Yūshin Maru No. 2

The Yushin Maru No. 2 is a Japanese registered whaling ship currently undertaking whaling operations in the Southern Ocean.

On January 15th 2008 further controversy arose when two activists members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Australian Benjamin Potts and Briton Giles Lane, boarded the whaling ship Yushin Maru 2 to deliver a protest letter informing the Japanese crew about Australian's court decision over Japanese whaling in the AAT pointing out that therefore their activities were illegal under Australian law, were detained against their will and kept on board for 2 days. The whalers and protesters in the cold Antarctica region exchanged strong accusations on each other with "terrorism, kidnapping, piracy and blackmailing", while the activists were kept locked up on the Japanese ship till January 18th when they were transferred from the whaler back to Steve Irwin ship by an Australian customs vessel from the Ocean Viking after prolonged negotiations between Canberra and Tokyo. Both Tokyo Foreign Affair Ministry and the Sea Shepherd Captain exchanged accusations with Tokyo accusing Sea Shepherd of not responding its radio transmission concerning the return of the activists in order to attract media attention, while on the other side Sea Shepherd claims that no radio transmissions were received but for a list of demands issued by Yushin Maru in exchange for the safe return of the activists. Such demands included that Sea Shepherd's boat should stop following and harassing the whalers as well as they should agree to neither film nor photograph any activities performed by the whalers. Such requirements were immediately turned down by Steve Irwin's captain and the release of the activists were demanded to be unconditional. Paul Watson, captain of the Sea Shepherd's vessel the Steve Irwin, and the activists claimed that they were mistreated, almost thrown overboard, tied to the whaler's rail, tied downstairs with freezing water up to their knees and later on tied up to a radar post on the upper deck in below freezing temperatures before being locked up in a cabin downstairs. The claims were denied by Tokyo, The Institute of Cetacean Research, Hideki Moronuki, a spokesman for the Japanese Fisheries Agency's whaling section and the crew of the whaler themselves but such accusations were proved founded and true and the Japanese denials unreliable after photos of the incident were released to the media.

Connection between whaling and organized crime.

There are also controversial claims that most of the meat, which Tokyo admits go for consumption, ends up at expensive restaurants and wholesalers connected to the organized crime group [Yamaguchi-Gumi] and that both The Institute of Cetacean Research, which is funded by Kyodo Senpaku; a for-profit company that sells and profit over US$60 million worth of whale products every single year conducting the collection, processing and selling wholesale of the whale meat on behalf of the institute, and Japanese Fisheries Agency's whaling section and its official are all controlled by this same organized crime group. A claim that Tokyo, The Institute, Kyodo Senpaku and The Japanese Fisheries Agency strongly deny. However many restaurants and private researchers including college professors claim that it is extremely difficult to have access to the whales meat being for research in the case of universities or for sale at its establishments in the case of restaurants unless they are directly connected to the organized crime.

See also

• Whaling in Japan