A Greenpeace campaign ship is planning to shadow a Japanese whaling fleet which has set sail on a mission to hunt whales in the Antarctic.
The fleet plans to harpoon up to 50 humpback whales. It is the first time the species has been hunted since a global ban in 1963.
Irish activist Dave Walsh is on board the Greenpeace ship Esperanza and said the group was planning a non-violent protest
He told RTÉ Radio's Morning Ireland that Greenpeace members were intent on halting the kill and would place themselves in front of the Japanese harpoons.
Greenpeace says the fleet turned off its identification system as it set sail yesterday and it is currently searching for the vessels, thought to be somewhere south of Japan.
The Japanese argue that there are 40,000 humpback whales and the species is not endangered. Greenpeace says the whales live in small breeding groups and any hunt will wipe out a sub-population of the species.
