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Greenpeace last night claimed to have driven Japan's whaling fleet out of the Southern Ocean hunting grounds after a chase over hundreds of kilometres.
The fleet scattered after the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, following a trail of krill, located the Japanese ships by radar amid fog-shrouded icebergs on Saturday night.
Greenpeace said the Esperanza pursued the factory ship Nisshin Maru over the 60 degrees latitude mark, the boundary of the whale hunting grounds, followed by the catcher vessel Yushin Maru.
Greenpeace says the fleet may refuel soon and offload whale meat that has already been processed on to a tanker, Oriental Bluebird.
The rival Sea Shepherd organisation's ship Steve Irwin - refused co-operation by Greenpeace - had also located the whalers and late yesterday was hoping to close the gap with the Japanese. But as the Australian Government vessel Oceanic Viking tried to close a gap of several days, Canberra urged restraint and caution. "For the people actually at the site, on the high seas, they need to be very careful," assistant Treasurer Chris Bowen said.
The Oceanic Viking, contracted by Canberra under a A$300 million programme to protect Australia's southern waters from illegal fishing, is armed with deck-mounted 0.50 calibre machine guns and has a fully equipped medical centre.
Although sent to shadow the Japanese to emphasise Australia's strident opposition to Tokyo's "scientific" whale hunt, the Oceanic Viking will not disrupt their operations.
A blog by Irene Berg, on board the Esperanza, said the fleet had appeared as dots on the vessel's radar, moving faster than surrounding icebergs.
After a pursuit of about six hours, the Esperanza identified the factory ship Nisshin Maru and was yesterday was following at about 4km distance. The harpoon boat Yushin Maru trailed the Esperanza.
"As long as the fleet is on themove they cannot hunt, but if they resume whaling our intention is to take direct non-violent action toprotect the whales," Berg said.
Japan Whaling Association president Keiichi Nakajima warned Greenpeace to stay clear of the fleet. "Past activities of Greenpeace have been responsible for vessel collisions that risk the lives and safety of our researchers and crew and are illegal under international maritime law. I urge Greenpeace to desist from any harassment of the research vessels and to keep a safe distance."
