January 12, 2006

The Mari­time Uni­on says its mem­bers will refuse to work with any Japan­ese ship involved in whal­ing that vis­its a New Zea­l­and port.

Mari­time Uni­on Gen­er­al Sec­ret­ary Tre­vor Han­son says the Uni­on sup­ports the two envir­on­ment­al groups Green­peace and Sea Shep­herd in their attempts to end Japan­ese whal­ing in the South­ern Ocean.

Mr Han­son says the escal­at­ing situ­ation increased the poten­tial for Japan­ese ships and planes involved in the whal­ing oper­a­tion to vis­it New Zea­l­and.