Whaling campaigners condemned
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) has condemned the "dangerous actions" of campaigners trying to stop whalers in the Antarctic Ocean.
The Commission, which has just concluded a three-day meeting at Heathrow, released a statement criticising US-based anti-whaling group the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for "jeopardising safety at sea".
Clashes between the Japanese whaling fleet and Sea Shepherd vessel the Steve Irwin escalated on Friday, with the boat's captain claiming he was hit in the chest by a bullet, which was stopped by his bullet-proof vest.
The IWC on Saturday said it "called upon the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to refrain from dangerous actions that jeopardise safety at sea, and on vessels and crews concerned to exercise restraint".
The statement continued: "The Commission and its contracting governments do not condone and in fact condemn any actions that are a risk to human life and property in relation to the activities of vessels at sea."
The Japanese whaling fleet is currently in the Southern Ocean, with the declared aim of catching 935 minke and 50 endangered fin whales as part of its annual "scientific programme", exploiting a loophole in the global moratorium on whaling.
But it has faced international condemnation, including from the UK, for the hunt and its fleet has been dogged by anti-whaling campaigners who have been chasing it around the Southern Ocean for months in a bid to disrupt the whaling.
The three-day intersessional meeting of the IWC was a response to signs of polarisation within the Commission, which is designed to conserve whale stocks and regulate the development of the whaling industry.
With Japan, Norway and Iceland leading a group keen to re-introduce commercial whaling, but other members of the IWC, including Britain, firm in their stance against it, the Commission has struggled to reach decisions in recent years.
There are concerns the split over whether the IWC exists to manage commercial whaling or as a conservation body is preventing work to preserve whales such as preventing endangered species being killed as "by-catch" in fishing, and addressing the impacts of climate change and habitat degradation.