ABC
News
February 1, 2013:
The
Federal Government has ordered a Japanese whaling vessel to get out of
Australia's exclusive economic zone.
The
Shonan Maru Number 2 - a Customs vessel which travels with the whaling fleet -
entered the zone off Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean yesterday
afternoon.
Environment
Minister Tony Burke said he had made it clear to Japan that vessels associated
with the whaling program "are not welcome in in Australia's exclusive
economic zone or territorial sea".
"Our
embassy in Tokyo has conveyed these sentiments directly to the Japanese
government," Mr Burke said in a statement.
Former
Greens leader Bob Brown, now the mission leader of the Sea Shepherd
anti-whaling group, says he believes the vessel has armed Japanese personnel
aboard.
On
February 1 it was reported that the customs vessel was just outside of
Australian territorial waters, but remains in Australia’s economic exclusion
zone close to Macquarie Island, in direct defiance of the objections contained
in the Australian Government’s formal notification to the Japanese Government.
World
Heritage listed Macquarie Island forms part of the State of Tasmania.
The Hon Tony Burke MP
Minister for Sustainability,
Environment, Water, Population and Communities
Media release
31 January 2013
31 January 2013
The Australian Government has
received confirmation that a Japanese whaling support vessel, the Shonan Maru
No 2, has entered our exclusive economic zone near Macquarie Island in the
Southern Ocean.
The Government strongly
objects to whaling vessels passing through Australian territorial seas or our
exclusive economic zone.
Australia has made it clear to
Japan on a number of occasions that vessels associated with its whaling program
are not welcome in Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) or Territorial
Sea.
The vessel is a non-whaling
support ship which forms part of the fleet accompanying whaling vessels.
Our embassy in Tokyo has
conveyed these sentiments directly to the Japanese government.
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