Greenpeace Protest chasing Japanese whalers

A Greenpeace protest ship located Japan's whaling fleet in Antarctic waters and is pursuing it to stop the hunt for the giant sea creatures, the environmental group said Saturday.
Greenpeace said the fleet of six Japanese whalers made off when they saw its ship Esperanza early Saturday.
It said the Esperanza was chasing the large factory ship Nisshin Maru, which was effectively unable to hunt whales as it tried to outrun the Greenpeace vessel.
Greenpeace said in a statement that if the Japanese tried to kill any whales, the Esperanza's crew would use non-violent means to prevent them.
It said the Esperanza had broadcast a message in Japanese and English to the whalers demanding they end the controversial cull.
"Our vessel and crew are here in the Southern Ocean to condemn your hunt, which includes endangered species, and to insist that you leave the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, and return to port immediately," the message said.
Japan's whaling fleet plans to kill around 1,000 whales during this year's hunt.
Tokyo says the slaughter is for scientific research, exploiting a loophole in a 1986 moratorium on whaling, but makes no secret of the fact that the meat ends up on Japanese supermarket shelves.
Australia's recently elected government has spearheaded an international campaign to stop the whaling, prompting Japan to last month drop plans to kill 50 humpback whales.
An Australian customs vessel Oceanic Viking set sail from Western Australia for Antarctic waters last Tuesday on a mission to track the whaling fleet and gather evidence for a potential international court case against Tokyo.
The ship will spend 20 days gathering video and photographic evidence of Japan's slaughter of whales, fulfilling a pledge made by the governing Labor Party during the campaign for November's election.