Sea Shepherd Foundation slams Australia as 'cowardly' on whaling
Sea Shepherd activists say aircraft will be no use in Southern Ocean against Japan whalers
Militant anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd yesterday dismissed as a "sham" an Australian government plan to track Japan's annual whale hunt by air instead of by sea, saying it was a "cowardly" response.
Australia on Sunday announced an aerial mission to the Southern Ocean as a showdown looms between Japan's whaling fleet and Sea Shepherd activists, saying it would send a message to both sides that the world was watching.
Environment Minister Greg Hunt had first promised to send a federal government ship to tail the warring groups, but said the aircraft would increase the surveillance mission's reach and effectiveness.
Sea Shepherd criticised the move, with its Australian chairman Bob Brown describing it as a "pretty cowardly" backdown by the conservative government in a bid to appease Japan due to ongoing free-trade negotiations.
"They'll fly over and look from a great height. What are they going to do if something's going wrong down there? Where are they going to send a vessel from? Because those planes are not going to be able to intervene," Brown said. "It's a sham operation, this plane."