Militant environmental group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society said its flagship vessel collided twice with Japanese whaling boats Friday as the group tried to disrupt whaling operations in Antarctic waters.
In the first incident, the collision occurred as the conservationist group tried to interrupt the transfer of a dead minke whale to the mother ship Nisshin Maru.
In the second incident, the group said, the Yushin Maru No. 1 and the Yushin Maru No. 3 tried to transfer two dead whales to the mother ship Nisshin Maru just as the Steve Irwin was blocking the slipway to prevent the transfer.
Earlier Friday, after the first collision, Japan lodged a protest with the Netherlands, summoning Dutch Ambassador Philip de Heer to the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo and telling him that Japan deplores Sea Shepherd's repeated violent harassment and obstruction to operations of the Japanese whaling fleet.