In an attempt to protect their ships and crew, companies involved in the Japanese whaling industry have sued the Sea Shepherd Conversation Society in a Seattle court. Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research and Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd, the two companies who oversee the general operation of the country’s whaling expeditions and ships, filed the lawsuit.

In addition to the lawsuit, the whaling companies released a statement detailing the reasons behind their actions. According to the whalers’ statement, the Sea Shepherd activists made repeated physical attacks against the propellers of the whaling ships. These attacks were allegedly made with ropes and the whaling companies claim these acts placed the crew of the whaling ships in great danger.

The whalers’ statement goes on to say that the Sea Shepherd activists’ violence continued to escalate and involved the use of weapons, such as stink bombs and foulers designed to interfere with the propellers.

Concerns for the safety of the crew and the stability of the ships forced the whaling ships to return home early and made the hunting season unusually short last year, according to the whalers’ statement.

The lawsuit filed does not seek financial compensation. Speaking through their spokesman, Gavin Carter, the whaling companies explained that they did not wish to end peaceful protest of activists. They claim only to seek an end to what they see as an increasingly violent method of protest taken by Sea Shepherd conservationists. For this reason, the lawsuit is called a safety at sea suit.

The founder of Sea Shepherd, Paul Watson, seemed dismissive of the lawsuit. In response to the suit, Watson claims that the United States has no jurisdiction over the vessels that the Sea Shepherd activists were using.

Watson also maintains that the activists did not participate in aggressive or illegal activities against the whaling ships. He asserts that the Sea Shepherd crew were preventing illegal criminal whaling practices and protecting themselves against having their ships rammed and against being shot at. Watson also alleges the use of cannons, grenades and spears by the Japanese whalers against the Sea Shepherd crew and vessels.

Though commercial whaling is outlawed in Japan, a fleet of Japanese whalers returns to waters near Antarctica every year and utilizes provisions in the International Whaling Commission for scientific research. Some activists see these provisions as loopholes, as they allow the commercial selling of the whale meat after the animals have been killed for research purposes.