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A tense standoff in the Southern Ocean deepened last night as the Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin lost sight of the Japanese whaler on which two of its crew have been detained.
The whaler's captain refused to release the activists without absolute guarantees his ship would be left in peace by a Sea Shepherd protest vessel.
Amid counter-claims of piracy and terrorism, and an Australian court injunction that cannot be enforced, Sea Shepherd has rejected the demands and has threatened to take its own "aggressive action" to free Australian Benjamin Potts, 28, and Briton Giles Lane, 35.
The two men were seized after boarding the harpoon vessel Yushin Maru No 2, part of the Japanese "scientific" fleet scattered by the arrival of the Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin and Greenpeace's Esperanza.
Mr Potts and Mr Giles boarded the whaler to deliver a letter accusing the whalers of breaching international and Australian law, and demanding they "refrain from any further criminal activity".
The Australian Government, whose own ship Oceanic Viking is still steaming to reach the whaling fleet, said yesterday that Japan had ordered Yushin Maru No 2 Captain Yasuaki Sasaki to return Mr Potts and Mr Lane to their ship.
"Late [Tuesday] night I was advised that the Japanese had agreed [to release them] and they had instructed the relevant whaling ship to return the men to the Steve Irwin," Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said.
But Hideki Moronuki, head of the Japanese Fisheries Agency's whaling section, later told Fairfax newspapers that he knew nothing of Mr Smith's statement.
He said the captain would not release the men until the safety of his vessel was guaranteed.
"Immediately that [Steve Irwin captain] Paul Watson has accepted the conditions of the safety of the Japanese vessel, they will release the two illegal intruders," he said.
In Wellington, the Government steered clear of involvement in what it regards as an Australian problem, despite its concern over the standoff and its interest in the outcome of Canberra's investigations into the incident.
"We hope the situation in the Southern Ocean is resolved without further confrontation," duty minister Rick Barker said.
A spokesman for Mr Barker also rejected calls by the Greens for the dispatch of a New Zealand frigate to the Southern Ocean, saying that the ships were in Australian waters and that, while Wellington would consider any Australian request for aid, such a request was not expected.
Nor is New Zealand likely to launch any domestic legal action against any whalers in its Antarctic waters, following an Australian Federal Court injunction against whaling in protected areas of the Southern Ocean claimed by Australia.
New Zealand International Whaling Commissioner Sir Geoffrey Palmer said yesterday that Wellington had not claimed the Ross Sea Dependency as its territory, and had suspended any territorial claims in line with the Antarctic Treaty.
The Australian court's injunction cannot be enforced unless vessels of Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd - the whaling company named in the Humane Society International action - put into an Australian port.
Japan, like most other nations, does not recognise Australian claims in the Southern Ocean.
Sea Shepherd said the detention of its two activists was an act of terrorism by "outlaw whalers" and had sought help from Canberra and the Australian Federal Police.
The organisation denied Japanese claims that activists had thrown acid on to the deck of the Yushin Maru No 2, but conceded that crew members had tried to stop the whaler with fouling lines and had hurled stink bombs aboard the vessel.
Captain Watson said that Mr Potts and Mr Lane had been assaulted, tied to the ship's rails - at one stage immersed in freezing water as the vessel heeled - and later bound for "a couple of hours" to the radar mast.
Mr Moronuki denied any assault, saying the two had been treated humanely and fed a hot meal.
"They have a warm, nice bath and they are provided with a nice bed with clean white sheets, so they are in a very good condition," he said.
Australian legal experts said yesterday the Japanese were within their rights to detain Mr Potts and Mr Giles, as they had no power to enforce Australian law and had become subject to Japanese jurisdiction once they boarded the Yushin Maru No 2.
Australian National University Professor Don Rothwell told ABC radio that their action could be considered piracy and in breach of Japanese law.
"Any unauthorised boarding of a vessel on the high seas could be viewed as an act of piracy," he said.
