Japan whaling risks lives !

Japanese whaling may put 'lives at risk'

North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy

Updated October 06, 2011 00:53:34

Photo: The Sea Shepherd group (right) has been involved in scrapes with Japan's whaling fleet. (File photo: Institute of Cetacean Research)

Related Story: Japan commits to Southern Ocean whale hunt

Related Story: Australia must do more to stop whaling: Brown

Map: Japan

New Zealand's foreign minister says he is concerned lives will be at risk when Japan resumes whaling in the Southern Ocean.

The Sea Shepherd conservation group says its members are prepared to die to protect whales from Japanese fleets.
When announcing this year's fleet, Japanese fisheries minister Michihiko Kano said a patrol boat would be dispatched to protect the whalers from Sea Shepherd members.
The ABC has sought comment from Japan's Fisheries Agency, but it has refused to discuss how the ship would protect the whalers or what measures it would take in a confrontation with Sea Shepherd.
Last whaling season, Sea Shepherd's militant tactics forced the Japanese fleet to call off the hunt a month early and return home with just a fifth of its quota.
New Zealand foreign minister Murray McCully says he is deeply concerned about outbreaks of violence in the Southern Ocean.
"I regard that as an ominous statement on Japan's part, because put that alongside the stated intentions of the Sea Shepherd people to use more aggressive tactics you can only conclude that lives will be put at risk on that pathway," he said.