And anti-whaling activists have returned to the waters near Antarctica in an attempt to stop seven Japanese whaling fleets. Tension is rising between the whaling ship and the activists from Sea Shepherd. The Japanese harpooners have reportedly used water cannons, loudspeakers and military-grade acoustic weapons as part of an attempt to repel the anti-whaling activists. The anti-whaling campaign is led by Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Paul Watson: “Solutions don’t seem to come through politics. It comes through economics, really. And what we’ve been doing over the last three years is cutting the Japanese kill quotas and negating their profits, and that’s something they’re feeling.”

Japan killed nearly 700 whales last year using a loophole in an international moratorium that allows “lethal research.”