Australia to watch whalers

Australia will send aircraft and a ship to watch Japanese whaling vessels off Antarctica.

The customs vessel that will shadow the Japanese fleet will not be armed. "It will be surveillance, not enforcement, or intervention," Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said today. The Australian Antarctic Division would do the aerial surveillance, collecting video and photo evidence. The customs vessel Oceanic Viking would carry out surface surveillance in the Southern Ocean for 20 days. The Federal Government had sought advice over whether it could launch international legal action against Japanese whalers. Australia was also leading a formal diplomatic protest to the Japanese Government. That advice was expected early next year.
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