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Photo:
The Brigitte Bardot limped back into Fremantle with its damaged pontoon (Pamela Medlen: ABC News)
The skipper of an anti-whaling boat which towed its damaged sister ship into Fremantle says the boats were tailed by Japanese security vessels.
The Sea Shepherd’s Brigitte Bardot was towed into port after being damaged by large waves in the Southern Ocean last week.
Yesterday, seven of the ship’s crew were moved onto Sea Shepherd’s other ship, the Steve Irwin, after another wave caused further damage.
The skipper Paul Watson says the boats had been shadowed by Japanese vessels since leaving the Southern Ocean.
“The Shonah Maru number 2, the Japanese security vessel, they’ve been tailing us for days,” he said.
There was no sign of the Japanese ship when the two Sea Shepherd boats came into harbour.
Meanwhile, the Greens leader Bob Brown is renewing calls for the Australian Government to send a patrol boat to the Southern Ocean to stop the annual Japanese whale hunt.
“The Gillard Government should tell the Japanese Government to shove off, to get it’s ship back out of our economic zone,” he said.
“It’s time that Tony Burke got a backbone instead of having his department make limp excuses about legal niceties.”
Topics:
maritime,
whaling,
fremantle-6160,
perth-6000,
hobart-7000
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