Despite inflammatory statements to the contrary and misrepresentations from the public relations flaks for the outlaw Japanese whalers, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has no intention of ramming any Japanese whalers on the high seas.

"We have never rammed a Japanese whaler, we have never said we will ram a Japanese whaler and we have never implied that we will ram a Japanese whaler," said Captain Paul Watson. "Last year the Japanese rammed our ship twice. In 2006 we sideswiped the Japanese supply ship causing absolutely no damage. It is the Japanese that deploy ramming as a tactic."

"It amazes me that politicians get on their high horse to denounce Sea Shepherd everytime some P.R. whore for the Japanese whalers accuses us of eco-terrorism," continued Captain Watson. "The terrorists are the Japanese whalers. They are targeting highly endangered whales in a whale sanctuary in violation of a global moratorium on commercial whaling. This is the crime and the Japanese whalers are filling the sea with the hot blood of the whales as they cry crocodile tears over their tales of manufactured violence by whale defenders. In 30 years of operations the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has never caused a single injury and that is a record we intend to keep."

Some of the recent media coverage has been misleading. The Australian Daily Telegraph article contained two serious errors. The first was; "The anti-whaling group the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has pledged to stop the whalers physically - resorting to violence if necessary."

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society does not use violence and never has used violence and is not threatening violence.

The second error was; "During last year's chase, Sea Shepherd activists in their ship Robert Hunter rammed the Japanese whaling ship Kaiko Maru in the Southern Ocean."

In fact it was the Japanese ship that rammed the Sea Shepherd vessel Robert Hunter. The ramming has been investigated by the Australian federal police and during the forensic investigation the police pointed out that the evidence backs up the Sea Shepherd position that the Japanese did the ramming. The support beams in the bow are bent forward because the whaler struck the Robert Hunter at an angle from behind. If it was the Robert Hunter that had rammed the Japanese vessel, the support beans would have been bent backwards.