Judge Richard Jones denied a request for a preliminary injunction sought by Japanese whalers against the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which is based in northwestern state of Washington.

The whalers sought a court order preventing the Sea Shepherd and its founder Paul Watson "from engaging in physical attacks on plaintiffs' vessels in the Southern Ocean," referring to the ocean encircling Antarctica.

Plaintiffs included the Institute of Cetacean Research, Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha, Ltd., Tomoyuki Ogawa ("Captain Ogawa"), and Toshiyuki Miura ("Captain Miura").

"Over the past few years, defendants have engaged in repeated, relentless violent attacks against plaintiffs in the Southern Ocean," read the injunction request, filed in Seattle.

These range "from ramming vessels, attempting to disable plaintiffs' ships by dragging fouling ropes in their path, firing acid-filled glass projectiles at plaintiffs' vessels and their crew and launching incendiary devices against the vessels and crew, exposing them to risk of fire and explosion."

This conduct "endangers the safety of the vessels and the Masters, crew, and researchers on board and is in violation of international and domestic law, let alone any rational standard of human conduct," they said.

In their Seattle court submission, the whalers said they were "entitled to be free from attack by what are essentially self-proclaimed pirates with a base in the state of Washington."

But rejecting their request, the judge said: "The Court hears argument of counsel and makes a tentative ruling denying the motion for preliminary injunction," adding that a full judgment will be issued at a later date.

Last month Japan's Fisheries Agency said anti-whaling activists threw paint and foul smelling acid at a whaling ship in the Antarctic ocean in a fresh bid to halt the annual hunt, officials said.

Two boats belonging to Sea Shepherd approached the Japanese whaling vessel Yushin Maru No. 2 (YS2) and launched 40 bottles containing paint and butyric acid, the agency said.

The Japanese whaling fleet, led by the 720-tonne Yushin Maru, was seen leaving the Japanese port of Shimonoseki on December 6 for the annual hunt, with security measures beefed up after clashes in previous years.

Their mission is officially said to be for "scientific research," with the fleet aiming to catch around 900 minke and fin whales, according to a plan submitted by the government to the International Whaling Commission.

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:57:58 AEST Oslo (AFP) Feb 17, 2012 - Norway announced Friday it was renewing its whale hunting quotas for 2012, approving the killing of 1,286 whales even though the country's dwindling whaling fleet is having trouble filling the quota.

The decision brought a sharp response from environmental activists Greenpeace, which accused the government of having ceded to pressure from the whaling industry.

Year after year however, Norwegian whalers have struggled to fill the quotas, variously blaming poor weather, the high cost of fuel and the long distance rquired to travel to whaling zones.

To try to address the problem the government has this year merged two different whaling zones to make it easier for whalers to focus their hunt in the waters around Svalbard Islands in the Arctic Ocean well north of the mainland.

"The whale population is abundant in these waters and the weather conditions are relatively good," senior fisheries minister Ole-David Stenseth told AFP.

"Given the modest level of catches, we thought that would pose no danger to the local whale population while making the hunt more efficient," he added.

In January, the head of Norway's fisheries service expressed concern about the steep fall in the number of boats taking part in whaling: only 19 in 2011 as opposed to 33 a decade earlier.

Campaigners against the whaling industry say that is a direct result of consumers' rejection of whale meat.

Truls Gulowsen, the head of Greenpeace's Norwegian branch, denounced the decision to renew the quotas.

Instead of trying to keep the industry alive by handing it such concession, it would be better advised to set about dismantling it, she told AFP.

"This activity is quite simply superfluous and it is condemned to die out," he said.

Norway, with Iceland, is the only country still openly practising commercial whaling of the Minke whale in defiance of an international moratorium in place since 1986.

Japan also hunts whales but insists this is only for scientific purposes even if most of the meat ends up on the market.

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:57:58 AEST Washington DC (SPX) Feb 10, 2012 - A recently published study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and others reveals that humpback whales on both sides of the southern Indian Ocean are singing different tunes, unusual since humpbacks in the same ocean basin usually all sing very similar songs.

The results of the study-conducted by researchers from WCS, Columbia University, and Australia -contradict previous humpback whale song comparisons. Generally, when song from populations in the same ocean basins are compared, researchers find that the songs contain similar parts or "themes." The differences in song between the Indian Ocean humpback populations most likely indicate a limited exchange between the two regions and may shed new light on how whale culture spreads.

The paper appears in the January edition of Marine Mammal Science and is available on the journal's website. The authors of the study include: Anita Murray, formerly of the Wildlife Conservation Society and Columbia University ; Salvatore Cerchio, Yvette Razafindrakoto, and Howard Rosenbaum of the Wildlife Conservation Society; Robert McCauley of Curtin University, Perth, Australia; Curt S. Jenner of the Centre for Whale Research, Fremantle, Australia; Douglas Coughran of the Department of Environment and Conservation, Perth, Australia; and Shannon McKay of the School of Life and Environmental Science, Warrnambool, Australia.

"In the Northern Hemisphere, within an ocean basin whales sing songs that are composed of the same themes. However, whales in the southern Indian Ocean are singing almost completely different songs. Songs from Madagascar and Western Australia only shared one similar theme, the rest of the themes were completely different," said lead author Anita Murray, who conducted the research while a graduate student at Columbia University and the Wildlife Conservation Society and is currently pursuing her doctorate at the University of Queensland in Australia.

"The reason for this anomaly remains a mystery. It could be the influence of singing whales from other ocean basins, such as the South Pacific or Atlantic, indicating an exchange of individuals between oceans which is unique to the Southern Hemisphere."

The songs of humpback whales are generally sung by male individuals on a population's winter breeding grounds, migratory routes, and summer feeding grounds. The songs themselves are complex arrangements of parts or "themes," consisting of ascending and descending wails, moans, and shrieks that are repeated in cycles lasting up to 30 minutes.

The transmission of songs between individuals from different populations is likely to occur on feeding grounds or during migration when whales from different populations mix. Or, transmission of song may occur when individual male "troubadours" travel to different breeding grounds between breeding seasons or possibly during the same breeding season.

The research team made recordings of humpback whale songs in two locations in coastal Madagascar and three locations along Western Australia during the 2006 breeding season. Research teams in both regions used hydrophones to record the songs of 19 individual whales. Overall, the authors captured more than 20 hours of whole and partial songs for visual and audio analysis. The comparison revealed few similarities between songs; of the eleven themes recorded in both regions, only one theme was shared by both populations.

Due to the limited duration of the study (only one breeding season), researchers point out that continued analysis of songs in Madagascar and Australia are needed to examine the reasons for the limited similarity in repertoire.

Dr. Howard Rosenbaum, Director of WCS's Ocean Giants Program said: "These song comparisons complement our findings based on other methods, such as those from genetic analysis, to understand how whale populations interact with one another."

WCS conservationist Salvatore Cerchio added: "We have glimpsed here a snapshot of differences in repertoire between humpback whale populations of the Indian Ocean during a single season. Continued monitoring of these songs can provide us with valuable information on how whale songs are exchanged and how those channels of cultural transmission can be protected in the future."

WCS has been involved in research on humpback whales since the 1960s, when researchers from the New York Zoological Society (now the Wildlife Conservation Society) discovered that the vocalizations of humpback whales are, in fact, songs, defined as a series of themes that are repeated in cycles.

For the past decade, WCS's Ocean Giants Program has conducted an extensive molecular analysis of humpback whale populations in the southern Atlantic and Indian oceans in an attempt to better define discrete populations.

The humpback whale is a baleen whale that grows up to approximately 50 feet in length. The species has distinctively long pectoral fins and a head with knobs on the top and lower jaw.

The slow-swimming species was hunted commercially until the International Whaling Commission protected the species globally in 1966. Current estimates for humpback whale numbers are widely debated. While they are recovering, total population sizes may represent only a small percentage of the original global population.

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:57:58 AEST Paris (AFP) Feb 8, 2012 - The steady drone of motors along busy commercial shipping lanes not only alters whale behaviour but can affect the giant sea mammals physically by causing chronic stress, a study published Wednesday has reported for the first time.

The findings were made possible, researchers said, by an event that at first glance seems far removed from the plight of cetaceans: the attacks on New York's Twin Towers on September 11, 2001.

Only a catastrophe of that magnitude, they explained, could have caused maritime traffic to suddenly drop off, making it possible to measure the impact of varying levels of sound pollution in the sea.

Over the last 50 years noise caused by cargo and military vessels, along with high-decibel sonars used for oil exploration, has gradually increased in intensity and scope.

Baleen whales communicate at the same low-frequency wavelengths emitted by these ships, in the range of 20 to 200 hertz (Hz), and some species have adapted by emitting louder and more frequent acoustic signals.

Only weeks before the 9/11 attack, scientists led by Rosalind Rolland of the New England Aquarium had undertaken a study of North Atlantic right whales that congregate in late summer in Canada's Bay of Fundy to feed and nurse their calves.

Starting in July 2001, the researchers used trained dogs to find whale faecal matter floating on the surface of the water. They collected samples over a six-week period every year through 2005.

The whale poop contained hormone-related chemicals, called glucocorticoids, mirroring stress levels that could change from one day to the next, or even within hours.

When the researchers noticed the drop in underwater noise levels, they realised it would be an opportunity to investigate whether sound pollution was a cause of stress for right whales.

They found that changes in the concentration of the hormone matched perfectly the sudden drop and gradual renewal of maritime traffic in the area.

"To our knowledge, there were no other factors affecting the population that could explain this difference besides the decrease in ship traffic," concluded the study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Glucocorticoids are secreted in a crisis: aggression by a predator or competitor, starvation, drought. In the short run, this rush of hormones helps animals cope by summoning reserves of energy.

But over the long haul, constant elevations of the hormone due to stressful situations becomes a detriment, leading to stunted growth, a weakened immune system and a compromised ability to reproduce.

Studies of land animals have shown that this kind of chronic stress can be caused by noise from snowmobiles, along with tourism or road traffic.

Because they live, feed and breed so close to shore, critically endangered North Atlantic whales are already threatened by ship collisions and fishing gear entanglements, two leading causes of death among large cetaceans.

"Acoustic pollution from anthropogenic sources presents a less visible but pervasive disturbance to these coastal-dwelling whales that may have negative consequences for population viability," the study concludes.

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:57:58 AEST London, UK (SPX) Feb 01, 2012 - Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are the top marine predator, wherever they are found, and seem to eat everything from schools of small fish to large baleen whales, over twice their own size. The increase in hunting territories available to killer whales in the Arctic due to climate change and melting sea ice could seriously affect the marine ecosystem balance.

New research published in BioMed Central's re-launched open access journal Aquatic Biosystems has combined scientific observations with Canadian Inuit traditional knowledge to determine killer whale behaviour and diet in the Arctic.

Orca have been studied extensively in the northeast Pacific ocean, where resident killer whales eat fish, but migrating whales eat marine mammals. Five separate ecotypes in the Antarctic have been identified, each preferring a different type of food, and similar patterns have been found in the Atlantic, tropical Pacific, and Indian oceans. However, little is known about Arctic killer whale prey preference or behaviour.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is increasingly being used to supplement scientific observations. Researchers from Manitoba visited 11 Canadian Nunavut Inuit communities and collated information from over 100 interviews with hunters and elders.

The Inuit reported that killer whales would 'eat whatever they can catch', mainly other marine mammals including seals (ringed, harp, bearded, and hooded) and whales (narwhal, beluga and bowhead). However there was no indication that Arctic killer whales ate fish. Only seven of the interviewees suggested that killer whales ate fish, but none of them had ever seen it themselves.

The type of reported prey varied between areas. Most incidences of killer whales eating bowhead whales occurred in Foxe Basin and narwhal predation was more frequent around Baffin Island.

Inuit were also able to describe first-hand how killer whales hunted, including several reports of how killer whales co-operated to kill the much larger bowhead. During the hunt some whales were seen holding the bowhead's flippers or tail, others covering its blowhole, and others biting or ramming to cause internal damage. Occasionally dead bowheads, with bite marks and internal injuries but with very little eaten, are found by locals.

'Aarlirijuk', the fear of killer whales, influenced prey behaviour with smaller mammals seeking refuge in shallow waters or on shore and larger prey running away, diving deep, or attempting to hide among the ice. Even narwhal, which are capable of stabbing a killer whale with their tusks (although this is likely to result in the deaths of both animals), will run to shallow waters and wait until the whales give up.

Killer whales are seasonal visitors to the area and have recently started colonising Hudson Bay (possibly due to loss of summer sea ice with global warming). Local communities are reliant on the very species that the orcas like to eat.

Dr Steven Ferguson from the University of Manitoba who led this research commented, "Utilising local knowledge through TEK will help scientists understand the effects of global warming and loss of sea ice on Arctic species and improve collaborative conservation efforts in conjunction with local communities."

Aquatic Biosystems, (previously Saline Systems), which has just re-launched, publishes basic and applied research on aquatic organisms and environments, bridging across freshwater and saline systems from gene systems to ecosystems.

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:57:58 AEST Washington DC (SPX) Jan 26, 2012 - The fate of the world's great whale species commands global attention as a result of heated debate between pro and anti-whaling advocates, but the fate of smaller marine mammals is less understood, specifically because the deliberate and accidental catching and killing of dolphins, porpoises, manatees, and other warm-blooded aquatic species are rarely studied or monitored.

To shed more light on the issue, researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society and Okapi Wildlife Associates have conducted an exhaustive global study of human consumption of marine mammals using approximately 900 sources of information. The main finding: since 1990, people in at least 114 countries have consumed one or more of at least 87 marine mammal species.

The new global study appears in the most recent edition of Biological Conservation. The authors include: Dr. Martin D. Robards of the Wildlife Conservation Society; and Dr. Randall R. Reeves of Okapi Wildlife Associates.

"International regulatory bodies exist to gauge the status of whale populations and regulate the hunting of these giants," said Robards, lead author of the study. "These species, however, represent only a fraction of the world's diversity of marine mammals, many of which are being accidentally netted, trapped, and-in some instances-directly hunted without any means of tracking as to whether these off-takes are sustainable."

In order to build a statistically robust picture of human consumption rates of marine mammals around the world, Robards and Reeves started with records on small fisheries focused on small whales (i.e. pilot whales), dolphins, and porpoises from 1975 and records of global marine mammal catches between 1966 and 1975.

From there, the authors consulted some 900 other sources and consulted with numerous researchers and environmental managers, an exhaustive investigation that took three years to complete. The team only counted information with actual evidence of human consumption of marine mammals, omitting instances where marine mammals were caught (either intentionally or not) for fishing bait, feed for other animals, medicines, and other uses.

The list of marine mammals killed for human consumption includes obscure species such as the pygmy beaked whale, South Asian river dolphin, narwhal, Chilean dolphin, long-finned pilot whale, and Burmeister's porpoise. Seals and sea lions are on the list as well, including species such as the California sea lion and lesser known species such as the Baikal seal.

The polar bear (a bear that is considered a marine mammal) also makes the list. Three species of manatee and its close relative the dugong, considered a delicacy in some parts of the world, are also widespread targets of human consumption.

Overall, the historical review reveals an escalation in the exploitation of smaller cetaceans, particularly coastal and estuarine species since 1970, often caught accidentally as "bycatch" in nets meant for fish and other species. Once caught, however, small cetaceans are increasingly utilized as food in areas of food insecurity and/or poverty, what the authors call "fishing up the food chain."

"Obviously, there is a need for improved monitoring of species such as Atlantic and Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins and other species," said Dr. Howard Rosenbaum, Director of WCS's Ocean Giants Program. "In more remote areas and a number of countries, a greater immediate need is to understand the motivations behind the consumption of marine mammals and use these insights to develop solutions to protect these iconic species that lead to more effective management and conservation."

In addition to this global review, Wildlife Conservation Society scientists work in remote countries around the world to assess and actively address the threat to dolphin populations with localized, applied conservation efforts. WCS's Ocean Giants Program works in a number of seascapes of critical importance to small cetaceans in particular.

These efforts are focused on the local level to address local impacts on coastal dolphin populations, providing on-the-ground practical conservation actions to complement the global investigative work highlighted above.

In Congo, Gabon, and Madagascar, WCS Conservation Scientists Dr. Salvatore Cerchio and Tim Collins are conducting scientific studies to assess the status of impacted dolphin populations and working with local communities of traditional fishermen to reduce accidental bycatch and deliberate hunting of dolphins. In these regions, the scientists are documenting a worrying trend in increased captures and use of dolphins for food, and they are sometimes also being sold in markets better known for their association with terrestrial bushmeat.

In response, Cerchio and the WCS Madagascar team have worked with local communities to establish a local conservation association composed of fishermen, local traditional laws protecting dolphins, and the development of community-based whale and dolphin watching as an alternative livelihood.

On the other side of the African continent, the coasts of Gabon and Congo represent one of the last strongholds for the rare Atlantic humpback dolphin. Catches by fishermen in Gabon are extremely rare, but groups of dolphins that cross the border (a finding of recent WCS work) risk capture in coastal gillnets set by artisanal fisherman.

"The Atlantic humpback dolphin may well be the rarest mammal in the Congo basin region," said Tim Collins. "Unfortunately, few have ever heard of it, least of all the fisherman eating them out of existence."

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:57:58 AEST Wellington (AFP) Jan 24, 2012 - A pod of about 40 beached pilot whales re-stranded themselves in New Zealand Tuesday after volunteers worked for hours to get them back into the sea, officials said.

The pod was part of a larger group of about 100 pilot whales which stranded at Golden Bay on the South Island on Monday, the Department of Conservation (DOC) said.

DOC spokesman Nigel Mountford said 34 of the original pod were confirmed dead and 26 were successfully refloated late Monday and had swum offshore.

He said hopes were fading for the remaining pilot whales, which swam back to shore after volunteers manoeuvred them into the water early Tuesday afternoon.

"It's disappointing, they just came back on shore," he said.

"They'll have to take their chances at high tide overnight. It's too dangerous for our volunteers to stay through the night, we're working right at the edge of our capability."

Mass strandings are common on the New Zealand coast and more than 50 pilot whales have died in two separate beachings in the same area in the past two months.

Pilot whales, which are members of the dolphin family and grow up to six metres (20 feet) long, are a common sight in New Zealand waters.

Scientists are unsure why pilot whales beach themselves, although they speculate it may occur when their sonar becomes scrambled in shallow water or when a sick member of the pod heads for shore and others follow.

Mass dolphin strandings at Cape Cod
New York (AFP) Jan 24, 2012 - At least 85 dolphins have beached themselves in a shallow inlet of a US nature reserve at Cape Cod, officials said Tuesday, adding that the cause of the mass strandings remained a mystery.

A spokesman for the International Fund for Animal Welfare said the huge number of beached mammals over the last two weeks, with most of them dying, was close to the amount usually recorded in the course of a year.

"We had a total of 85 confirmed strandings since January 12 and that number might be as high 101," AJ Cady said. "There are still about 16 dolphins reported in difficult locations we haven't been able to confirm."

"Of that number 35 were still alive. Fifty of them were dead by the time we reached them," Cady said.

The strandings took place in the area of Wellfleet and Eastham, which is notorious for sandbanks and twisting channels, just south of the famous hook of Cape Cod on the Atlantic coast of Massachusetts.

The area is the location of coastal and marine nature preserves and is famous for its population of endangered North Atlantic right whales and other sea life.

Cady said that the large number was "very unusual. In an average year we might handle a total of 120 dolphins over the course of the entire year and now we are almost at that number in a little over a week."

Cady said there were different theories why dolphins -- like their cousins the whales -- sometimes beach themselves in large numbers.

"One (theory) is that they just get lost. We're wondering if they were following food, a school of fish, and got trapped," he said.

"They are very sociable animals. They stay together as a group if one gets in trouble, you tend to see the whole family group get stranded at the same time because they try to stay together."

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:57:58 AEST Nelson, New Zealand (AFP) Jan 23, 2012 - A pod of 90 pilot whales beached themselves at the top of New Zealand's South island Monday in the same area where seven whales died in a mass stranding earlier this month, officials said.

Regional conservation department manager John Mason said staff and volunteers would attempt to keep the whales cool until the late night high tide when it was hoped they would refloat themselves.

The whales came ashore at Golden Bay, near the tourist city of Nelson, where strandings on the tidal flats are common.

Earlier this month 25 whales were stranded on the same stretch of beach and only 18 were refloated, while 47 pilot whales died in the same area two months ago.

Pilot whales up to six metres (20 feet) long are the most common species of whale seen in New Zealand waters.

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:57:58 AEST Tokyo (AFP) Jan 21, 2012 - Anti-whaling activists threw paint and foul smelling acid at a whaling ship in the Antarctic ocean Saturday in a fresh bid to halt the annual hunt, officials said.

Two boats belonging to the US-based environmental group Sea Shepherd approached the Japanese whaling vessel Yushin Maru No. 2 (YS2) and launched 40 bottles containing paint and butyric acid, Japan's Fisheries Agency said.

"YS2 gave warnings, by voice and water cannon, to the obstructive activities," the agency said in a press release, adding that the ship also floated buoys to deter the activists' boats.

None of the YS2 crew was injured but the ship's hull was smeared with the targeted acid and paint.

The agency called Sea Shepherd's actions "extremely dangerous acts which threaten the safety of our country's vessels and the life of its crew".

The Sea Shepherd launched similar attacks against Japanese whaling fleet earlier this month.

Sea Shepherd said three of its members were injured when Japanese crewmen used grappling hooks and bamboo poles to deter them in a high seas clash on Wednesday.

On January 7, three activists from another environmental group Forest Rescue Australia boarded another whaling boat Shonan Maru.

Japan only agreed to hand the men over after intervention from Canberra, and they were returned to Australia later by a border protection vessel.

The Japanese whaling fleet, led by the 720-tonne Yushin Maru, was seen leaving the Japanese port of Shimonoseki on December 6 for the annual hunt, with security measures beefed up after clashes in previous years.

Their mission is officially said to be for "scientific research", with the fleet aiming to catch around 900 minke and fin whales, according to a plan submitted by the government to the International Whaling Commission.

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:57:58 AEST Sydney (AFP) Jan 18, 2012 - Three anti-whaling demonstrators have been injured after Japanese crew members used grappling hooks and bamboo poles against them in a high seas clash, activist group Sea Shepherd said Wednesday.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which annually shadows and harasses the Japanese whaling fleet, claimed two activists were struck in the shoulder with iron hooks and one was hit twice in the face with a long bamboo pole.

The Yushin Maru No. 2 (YS2) is tailing the Steve Irwin anti-whaling ship in the Southern Ocean and the incident happened about 300 nautical miles north of Mawson Peninsula in Antarctica, according to Sea Shepherd.

"Our small boats were attempting to slow down the Japanese harpoon vessel Yushin Maru No. 2, which is aggressively tailing the Steve Irwin," Captain Paul Watson said on the Sea Shepherd website.

During the incident, he said American Brian Race was jabbed twice in the face with a bamboo pole, receiving lacerations above his right eye and on his nose.

South African Russell Bergh, a cameraman for cable television channel Animal Planet, was struck in the right arm and shoulder with an iron grappling hook, resulting in deep bruising.

Watson said French photographer Guillaume Collet was also hit in the right arm and shoulder by a grappling hook and injured.

Japan's Fisheries Agency disputed the account, accusing the activists of starting the conflict by using ropes to try to disable the ship's rudder and propeller and hurling at least 30 bottles containing paint.

"They hurled iron hooks with ropes several times. They cut ropes and nets in floats attached to YS2 to prevent outsiders from climbing aboard," Fisheries said.

"YS2 gave warnings, by voice and water cannon, to the obstructive activities. It also used bamboo poles to push back the small boats when they tried to cut off ropes attached to floats and nets against trespassers."

The Agency called Sea Shepherd's actions "extremely dangerous acts which threaten the safety of our country's vessel and the life of its crew."

Three whaling ships, led by the 720-tonne Yushin Maru No. 2, were seen leaving the Japanese port of Shimonoseki on December 6 for the annual hunt, with security measures beefed up after clashes in previous years.

Their mission is officially said to be for "scientific research", with the fleet aiming to catch around 900 minke and fin whales, according to a plan submitted by the government to the International Whaling Commission.

Watson said two of the three Japanese harpoon vessels in the area were tailing Sea Shepherd boats as they closed in on their hunting grounds, effectively preventing them from killing whales.

"We are almost at the limit of the eastern boundary of their self-assigned hunting area," Watson said. "We should be getting close."

A second Sea Shepherd vessel, the Bob Barker, is in the area but a third, Brigitte Bardot, was damaged in high seas and forced to return to Australia earlier this month.

The Brigitte Bardot was escorted back to port by the Steve Irwin, with the Shonan Maru No. 2 in close pursuit.

Three activists from the environmental group Forest Rescue Australia boarded the Shonan Maru as it followed the Steve Irwin back out of port off Australia's west coast on January 7, sparking a diplomatic incident.

Japan only agreed to hand the men over after intervention from Canberra, and they were returned to Australia on Monday by a border protection vessel.

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:57:58 AEST Subscribe to our daily selection of space, military, environment and energy newsletters responseText http://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=0016gbbKsaiGSpQFojVO8ZoHw%3D%3D