Anti-whaling group says Japanese ship rammed its vessel Bob Barker in the Southern Ocean in an 'unprovoked attack'

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd said on Sunday that one of its ships was rammed during "aggressive" and "unprovoked" confrontations with the Japanese in the Southern Ocean.

Sea Shepherd said one of its vessels, the Bob Barker, was struck during a co-ordinated attack by the Japanese fleet's three harpoon ships as they tried to drive the campaigners away from the factory ship Nisshin Maru.

"The Bob Barker was hit by the Japanese whaling fleet's harpoon vessel, the Yushin Maru No 2, as the harpoon vessel crossed in front of the bow of the Sea Shepherd ship," the group said.

"The assault is an attempt to deter the Sea Shepherd ships from their current position, blocking the slipway of the Nisshin Maru, preventing the whalers from loading whales poached from the southern ocean whale sanctuary."

The group has three ships out this season: the Bob Barker, Steve Irwin and Sam Simon.

Sea Shepherd said the Japanese had tried to damage the fleet's propellers with steel cables, had thrown projectiles including grappling hooks at the Steve Irwin and fired water cannon on the Bob Barker's crew as they tried to cut the cables from a small boat.

Bob Barker captain Peter Hammarstedt said the Sea Shepherd vessels were "unprovokedly attacked" by the Japanese harpooners in a "ruthless" fashion.

"These harpoon ships came in heavy and hard. They hit my bow with about 300 metres of steel cable with the express intent of causing damage to my rudder and propellers," he told the Australian ABC.

" ... On one occasion one of the harpoon ships came so close that they ended up colliding with my vessel."

No one was injured "but certainly the whalers were more aggressive than we have ever seen them before and I think we're quite lucky that nobody was hurt".

High-seas confrontations are common between Sea Shepherd and the Japanese, who hunt whales in Antarctica under a "scientific research" loophole in the moratorium on whaling.