A US appeals court has labelled militant conservationist group Sea Shepherd as pirates, and cleared the way for Japanese whalers to pursue legal action against them.
“You don’t need a peg leg or an eye patch” to be a pirate, declared chief judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals, overturning a lower court’s ruling against Japanese whalers, who he said were “researchers.”
“When you ram ships, hurl glass containers of acid, drag metal-reinforced ropes in the water to damage propellers and rudders, launch smoke bombs and flares with hooks; and point high-powered lasers at other ships, you are, without a doubt, a pirate,” he said.
This was true “no matter how high-minded you believe your purpose to be,” he added in a ruling that dubbed Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson “eccentric”.
Sea Shepherd is chasing the Japanese fleet hunting whales off Antarctica, as it has done for years in a bid to prevent the mammals being slaughtered.
Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research and others are pursuing legal action in the United States, seeking an injunction against their activities on the high seas.
