Editorial: Protesters go overboard

OPINION: And so the madness continues in the Southern Ocean.

None of us support the slaughter of whales for Japan's "scientific" research – it is a barbaric process that is yet to lead to any research of note and has instead filled freezers with whale meat that is eaten by very few Japanese.

However, neither can we support the increasingly dangerous stunts – and that is what they are – being pulled by former Hamilton man Pete Bethune and the Sea Shepherd conservation group.

Last month Mr Bethune's boat, the Ady Gil, was extensively damaged in a collision with the Japanese Shonan Maru 2. He labelled that a "murderous" brush with death and blamed the Japanese. New Zealand maritime authorities continue to investigate the incident, which the Japanese say happened when the Ady Gil turned deliberately in front of them. It is unlikely we'll ever know the full truth.

Mr Bethune, however, this week escalated the situation further by boarding the Shonan Maru 2 in an attempt to make a citizen's arrest of the vessel's captain, and present him with a $3 million bill for the replacement of the Ady Gil. He used a jetski to board the Japanese vessel in darkness, and on his second attempt made it past the Shonan Maru 2's boarding spikes and eventually to the ship's wheelhouse.

Paul Watson, captain of Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin, told the Waikato Times: "It was something of a mission impossible, boarding a vessel going 15 knots (28kmh) in frigid waters, but he pulled it off." And if he had died, what would his wife and daughters have been told? Would the Japanese have been blamed? They say Mr Bethune is in good health, unrestrained and eating three meals a day.

Mr Watson went on to say that it was possible Mr Bethune could be taken back to Japan to face criminal charges. "If they take him back to Japan, I think we'll use that as a rallying point to expose Japan's illegal activities in a Japanese court," he said.And there's the rub, this is really a well-planned effort to score points from publicity stunts. In the end the public will tire of such antics and the group's message will get lost in the madness. Breaking the law – which Mr Bethune appears to have done by boarding another country's ship without permission – cannot be condoned.

Mr Watson is also pointing the finger at the New Zealand Government, saying they have done little since the Ady Gil was damaged and Mr Bethune's stay on the Shonan Maru 2 began. But what does Mr Watson expect them to do? Send in the navy to solve problems which he had a hand in creating? The Government has offered consular assistance, and beyond that it is hard – beyond the normal diplomatic efforts – to see what it can do. The Sea Shepherd group should ask itself whether it has actually lost sight of its ultimate goal – the saving of whales – and replaced it with an endless quest for publicity.

- © Fairfax NZ News