Environmentalists, Activists, Fishing Rights, Hostags: Send The Navy

I'm not going to spend much time on this beyond a mention, but if your looking for a good Navy story involving all the makings of a Pacific pissing contest, check out the supposed hostage taking of environmentalists by Japanese whale hunters in the South Pacific. The environmentalists are so pissed off about Japanese whaling activity in the South Pacific the Green Party of New Zealand wants the Navy to send a frigate... you can't make that up. The latest of the ongoing fishing dispute.

The Japanese whaling fleet says protest ship the Steve Irwin is deliberately avoiding its attempts to hand over two detained crew members.

Benjamin Potts, 28, of Sydney, and Giles Lane, 35, from Britain, were held after boarding the Japanese harpoon vessel Yushin Maru No 2 yesterday to deliver a written plea to stop killing whales.

There has been a diplomatic resolution achieved in this matter, the 'hostages' were supposed to be released, but apparently calls by the environmental group to their environmental activist boat, the Steve Irwin (haha), have gone unanswered.

If Japan ends up sending a warship, we may come back to this story, but mostly we mention it for comedy reasons, although it is another good example where fishing rights in the South Pacific is very serious business.