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March 6th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Japanese whalers are in a war of words with Sea Shepherd protesters after their latest clash in the Southern Ocean.
Head of the protest group, Paul Watson, said on Monday night the whalers were at their most aggressive ever and adopting the tactics of his group.
Mr Watson said the Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker had located Japan’s factory ship the Nisshin Maru about 10pm (AEDT) and begun chasing it.
But the Sea Shepherd ship was met by three harpoon vessels that went straight towards the protest ship and began deploying 300m cables, Mr Watson said.
“I guess they have picked up on our tactics to try and foul our propellers,” he said from aboard his vessel in the Bass Strait, where he is heading to Melbourne.
Japan’s whalers refer to Sea Shepherd activists as “terrorists” for the way they try to shut down the whaling each year.
Mr Watson said the whalers ran their ships without lights and while passing within 30m of the Bob Barker temporarily blinded the crew using spotlights.
“The Bob Barker crew responded with spotlights and also with lasers and they backed off at that point,” Mr Watson said.
He said the attempted propeller fouling was unsuccessful and none of the 32 people on board the Bob Barker were injured.
But a spokesman for Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), which represents the whalers, denied copying Sea Shepherd’s tactic of fouling propellers.
“The Sea Shepherd claims are lies that are typical of Paul Watson and his mindless vegan followers,” an ICR spokesman said.
“None of the Japanese vessels are attempting to prop foul the Sea Shepherd boat,” he added.
He said rope from the stern of Japanese vessels is used from time to time as a defensive measure to prevent Sea Shepherd from getting too close.
“When dispatched, it has a buoy attached to the end to be visible and a loud warning is issued requesting all vessels to keep clear,” he added.
With the whaling season drawing to an end as the cold weather closes in, Mr Watson said it had been a fairly successful season for the activists.
He said the whalers would struggle to get 30 per cent of their quota of whales and would not take any more of the marine mammals while the Bob Barker remained on their tail.
The ICR spokesman said Sea Shepherd would have no idea how many animals had been “sampled” in this year’s research program.
“Japan is likely to publish the final research figures once it’s completed,” he said.
Although a worldwide ban on whaling has been in place since 1986, Japan exploits a loophole that allows whaling for scientific purposes.
Mr Watson’s ship the Steve Irwin is expected to dock in Williamstown in Melbourne on Wednesday about 10am (AEDT).
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