Whalers open fire at Greenpeace Boat as Norwegian Coast Guard Watches
Klaus Merkle
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Whalers open fire at Greenpeace Boat as Norwegian Coast Guard Watches
Oslo,12 July 1999 --- At 9.44 this morning, the Norwegian whaling vessel Kato located in the
North Sea, shot at a Greenpeace inflatable with a rifle. Luckily, no one was injured but the bullet
punctured the pontoon of the inflatable. At the time of the shooting, the Greenpeace inflatable was
engaged in a peaceful protest against Norwegian whaling. The vessel Kato had just harpooned a
whale when they fired the shot at the Greenpeace inflatable. The two Norwegian Coast Guard ships
on location watched passively as the inflatable was hit by the bullet.
It is quite frightening to know that the Norwegian Coast Guard are more concerned with protecting
Norwegian whaling than with human life , says Frode Pleym, Norwegian whale campaigner. The
Coast Guard has a duty to enforce the law equally, not to protect whaling interests.
While the Coast Guard did not take any action against the boat firing at Greenpeace activists, it did
arrest the Greenpeace ship MV Sirius. The Sirius is now being towed to Stavanger by the Norwegian
Coast Guard vessel Nornen. This is the second Greenpeace action against whaling this summer; Last
month Greenpeace activist Mark Hardingham was seriously injured when when a Coast Guard inflatable
rammed into a Greenpeace inflatable.
The whalers are now spreading rumors that our activists tried to cut a harpoon line but this is simply
not true said Pleym. The environmental group has been peacefully protesting Norwegian whaling
activities which take place annually since 1993, despite the International Whaling Commission's
moratorium forbidding it and despite the collapse of the whale meat market in Norway. In addition
to the a moratorium by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), Norway is acting in breach of
art. 65 of the Law of the Sea Convention which requires all countries to cooperate with the IWC for
the conservation of whales.
Greenpeace has documented that the two biggest whale meat storage facilities in Norway are filled
with blubber and whale meat, some boxes dating back to 1986. The fact that whale meat consumption
is at an all time low has caused the whalers to put pressure on the Norwegian Government to allow
the export of whale products, despite the international trade ban by CITES (1).
-ends-
picture editors: stills can be found on the web at http//:www.greenpeace.org/library/picturedesk.ht
ml
1) The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), a treaty which currently
prohibits international sale of whale meat and other products. CITES member nations have traditiona
lly
honored the advice of the IWC on all matters pertaining to whales. CITES will meet next in Nairobi
in
April 2000, during which Japan and Norway, are expected to push for a lift of the ban. Despite thei
r
defeat in the IWC meeting.
For more information, please check our WebPages at http//:www.greanpeace.org