A protester who boarded a Japanese whaling ship could be charged with piracy, a group representing the fleet says.
Pete Bethune boarded the Shonan Maru 2 on Monday morning allegedly intending to stage a citizen's arrest of its captain.
Captain Bethune, skipper of the sunken protest vessel the Ady Gil, wants the whalers to face attempted murder charges and pay $3 million in compensation for the high-tech vessel they rammed last month.
But Japan's pro-whaling Institute of Cetacean Research spokesman Glenn Inwood said the New Zealander had committed crimes of his own.
"It's a crime under maritime law to board another country's flagged vessel on the high seas illegally," he told ABC Radio on Tuesday.
"I think it is a form of piracy, yes."
Mr Inwood said there were "few options" to return Captain Bethune to one of conservation group the Sea Shepherd's ships.
"Worst case scenario is he will have to remain on board until the ships get back to Japan," he said.
"If he is taken back to Japan, it would be my personal view that ... he should face charges in Japan."
Sea Shepherd chief Paul Watson said Captain Bethune was well within his rights to board the whaling ship.
"I think it would be a very interesting case to charge a man with piracy after his ship has been destroyed by the very captain of the vessel that he boarded," he said.
Captain Watson said the Japanese crew of the Shonan Maru 2 had detained his colleague.
"He is being detained because he has a radio on him and they are not permitting him to use his radio to communicate with us," he said.
“Captain Peter Bethune's $3 million dollar vessel the Ady Gil was rammed, sunk and destroyed by the Captain of the Shonan Maru 2. The incident injured one of the six crewmembers and could have killed all six,” said a statement on Sea Shepherd's website.
“Captain Bethune was entirely in his rights to confront the man who almost killed him and destroyed his ship. And now this same Japanese captain who destroyed a ship almost killing its crew is intent on bringing Captain Bethune back to Japan as his captive. The question must be asked - who are the pirates here?”.
The organisation said it hoped a trial would draw international attention.
In a statement, the JICR said Bethune used a knife to cut the vessel's protection net to enable his boarding.
"At that time, Mr Bethune cut his left thumb and has since received medical treatment from the Japanese crew," the institute said in the statement. It said Bethune told them he had thrown the knife into the sea after boarding the ship.
Japan's foreign affairs secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama referred to the incident as "regretful".
"We yet have not clarified his (the intruder's) intention," Fukuyama said. "Once we confirm the fact and nationality of the ship he belongs to, we would post strong protest and urge them to take an appropriate action."
New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said it was possible that Bethune could face trial in Japan, given that he reportedly resisted attempts to remove him from the Shonan Maru.
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