Bully Boys' Blockade

A nasty-Nippon-led coalition has blocked a move to create a South Atlantic sanctuary for whales.
The proposal brought by five African and South American countries needed the support of ¾ of the International Whaling Commission (IWC)'s 88 members. In the event, 24 countries were opposed, including Japan.
Japan is one of a handful of countries including Norway and Iceland still hunting whales via a loophole in a 30yr.old global moratorium, allowing "scientific whaling" – essentially using a tape measure to justify commercial harvesting of whales.
Hermano Telles Ribeiro, Brazil's IWC envoy said after the vote: "Brazil does not accept the practice of scientific whaling. The loophole should not be there at all."
He said it was high time to tighten the 70yr.old International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. That moratorium was introduced at the urging of environmentalists, to preserve dwindling whale stocks in the world's oceans.
The sanctuaries improved protection of whales from pollution and entanglement in fishing nets. Scientists estimate 300,000+ whales and dolphins die annually after being accidentally caught in fishing gear.
Environmentalists say the South Atlantic is crucial to preserving whale diversity. It is an area that is critically important to a wide range of whale species.

Sea Shepherd's New Weapon

A custom-made warship with bigger engines and a long-distance fuel tank...(as blogged here 02 Feb.2015)!
Anti-whaling activists Sea Shepherd have a brand-new $12m ship they say will match the speed and endurance of Japan's whaling fleet.
And with Japan's defiance of an international court ruling about to be in the spotlight at a global summit this month, the activists plan to sail the new vessel to Australia, before heading south to disrupt the summer whale hunt near Antarctica.
SS's Peter Hammarstedt: "The biggest challenge in our past campaigns has been that the Japanese whaling vessels've rammed us with their superior size, and they've outrun us with their superior speed. So this is a vessel they cannot catch."

Christened Ocean Warrior, it is the first brand-new ship SS has built, allowing the group to specify engine size and other features for its high-seas protests. Cargo space has been converted to fuel tanks to give the ship longer range.
SS won't disclose it's top speed but said it comfortably topped 30 knots in recent Mediterranean Sea trials - this'll allow it to catch the nasty Nippon harpooners and it can land a helicopter aboard, thus extending its tracking options.
All SS's other ships have been refitted older vessels, Bob Barker once a Norwegian whaling ship (c.1950), Steve Urwin a former Scottish fisheries vessel (c.1975).
Japan killed 333 minke whales last summer - the first hunt after a 2014 ruling in the International Court of Justice that declared the so-called "scientific whaling" to be illegal. But Japan has since exempted itself from the court's jurisdiction and drawn up new guidelines for whaling, effectively doubling the size of the hunting grounds in the Southern Ocean.
In Sept., 95 countries condemned Japan's resumption of whaling, and the issue is expected to dominate a meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Slovenia this month.

Ice, Ice, Baby...

Confirmation that more than 1,500 metric tons of endangered Icelandic fin whale meat were shipped to Japan in July 2016!

death-carrier Winter Bay

The discovery comes just prior to the 17th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP17) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which starts in South Africa today.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), OceanCare, Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), Pro Wildlife, and Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) tracked the transport vessel Winter Bay from Iceland, through Russia's Northern Sea Route and on to Japan, suspecting it was carrying whale products from the Hvalur whaling company. The shipment arrived in Osaka on 09 Sept.
As blogged here, Winter Bay shipped over 1,800 metric tons of fin whale products from Iceland to Japan via the same route in 2015.

Whaling vessel Hvalur 9

Hvalur and its director, Kristján Loftsson, are emptying their warehouse of fin whale products, presumably to resume their killing in 2017.
Clare Perry, head of EIA's Oceans Campaign: "There‘s no excuse for Iceland to continue to slaughter whales in violation of the 30-yr. old International Whaling Commission (IWC) commercial whaling moratorium. The international community must tell Loftsson that enough is enough: fin whaling must stop."
Iceland and Norway trade commercially in whale products, under their respective reservations to the listing of great whale species on CITES Appendix I. Since 2008, more than 9,000 metric tons of whale products have been exported by the two countries to Japan and the Faroe Islands.
On 14 Sept., a Norwegian company received an export permit from the Norwegian govt to ship up to 195 metric tons of minke whale meat to Japan. If the shipment goes ahead, it will be the largest single shipment of whale meat from Norway since the IWC moratorium took effect. And Lofothval, a Norwegian whale meat company tied to Iceland's Loftsson, also received an export permit on 15 Sept., to ship up to 4 metric tons of whale meat to Japan. Combined, these shipments equal the meat of 137 minke whales.
These export permits are deeply disturbing, as it appears the companies are whaling almost exclusively for the Japanese market.

Into The Black Heart

Late last month (29 July), Sea Shepherd Captain Jessie Treverton from the UK re-entered the Faroe Islands' capital Tórshavn for the first time since her arrest in 2014.

She returned to demand a court trial and the return of a seized SS vessel.
The procrastinating Faroese prosecutor had yet to set a court date, almost two years after Treverton's Sept.2014 arrest for guiding a large pod of white-sided dolphins away from the killing bays of the Faroe Islands as part of SS's campaign Operation Grindstop. After MV Spitfire steered a large pod of dolphins to safety, the Danish Navy seized the UK-registered vessel and arrested its three crew, charging them with 'failure to report sightings of dolphins to the authorities' under the newly-introduced Grind Law and 'harassing dolphins' in an unprecedented interpretation of Faroese animal welfare legislation.
It seems in the Faroes it's legal to drive and kill an EU-protected cetacean species, but it's illegal to push them back out to sea in order to save them from harm...because that's considered harassment!
Treverton's court case has been postponed numerous times, but she now finally has a court summons for 24 Nov.2016. She believes the lengthy postponement is intentional, because any such trial will have a landmark impact on the traditional drive hunt and slaughter of pilot whales and other dolphins: "I'm looking forward to my court case, to highlight the ridiculous hypocrisy of the grind laws. If I'm found guilty of 'stressing' dolphins, the dolphin hunters can also be charged with that same offence. If I am found innocent, any person will be free to direct dolphins away from the islands to safety. Either way, it's a win for the oceans."
I'll bet when the FI legal beagles twisted the Grind Law around, they hadn't thought of that implication! Opps!

All Hail The Happy And Hardy!

In history on 26 July 1903, the first automobile trip across the United States was completed by two happy and hardy gentlemen.
It was America's first transcontinental road trip and, like all hard drives, an unforgettable experience.

Happy and hardy butcher

This year on 26 July, another hard drive...this time in the beautiful Faroe Islands, where it's stunning rugged beauty was once again savagely tarnished by one more bloody and brutal grindadráp.
A pod of approximately 200 long-finned pilot whales was driven by 25 Faroese boats for two hours, before 135 were eventually beached and hacked to death on the rocky shoreline at Hvannasund.
This was the second slaughter of 2016 - the largest so far, following the totally unnecessary deaths of up to 50 pilot whales on 06 July.
In 2015, the "gentlemen" of the Faroes butchered 501 whales - now just one month into 'the season', they're already a third through last year's tally. I hope these hardy gents are happy...

This Time, The Whales Win

A new court ruling, in an ongoing battle between the US Navy and marine wildlife advocates, has come down in favour of marine mammals that're affected by navy sonar.

Sonar, which involves detecting underwater objects using sound waves, is used by whales and dolphins to locate prey or members of their pod. But the human-developed sonar can be harmful to marine mammals and their feeding and mating patterns.
An Appeals Court in California has found a 2012 decision - to allow naval use of low-frequency sonar for training, testing, and operations - was contrary to the US Marine Mammal Protection Act, which states peacetime oceanic programmes must have "the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammals."
Environmentalists have claimed 155 whales and dolphins in certain parts of Southern California and the Hawaiian islands were killed by the US Navy's mid-frequency active sonar and explosives, with estimates for serious injuries in the range of 2,000.
The use of sonar has been shown to cause whales to swim hundreds of miles to escape, change depth so fast that injury is caused, or beach themselves in order to avoid rolling walls of noise that're nearly twice the volume of the loudest rock concert.
This lawsuit by the Natural Resources Defence Council is part of a larger campaign to limit man-made oceanic noises impacting the health, feeding, and breeding patterns for marine mammals. Other examples include sounds caused by shipping vessels and seismic oil and gas drilling.

2016 Grindadráp Begins

In the Northern Hemisphere, it's summer.
A time for family fun in the sun, frolicking at the seaside, running helter-skelter into the waves...and for some Faroe Islanders, hacking trapped pilot whales to death. Their local media confirms up to 50 whales were killed on 06 July.

The pod of pilot whales was initially spotted near Svinoy (an island in the NE of the Faroes), before boats forced them south about 11km onto the killing beach of Hvannasund...Sea Shepherd activists were not present at the grindadráp, as the group has been barred from entering the FI.
The 2015 summer saw 501 whales butchered, 14 SS volunteers from across the globe arrested, and SS's vessel Bob Barker barred "in the interests of maintaining law and order." A new law was brought in, forcing all visitors - not just SS activists - to report sightings of whales to authorities, or face a possible 2yrs.jail.
There were also claims that the navy was involved in preventing protests. As actor Martin Sheen wrote to the Danish PM: "I was appalled to see the Danish Navy being used to defend the killing of hundreds of defenceless pilot whales. Does it really take a frigate, a patrol boat, commando units and a helicopter along with Danish police officers and a Faroese patrol boat to stop a group of compassionate, non-violent people?"
The Faroe Islands govt claims there's no special legislation regarding entry visas for members of Sea Shepherd. But from April 2016, a new executive order allows a Faroese minister to ban foreign vessels if they're expected to "disrupt lawful activities".
As a result, SS has modified its tactics. It's 2016 pilot whale defence campaign Operation Bloody Fjords will take its battle to the heart of the Faroese and Danish institutions that support this bloody dated practice. It plans to pursue a legal complaint in the European Union Parliament, and to promote the boycott of Faroese farm-raised salmon and other fish products.

Norway Feeds Minke Meat to Mink

So few people in Norway eat whale meat that it ends up in animal feed on fur farms!
As well as being one of only three countries continuing to whale, Norway has a thriving fur industry. Last year, it exported 258 tons of fox skins and 1,000 tons of mink skins to the EU.
According to a report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a UK-based nonprofit, and the US-based Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), more than 113 metric tons of minke whale products — that's about 75 whales — were bought or used by

Rogaland Pelsdyrfôrlaget, the largest manufacturer of animal feed for Norway's fur industry.
It details that, in 2014, the company bought or used 113,700 kgs (or 125 tons) of whale product, which could include meat and blubber.
There is little demand for whale meat in Norway, and consumption fell to about .25kg of meat per person per year (2000, Whale and Dolphin Conservation). Norway has increased its whale meat exports to Japan in recent years in defiance of an international ban. However, the EIA and AWI revealed last year that Japan rejected imports of Norwegian whale meat, when tests revealed high levels of pesticides.
Jennifer Lonsdale, EIA director: "The Norwegian government claims it's important to have whale meat as a source of food for people, but because of falling demand, the product is now being exported. Now we discover it's going to feed animals in the fur industry, which we find completely unacceptable."

Norway's self-issued quota for 2016 was for about 880 whales, down from 1,286 in 2015. But the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has criticised it for not being conservation-minded enough. In 2001, the IWC called on Norway to stop hunting and trading whales, but Norway insists it's a tradition that needs to be protected.
Minke whales in the North Atlantic, where Norway hunts, are not considered to be at-risk, but conservationists and animal welfare activists say the hunts are cruel and unnecessary, given the low demand for whale meat.

- Source: National Geographic's Special Investigations Unit,
which focuses on wildlife crime.

The Butchers Are Back

The blatant flauting of international law by the nasty Nippons concluded last week.

Daddy-san's home!

Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) announced its whaling fleet had killed 333 minke whales since the end of last year in the name of "research". That proudly-announced figure tragically included 200 pregnant whales.
ICR also revealed where its hunts had been carried out: many of the whales were slaughtered in the Australian Whale Sanctuary and the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
It is ironic that neither Australia nor New Zealand would provide any intelligence support, to help eco-warriors Sea Shepherd locate the Japanese whaling fleet. Neither would they mobilise any vessel to watch the whalers. Yet the illegal butchering of these sentient creatures mostly happened within striking distance of their coasts, and within each country's jurisdiction!

Oh, for sure, as soon as the bloody tally hit the headlines, each country's Foreign Ministers denounced the ICR's efforts... but of what use is that?
It is obvious to all that Japan's new "scientific" research scheme is yet another thinly-disguised hunting trip. Like those before, it too was rejected by the International Whaling Commission's scientific committee. Yet the arrogant Japanese went ahead anyway, knowing that the very countries spearheading the anti-whaling campaign valued the Nippon trading dollars more, than to follow through with what the majority of their voters wanted.
Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson: "Japan simply ignores international law and international opinion, and continues to slaughter whales with impunity, selling their flesh for a profit. Nearly two years have passed since the International Court of Justice ruled Japan's commercial whaling program illegal, and yet the whalers are still announcing hundreds of fresh kills, including of pregnant mothers."
SS's reason for not sending a full fleet into the Sthrn Ocean this season to block whaling efforts, was because it had a big legal campaign underway against the whalers. And it was the Japanese who actually made this possible - by suing SS in US federal court in 2011. That gave SS a unique opportunity to hold the whalers accountable under US law. So SS has counterclaimed, to prevent the whalers from continuing their violent attacks on SS vessels, and to force them to pay damages for past attacks.
In the meantime, this year's whaling season was a profound success for the ICR, and a pause in the fight for SS. It should also be an embarrassment for Australia and New Zealand. But do their governments really care? I think not...

Hide and Seek

Environmental group Sea Shepherd can't find the nasty Nippon whaling fleet in the vast Southern Ocean, and is urging the Ozzie govt to help.

Its ship Steve Irwin left Western Australia on 18 Jan., to disrupt the annual hunt. SS says the whalers have greatly expanded their area of operations in the Southern Ocean, and this makes finding them very difficult.
Japan maintains it's trying to prove the whale population is big enough to sustain a return to commercial hunting, and says it has to kill the mammals to carry out its 'scientific research' properly.
Australia - leading global efforts to persuade Japan to halt whaling - has previously floated the idea of sending a customs vessel to monitor the hunt, but there's been no follow-through.
SS's Paul Watson: "SS was expecting that Oz or NZ would uphold their obligations as responsible members of the International Whaling Commission, to send a ship to intercept the Japanese whaling fleet. This does not seem to be something Australia or New Zealand are willing to do." He's calling for them to provide SS with the exact

"What? You expect me to be actually do my job???"

coordinates of the fleet.
Oz Environment Minister Greg Hunt is non-committal on the suggestion: "We do not accept...the concept of killing whales for so-called 'scientific research'. We will continue to urge Japan to pursue non-lethal methods of research and end its unnecessary whaling programme. Australia is committed to the protection of whales and we will continue to work with the international community to promote whale conservation and uphold the global moratorium on commercial whaling."
As you can see, he's saying nothing at all. And if you're expecting anything better from NZ Foreign Affairs Munster "Womble" McCully...think again. He can't even say ANYTHING on the subject... let alone anything of substance!
It appears as if, once again, the people's elected representatives sit comfortably in their ivory towers doing nothing, while the people's eco-warriors struggle on their own...

Even The Experts Say No

More than 30 of the world's top whale scientists have called on Japan to stop its "scientific" whaling programme.
In the international journal Nature, the experts wrote a letter under the headline "Japan's whaling is unscientific": "The IWC urgently needs to develop a process of scientific review that results in clear decisions that can be respected by all." The experts are mostly members of the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) Scientific Committee, whose evidence contributed to the 2014 International Court of Justice ruling against Japan's previous whaling.
Prof.Liz Slooten (Uni.Otago) says "scientific whaling" is a loophole in the international regulations, allowing whaling to continue despite the moratorium on commercial whaling which began in 1986: "When I first joined the IWC Scientific Committee in 1992, I was surprised to discover that Japan is under no obligation to respond to criticism on the scientific whaling proposals it submits to the IWC. Japan decides whether to go whaling and how many whales it will kill. The IWC can neither reject a scientific whaling proposal, nor set a quota for the

number of whales that can be taken."
Hence why four Japanese ships, incl.harpoon boats, are en route to Antarctic waters to hunt whales again, despite that 2014 international court ruling that such missions are unlawful. They plan to kill 333 minke whales in the Southern Ocean, adding to the 10,712 already taken since 1987.
The Steve Irwin, flagship of conservation group Sea Shepherd, last week left Fremantle in Western Australia to try and stop them...

Ozzies: Send In Some Muscle!

Australians are overwhelmingly in favour of their govt monitoring Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean.
A Morgan poll finds 76.9% of 1,002 people want a Customs ship to monitor Japanese whaling.

The Coalition had previously been accused of backing off a pre-election commitment to tackle whaling in the Southern Ocean, after refusing to send the specialist Customs patrol vessel Ocean Protector, and instead sending aircraft to monitor the hunt.
Greens senator Nick McKim said the Coalition was backing away from the monitoring commitment made in opposition, and PM Malcolm Turnbull had refused to express anything stronger than "disappointment" about whaling on his recent visit to Japan.
The poll comes at the end of a fraught year on the whaling issue, in which Japanese whaling company Kyodo Senpaku was fined $1m for wilful contempt of the Australian federal court, after breaching an order to stop killing whales.
The decision to resume whaling also flies in the face of a 2014 international court of justice (ICJ) ruling saying the programme had no basis in science and should be halted.
A spokesman for environment minister, Greg Hunt, said: "The govt has made representations at the highest level to urge Japan not to resume whaling and we will continue to do so. We will also continue our efforts in the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to strongly oppose commercial whaling, and to promote whale conservation."
However in 2013 when in opposition, Hunt strongly supported having a Customs vessel in the Southern Ocean...

Whaling: Agree To Disagree - Japan

We've done nothing wrong by going whaling again, says Japan's top whaling official.
AsiaOne.com quotes Joji Morishita, Japan's IWC Commissioner, as quipping "the world must agree to disagree on the issue."
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said last year that Japan's Southern Ocean whaling must stop (though not necessarily forever) and the International Whaling Committee (IWC) ruled that Japan had yet to demonstrate a need for killing whales.

"A-whaling we will go!"

So Tokyo took a year off from Antarctic whaling.
But Morishita says reworking of its hunt plan for the 2015/16 season - which cuts the minke whale target by two-thirds to 333 - has made every effort to meet the objections of both the court and the IWC. "We decided to implement our research plan, because we are confident we completed the scientific homework, as well as meeting the ICJ requirement."
Morishita added that whaling may just be another one of many irreconcilable differences international society has to live with: "However, this does not mean we'll take all whales - exactly because we'd like to have sustainable whaling, we'd like to have a healthy whale population."
If Japan steps back from the emotive public debate and impassioned environmental protests for a moment, it can surely see it is still in breach of rulings from both the IWC and ICJ.
It is not up to Japan to decide it's met the requirements of a court judgement. It has to present it's fresh plans for further evaluation. Only then, if the IWC rules in favour, can it carry on sushi-gathering in the name of 'research'.
As for ignoring the full-stop laid down by the ICJ, there must be more fall-out from this, than just a "tut-tut". Does the ICJ have the teeth to impose upon Japan punitive sanctions for contempt of court, or does it have as little strength as the UN?

The Killing Never Stops

"Ahhh vell, it helps to pass ze time on zez cold vinter days, jah!"

On the last day of November, 11 more pilot whales were slaughtered at the killing beach of Fuglafirði in the Faroe Islands.

Though it's assumed by outsiders that these killings happen only in the Northern summers, a grindadráp can be called at any time of the year - whenever a whale pod is sighted.
Environmental group Sea Shepherd has left the Faroe Islands for this year, ending its 6th campaign there (entitled Operation Sleppid Grindini), but strongly disputes the local media's claims that the slaughter was "smooth and quick".

Rosie Kunneke, SS's Land Team Leader: "For an hour and a half these pilot whales were harassed by small boats, driven onto the killing beach, hooked by their blowholes, dragged onto the rocks and sand and then slaughtered...the truth of the grindadráp is a slow and torturous death. To claim otherwise is a totally outrageous sham."
This was the 7th grindadráp of 2015, bringing the total number of pilot whales slaughtered to 501. Since the beginning of 2010, the Faroese have killed nearly 4,000 whales and dolphins... 

Japan Says FU To The World

Older Japanese are licking their lips in anticipation: their country will resume whaling in the Antarctic in late December...oh, only for 'science', of course!
This is despite an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that Japan cease all whaling.
The Jap.govt says it's "taken into account" the court ruling and its whaling programme this time will be much smaller. But the announcement has been condemned by environmental groups and the Oz and UK govts.

Minke whale breaching

The whaling fleet sailed for the Southern Ocean yesterday...no doubt hoping to catch environmentalists on the back foot. Under it's revised plan, it will reduce the number of minke whales caught each year by two thirds to 333. Japan believes it's plan is scientifically reasonable, but that's unlikely to placate opponents.
In 2014, Australia and NZ won a case against Japan in the ICJ in the Netherlands. The court ruled that Japan's 'scientific' whaling programme was not scientific at all - and ordered Tokyo to recall its fleet. Crucially, the ruling stated that it did not believe it was necessary for Japan to kill whales, in order to study them.
+++++
...meanwhile, in a landmark ruling, the Oz Federal Court has found Japanese whalers to be in contempt of court and fined them AUS $1 million for killing minkes in the Sthrn.Ocean's Australian Whale Sanctuary, in violation of a 2008 injunction.
The Australian court ruling finds the whalers in "willful contempt" of a 2008 injunction, banning them from killing, injuring, taking or interfering with any Antarctic minke, fin or humpback whale in the Australian Whale Sanctuary. The sanctuary was established in 1999 to protect whales within 200nm of the Australian continent and of portions of Antarctica over which Australia asserts sovereignty.
Sadly, there's a snowball's chance in hell of seeing that fine paid!
+++++
...the nasty Nippons are also facing claims filed by environmentalists Sea Shepherd, asking a US court to find that Japan's Sthrn.Ocean whaling programme violates international law, and to impose an injunction to prevent it from continuing.

Stewart Island Stranding

Dozens of pilot whales have died after stranding at Doughboy Bay on Stewart Island this week.
The pod of 29 was discovered on Tuesday evening by two trampers, who were unable to alert the Department of Conservation (DoC) for two days because the bay was so remote.
DoC says eight of the whales were still alive when they arrived on Thursday, but they had to be euthanised. Refloating was not an option given the length of time the whales had been stranded in hot, dry conditions.
Because the stranding site is so isolated, the whales will be left to decompose naturally on the beach. Visitors should stay well clear of the carcases.
And thus the 2015 whale-stranding season in NZ begins...

The largest mass stranding on record happened in 1918, when 1000 whales were stranded on the Chatham Islands.
The most recent stranding on Stewart Island was in June 2013 when one pilot whale got stuck on Maori Beach.

Whale On Food Festival Menu

When tourists think of Japan, images of dramatic landscapes, futuristic cities and world-class sushi may spring to mind.
But one Tokyo district is hoping to reel in outsiders with one of the country’s more controversial traditions: slaughtering whales.

Ebisu, a Tokyo gastronomic hub, is hosting an annual food festival aimed at introducing foreigners to the culinary delights of whale meat.
But few tourists visiting the district seem willing to tuck into the dark meat, with some saying the concept put them off visiting the festival entirely.
Japan's culinary relationship with cetaceans is both controversial and complex. The nation has hunted whales for hundreds of years but the commercial industry only took off after WWII, to help feed a hungry country.
In recent decades it has used a legal loophole in the international ban on whale hunting that allows it to continue catching the animals in order to gather scientific data. But it's no secret that the whale meat from these hunts ends up on dining tables, even though consumption has fallen sharply in recent years.
The country’s influential Japan Whaling Association has given the festival its blessing. Chairman Kazuo Yamamura: "If foreign visitors actually see the food being served at restaurants, I hope they say it may be all right to use it as resources as long as the animals are not endangered."
Around 30 Ebisu restaurants are serving whale dishes throughout the festival, which closes on 18 October.

Faroese Turn On Their Own

"Sam Simon"

Last Tuesday (01 Sept.), authorities in the Shetland Islands, Scotland, seized a small boat from the Sea Shepherd ship Sam Simon.
The warrant for the seizure was presented while the vessel was in the Shetlands to refuel. In the warrant, authorities claim there are "reasonable grounds to suspect an offence has been committed under the law of Denmark."

This relates to the small boat's involvement in the defence of 61 pilot whales at a grindadráp at Sandavágur in the Faroe Islands on 12 August.
The seizure follows a legal challenge against the recently-enacted Faroe Islands Pilot Whaling Act. Faroese legal consultant, former police officer and adviser in issues regarding safety, security, defence and emergency preparedness - Henrik Weihe Joensen - has filed charges against the Faroe Islands Ministry of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, challenging the law's legality. He claims the law is 'invalid' because the Faroese Parliament does not have the legislative authority to implement new laws in relation to police activity "which concerns action

against persons and objects."
Joensen believes that, if the Pilot Whaling Act is declared invalid, it may have a great impact on the cases already brought against Sea Shepherd, and may also have implications for the political relationship between the Faroe Islands and Denmark...watch this space.

UPDATE: 04 October 2015 - end of a tough campaigning season in the Faroes.

Denmark Refuses Entry To Faroes

The Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker and its crew have been denied entry into the Faroe Islands by Danish authorities.
The vessel arrived at the port of Sund in the FI last Sunday. Upon docking, Danish Customs and Immigration officers conducted a full ship search and passport inspection. Authorities did not indicate there was any entry issue during the inspection. However, afterwards, all 21 crewmembers were issued with a Refusal of Entry notice and ordered to leave the 12nm limit of the Faroe Islands.
Danish authorities said the notices were issued for suspicion of "affecting public order", although the actual document gives no clear legal reasons for denial of entry. Believing the notices to be unlawful, SS has begun appeal processes to fight the order.
Captain Alex Cornelissen, CEO of SS Global: "Denmark seems to think the best way to divert attention away from its support of the grindadráp is to conduct further legally dubious activity."
Despite the fact that the slaughter of cetaceans is banned in the European Union - including Denmark - the killing continues with the support of Danish police and navy, and with the blessing of the Danish government. Cornelissen: "By denying the crew of the Bob Barker entry to the Faroe Islands, Danish authorities have proven that they are more interested in supporting the slaughter of pilot whales than they are in upholding their EU responsibilities and maintaining their relationships with other EU countries. They have also shown how effective Sea Shepherd has been in holding Denmark accountable for the on-going slaughter of cetaceans."

This year 490 pilot whales have been killed in the Faroes with Denmark's backing.
+ ...meanwhile international pressure against the grindadráp builds from countries within the EU. In early August, two major German cruise-liner companies cancelled tours to the Faroes.
In the past month, politicos from Luxembourg, Italy and the UK have publically expressed disdain for the grindadráp.
On 19 August, the Scottish town of Wick announced it had cut its 20yr.long twin-town relationship with the city of Klaksvík, and would not look to re-instate official relationships until the "disgusting" slaughter of whales in FI is banned.
The writing is on the wall...?

Four Down - Many More Left!

Four Sea Shepherd volunteers were deported from the Faroe Islands under the cover of darkness in the early hours of 14 August.
The four had been found guilty of breaking the new Faroe Islands' Pilot Whaling Act, and of public disturbance for the crime of interfering in the July 23 slaughter of over 250 pilot whales at Bøur and Tórshavn.
So far this year, 12 SS volunteers from UK, Italy, Corsica/France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and US have been arrested in the Faroes - all accused of interfering in the infamous drive hunt of pilot whales and other small cetaceans known as the

grindadráp.
+ ...meanwhile the slaughter at Sandavágur on Vágar Island on 12 August was the fifth this year, bringing the death toll to around 490 pilot whales since June.
On that occasion, a SS boat disrupted the hunt, maneuvering between the flotilla of hunting boats, and managed to briefly re-direct the pod. On the beach, five more volunteers ran into the water to stand between the whales and the awaiting hunters. All five were hauled back to the sand by police and handcuffed.
About 61 pilot whales were eventually slaughtered, in a blood frenzy lasting 2hrs.