Whatever reader's emotional opinions are about the Japanese hunting whales, the two men have committed piracy on the high seas by boarding a ship without permission and then causing damage. They could be taken to Japan for trial and possible jailing for many years. (300 years ago, they would have been hung from the yard arm.) Even Australia has a legal problem is they try to stop the whaler and ask for the release of the two men. What are they going to do if the captain refuses as is his legal right? Sink the whaler or try to board it? That would cause an international uproar that nobody wants. The correct procedure is for Sea Shepherd CS to lodge a criminal complaint with the World Court with all the evidence. That is the civilised and democratic way as terrorism is now thought of as unacceptable by anyone and that includes such as Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd CS, etc.

B J Deller, Marbella, Spain

For me, the image of environmental protest was destroyed when I saw the film footage of the two protesters boarding the ship like a pair of lager louts.

Maybe they were high on adrenaline or similar, but their antics were juvenile in the extreme. And looking closely at the pictures of them roped to the handrail shortly after boarding, I get the distinct impressrion that they had done that themselves.

If I were the Japanese, I would lock the two of them in the 'brig' and release them next time the ship docked.

Mike Poulsen, Reading, Berkshire

Look...this is yet another Green Peace stunt organised to generate maximum world wide media attention! The same bully boy tactics used by them are equal to anything the corporate world can sling at one and other.

At the heart of the argument is one minority group of peoples will against anothers...pure and simple. It's childish, alround actually, but will keep rolling on for years because funding from some so called pop star will be forthcoming.

The whales are going to die at some stage, no matter what some pot smoking, earth saving and right-on cool dudes think. The real battle for Green Peace is for them to realise that, like Iran, they have a need to acquire weapons of mass destruction in order to win their argument. Namely the destruction of man kind in order to preserve their stance.

So until a whale learns to drive a ship and shoot a harpoon, Green Peace will always be able to endulge tree hugging for a living.

Save the whale, get rid of man kind.

David Downes, Chester, UK