Anti-whaling Godzilla launch

MILITANT anti-whaling campaigners said yesterday they had launched a new Godzilla speedboat to chase Japanese harpooners hunting the giant mammals in Antarctic waters.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society this week unveiled its newest vessel Gojira, as the giant monster Godzilla is known in Japan, some 11 months after its futuristic Ady Gil craft was lost in a clash with whalers.

The Australia-flagged 100-foot stabilised monohull will be fast enough to chase the Japanese, the group’s Australian director Jeff Hansen said.

“We are not going to release the speed (it can reach), we are just saying it is going to go faster than a harpoon ship,” he said.