High stakes whaling standoff on the high seas - 07 Jan 10

New Zealand's foreign minister says his country's maritime agency will carry out an investigation into a collision between a Japanese whaling vessel and a boat belonging to the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling protest group.

The clash took place in the Southern ocean, in waters which come under Australian and New Zealand maritime authority.

Sea Shepherd says its boat, the Ady Gil, was stationary and that the Japanese whaler, Shonan Maru, veered towards it and deliberately sliced off its bow.

But Glenn Inwood, who works with a public relations firm hired by Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research, said Sea Shepherd had harassed the Shonan Maru for two hours and was solely to blame for the collision.

The Australian government is under pressure to send its own ship to the area to police the standoff.

Harry Fawcett reports.

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