Sea Shepherd Ship Bob Barker collides with the refueling tanker Sun Laurel February 25, 2013 in the Southern Ocean REUTERS/The Institute of Cetacean Research/Handout (Bloomberg) Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research and Kyodo Senpaku, which conduct the nation’s whale hunts, say they reached a mediation agreement with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and its founder Paul Watson.
Under the terms of the negotiated agreement, Sea Shepherd and Watson are prohibited from “physically attacking” Japan’s whaling vessels or crew, or approaching closer than 500 yards to the vessels on the high seas.
The agreement settles a case brought by the Japanese institutions against Sea Shepherd at a Seattle court in 2011, in which the Japan institutions sought an injunction from “violent behavior” of protesters which they said endangered the safety of the whaling vessels’ crew.