An estimated 1000 or more whales meet their end at the hands of Japanese whaling fleets every year.  Hunting whales for food is prohibited, though the International Whaling Commission allows the Japanese boats to hunt them as long as they are doing it for research purposes.  Much of the whale meat, however, is making its way into Japanese markets to be sold.  This has the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society up in arms and waging a (mostly) non-violent war against Japanese whalers.

The anti-whaling activist group has been making recent news for their confrontations with whaling vessels.  These conflicts have even resulted in some arrests.  Japanese fleets are calling for an end to the attacks, which have been occurring every whaling season for several years.

Those who are operating the whaling fleets, the Institute of Cetacean Research, have made many accusations against Sea Shepherd.  They claim that those in the activist group are  terrorists who have been ramming their ships, using ropes to bind and damage their boats’ rudders and propellers and assaulting whaling crews with smoke bombs and bottles of acid.  The ICR states that the activists are little more than pirates, operating out of the United States which does nothing to halt their activities.

They have brought their grievances to the US courts in the form of a lawsuit, though little has resulted thus far.  Sea Shepherd claims that because they operate in international waters that the US courts have no proper jurisdiction in the matter.  They also counter the ICR’s accusations, saying that many of the claims are made-up and that it is the Japanese whaling boats that have been ramming them, not vice versa.  Though no conclusion to the conflict has yet been reached, it is unlikely that one will be as long as there are still whales to hunt.