportunity to expose a great deal about Japanese illegal whaling operations in the Southern Oceans. It would also be a legal nightmare. Four different flags represent the ships involved. The Japanese have their own flag, and Sea Shepherd had ships registered in the Netherlands (Steve Irwin), Togo (Bob Barker), and New Zealand (Ady Gil). The crews of the Sea Shepherd ships represent 18 different nationalities. The incidents took place in the Australian Antarctic Territorial waters and in international waters. The Ady Gil departed from New Zealand, the Steve Irwin from Australia, and the Bob Barker from Mauritius. The jurisdictional complications would be a challenge.

The Japanese have Captain Pete Bethune and Sea Shepherd and Captain Bethune will use any trial in Japan to the maximum benefit for the whales.

This is the sixth Sea Shepherd campaign to oppose illegal Japanese whaling without a single criminal conviction, a single civil suit, or a single maritime violation for Sea Shepherd.

The Japanese have been boasting about how Togo has stripped the Bob Barker of its flag. If this is true, Togo has not notified Sea Shepherd or Australia of this. The Bob Barker entered legally into Australia as a Togo registered vessel.

The Dutch government has not issued any reprimands nor have they charged the Steve Irwin with any maritime violations.

Sea Shepherd’s Operation Waltzing Matilda was a great success. Sea Shepherd is confident that the kill quotas have been cut by half and that once again the Japanese fleet has failed to turn a profit from their illegal activities.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Shepherds Bust the Hump in Santa Monica

The plan to bust the Hump restaurant in Santa Monica was launched months ago when Sea Shepherd Outreach Coordinator Zoli Teglas first told me about a Santa Monica restaurant serving whale meat. I thought he was joking.

But it was not a joke, and Zoli set about organizing a sting operation recruiting Charles Hambleton from the production of the Academy Award winning film “The Cove” to help organize the covert purchase of a plate of Sei whale for $600.

The sale of whale meat in clear violation of U.S. Federal law illustrates the incredible arrogance of the Japanese businessmen involved in the illegal worldwide trade in whale species. They have become so greedy and so confident they can get away with anything that they have even invaded the United States with smuggled whale products.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will work towards permanently shutting down the Hump restaurant and will be investigating the sale of whale meat in other Japanese restaurants in the United States.

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Article from the Los Angeles Times

By Martha Groves
March 11, 2010

Federal prosecutors Wednesday filed criminal charges against a Santa Monica sushi restaurant and one of its chefs, alleging they had sold meat from an endangered whale.

The Hump, a hip hangout at Santa Monica Airport, immediately said through attorney Gary Lincenberg that it accepted "responsibility for the wrongdoing charged by the U.S. attorney" and would pay a fine and resolve the matter in court.

Named in the complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, were Typhoon Restaurant Inc., owner of the Hump, and chef Kiyoshiro Yamamoto, 45, of Culver City.

The illegal sale of a marine mammal product is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a maximum fine of $100,000 for an individual and $200,000 for an organization, according to the U.S.
attorney's office.

The Hump came under fire after allegations surfaced in Tuesday's New York Times that it had served meat from an endangered sei whale, possibly straight from the trunk of a white Mercedes-Benz.

To provide evidence, federal agents and animal activists had cooperated in a video sting orchestrated by the associate producer of the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove."

"Someone should not be able to walk into a restaurant and order a plate of an endangered species," U.S. Atty. André Birotte Jr. wrote in a news release.

The revelations rattled the extensive "green" community in Santa Monica, which prides itself on its environmental and animal-rights credentials as well as its many foodie-rated restaurants.

Mark Gold, president of Heal the Bay, said he was shocked by the idea that a local restaurant would serve slices of endangered whale under the noses of so many environmentalists.

"This is something I never thought would happen in Santa Monica, less than two miles from . . . the offices of Heal the Bay, Santa Monica Baykeeper and the NRDC [Natural Resources Defense Council]," he said.

Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, it is illegal to sell any kind of whale meat in the United States, and sei are listed as endangered. Sei whales are the third-largest baleen whale, behind the blue and finback whales.

At a City Council meeting Tuesday, Councilman Kevin McKeown -- a vegetarian
-- asked the city attorney's office to investigate whether a violation of the law would be grounds for revoking the Hump's business license.

Santa Monica Councilman Richard Bloom, chairman of the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission and a recent appointee to the California Coastal Commission, said the city "will do everything in our power to make sure the situation is corrected and never happens again."

As it happens, the Hump (a slang aviation term referring to the Himalayas) and an adjacent eatery, Typhoon, are in lease negotiations with the city of Santa Monica. That process had begun before the whale meat issue came to light.

Regardless of how the federal case proceeds, "they have a separate legal obligation with the city," said spokeswoman Kate Vernez. "We will evaluate it and will take into account this news."

Zoli Ignite Teglas, who sings with the band Pennywise and is the music and outreach coordinator for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a marine wildlife conservation group, said in an interview that he got a tip the Hump was serving whale meat and alerted Charles Hambleton, associate producer of "The Cove."

Teglas said they enlisted two female animal activists -- both vegans -- and used a tiny video camera to record them as they were served a $600 omakase, or chef's choice, meal at the Hump. The two activists asked whether they could get whale meat, and a waitress then served eight pieces of what she called "whale," according to an affidavit provided by the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles.

The activists bagged samples of the meat and slipped them into a purse. The samples were sent to Scott Baker, associate director of the highly regarded Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University. Baker determined that the meat was sei whale.

Armed with a search warrant, federal officials entered the restaurant Friday night to search for evidence. The investigation was conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with help from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Game and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

"The first thing I would want to know is where the whale meat came from,"said Councilman Bloom, adding that he expects the restaurant to issue "a sincere, unequivocal apology."
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