Japanese coast guard and police will inspect the country’s whaling fleet this week after the ships’ heated clashes with conservation activists in the Southern Ocean earlier in the year, media reported yesterday.
Investigations so far have eyed possible charges such as assault and obstruction of business through threats, although authorities will probably have a hard time identifying suspects, Kyodo news agency said.
The fleet returns to Tokyo this week after a tumultuous hunting season marred by several confrontations with hardline anti-whaling activists.
Last month, members of the Sea Shepherd group threw bottles and containers of foul-smelling substances at a whaling ship in an attempt to disrupt the hunt, resulting in three sailors complaining of eye irritation.
The incident followed a high-profile standoff in January in which two activists boarded another Japanese whaling ship.
The clashes led to a spate of diplomatic complaints between Japan and Australia, with the Australian government, while strongly opposed to whaling, urging both sides to show restraint.
Australia has promised to try to stop Japan’s whaling, and is considering international legal action, although the two countries have agreed not to let the issue hurt ties.
Meanwhile, Japanese and Chinese coastguards stepped up the search yesterday for 13 fishermen who have been missing since their boat collided with a freighter in international waters off southern Japan.
“We have dispatched a plane and patrol boat to the area for the search but we have so far no report of any finds,” a Japanese coastguard official said.
The freighter, believed to be based in Hong Kong, and the Chinese fishing boat collided late on Friday about 350km west of Takarajima island.
The fishing boat sank with the loss of three crew with 13 more missing, but two others were rescued by another fishing vessel.
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