Activists to be released by Japanese

Update, 12pm: The operation to retrieve anti-whaling protesters from the Japanese vessel on which they are detained will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and then men and Sea Shepherd should make a contribution, the Federal Government says.

Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said this morning the activists held on the Shonana Maru 2 were safe and well and being treated appropriately.

The customs vessel, the Ocean Protector, has been despatched to meet the men.

Ms Roxon said it would take several days for the boats to meet but could not be any more specific as to the timing, adding that for operational reasons the Government would not disclose details of the planned rendezvous point.

“We've made consular contact with them late last night,” Ms Roxon said. “We're able to confirm that they are all in good health and well and being treated appropriately.”

She did not have any information on whether the men had commenced a hunger strike during their detention.

The rescue operation is likely to cost Australian taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars and Ms Roxon said she would like the activists and the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling group to consider what contribution they would make.

“I must say I'm not going to be holding my breath. The truth is the Australian taxpayer will foot the bill for this sort of action,” Ms Roxon said.

“And whilst many millions of Australians would like to see whaling stop, many of them may also resent the cost that they are contributing for this handover and rescue, if you like, of Australian protesters.”

Ms Roxon said Australia's strong relations with Japan had assisted constructive negotiations to release the men but said further similar incidents could test the relationship and warned Australian activists not to take the law into their own hands.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has thanked the Japanese government for agreeing to release the trio.

She the protest was “unacceptable and will ultimately be costly to the Australian taxpayer”.

“The Gillard government has despatched the Ocean Protector, a customs vessel, to rendezvous with the Shonan Mauru 2 and take the three Australians back to Australia,” a spokesman said in a statement this morning.

"It is anticipated that this will take some days, and be subject to weather conditions."

Ms Roxon said the Government was pleased that the Japanese government had made the decision that the men won’t be charged and would be released.

“But we can’t be confident that that will happen next time if people take action, take the law into their own hands.”

She said officials would on Tuesday morning discuss the options for safely getting Geoffrey Tuxworth, Simon Peterffy and Glen Pendlebury off the Shonan Maru 2 which is outside Australian waters.

“Obviously the logistics are difficult when you are in open seas,” Ms Roxon said.

The three protesters were thought to have gone on a hunger strike as part of an audacious effort to force the ship to stop shadowing Sea Shepherd flagship the Steve Irwin.

The Shonan Maru 2 was last night heading south off the southern tip of WA - with the three protesters still under armed guard aboard - as it pursued the Steve Irwin back into the whaling grounds of the Southern Ocean.

The Forest Rescue Australia group members Mr Peterffy, from Bunbury, Mr Tuxworth, from Perth, and Mr Pendlebury, from Fremantle, boarded the Shonan Maru 2 early on Sunday off Bunbury.

They are being held by Japanese coast guard officers and had faced being taken to Tokyo and being charged.

Forest Rescue spokesman Rowan Davidson yesterday said all three men should now be on a hunger strike, as was the plan when they boarded the vessel.

"What is making it difficult is that Simon has high cholesterol and does not have his medication with him," Mr Davidson said.

"Glen also has ADHD and didn't take his medication with him either."

He said it was hoped the tactic would force the Japanese vessel to heave to and hand over the protesters, allowing the Steve Irwin to slip away to pursue the main whaling fleet.

Japanese officials had warned that the trio could be held aboard the Shonan Maru 2 for weeks or even months before being taken back to Tokyo.

Another Forest Rescue spokesman, Michael Montgomery, said it had not been possible to confirm whether the men had begun their hunger strike.

"I'm aware (of the hunger strike plan) but we haven't been able to have contact with them," he said.

"We believe their radios were taken as soon as they got on board, which is a bit much given that they only wanted to get on to the boat and say 'please leave Australian waters'."

Mr Montgomery said the men represented the view of majority of Australians that whaling should be stopped.

The affair has strained relations between Australia and Japan, with the Japanese Embassy in Canberra telling The West Australian officials had made an official representation to the Australian Embassy in Tokyo, complaining about the actions of the three protesters.

Ms Roxon yesterday admitted Japanese officials had not allowed Australian officials to make contact with the activists and Tokyo had refused to give Australian authorities the exact location of the Shonan Maru 2.

She said Australian officials had since pinpointed the Japanese vessel's location through other means.

Japan is Australia's second biggest trading partner and the Government is wary of taking any action that might further anger Tokyo.

"We are going to put all of our efforts into representations to get the three men back to either Australian soil or on an Australian vessel or some type of Australian control," she said.

The Attorney-General dismissed Opposition suggestions the Government must demand the men be handed over to Australian authorities because the boarding of Shonan Maru 2 took place in Australian waters. She said both Sea Shepherd and the Japanese had confirmed the incident took place outside Australia's 12 nautical mile territorial limit.

"I don't think we should let it take hold in the community's mind that three Australians were standing on a shore and somehow taken away," she said.

"These are people who made a decision to board a ship that was a Japanese vessel knowingly to try to make a point about whaling and I am fairly confident they will know that they were not in Australian territorial waters when that happened," she said.

Greens leader Bob Brown described the three activists as heroes. "These three Australians are heroes for the whales," he said.

"They've come from a forest protest background trying to protect the biggest living entities on the planet to trying to protect the biggest living creatures in the ocean."

Senator Brown said the trio were "terrific Australian citizens and they deserve a huge amount of support".

He said he had written to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to seek the coalition's support for a proposed Greens Bill that would require a customs vessel to be present when whaling was taking place in Australia's territorial waters.

Senator Brown also said the Prime Minister was to blame for the actions of three protesters who were detained on a Japanese whaling support vessel after boarding it on the weekend.

While the Government views this as a good result, given the trio could have been taken to Japan and charged with trespass, Senator Brown accused it of bowing to Tokyo for not taking action against Japanese whaling activities in the Southern Ocean.

“The Prime Minister says it (whaling) is illegal but she’s pointing her finger at the three West Australians who’ve gone on board the Shonan Maru 2 for the difficulties they’ve caused her,“ Senator Brown told reporters in Hobart.

“Well, bad luck Julia. You should have been taking much greater action to stop this happening in the first place.”

Senator Brown said the Government has not been prepared to take on Japan on the issue of whaling.

“We had this Japanese ship, the Shonan Maru 2, invading Australia’s domestic whale sanctuary and the Prime Minister’s said nothing,” he said.

“The Prime Minister ultimately and the Government, if they’d taken action, would not have led to this situation where the patrol vessel’s now going to retrieve the three activists rather than protect the whales.”

Ms Roxon said steps to prevent whaling would continue through the proper channels.