Disagreement over anti-whaling tactics 

Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd are locked in a battle to try and stop Japanese whaling off Antarctica, but the conservation groups are also fighting among themselves.

A Japanese whaling fleet left the port of Shimonoseki, southern Japan, last week to begin its annual hunt of whales in the Southern Ocean.

It plans to kill more than 1,000 of the giant mammals, including 935 Antarctic minke whales, 50 fin whales and 50 humpback whales.

Greenpeace favours "direct, non-violent action" in trying to disrupt the fleet, but the radical Sea Shepherd is prepared to ram Japanese ships in a risky and dangerous move that threatens to escalate into violence.

Sea Shepherd founder Captain Paul Watson says he has no time for Greenpeace's non-belligerent approach to confronting the Japanese whalers.

In response, Greenpeace claims Watson was kicked out of the organisation in 1977 because of his militant style as an environmental warrior.

The stand-off is ironic considering Capt Watson is a co-founder of Greenpeace, whose vessel Esperanza is currently searching for the Japanese whaling fleet.

"It's funny because sometimes I feel like Dr Frankenstein having created that big green monster because I'm one of the co-founders of the organisation," he told AAP.

"We are the original Greenpeace and we're being criticised by people who weren't even born at the time we set up the organisation.

"I don't have much patience for their criticism on that.

"You don't go down the street and watch a dog being kicked to death and do nothing.

"You don't sit there and watch a whale being harpooned and killed and do nothing except take its picture.

"That I find unacceptable. When Greenpeace says it has moral qualms about our tactics, I have very serious moral qualms with their so-called 'bearing witness' philosophy.

"Basically, they're producing whale snuff flicks. How many more whales do we have to see die?"

Greenpeace chief executive Steve Shallhorn says non-violence is the founding principle of the organisation.

"We take the (anti-whaling) approach that we do because we think that's the most effective way," Mr Shallhorn said.

"We go down to the Southern Ocean to stop whales from being killed and we do that by putting ourselves between the whale and the harpoon.

"We've been using that approach for over 15 years ... and we've

saved many whales from being killed by using non-violent methods.

"I think Paul Watson has to criticise Greenpeace in order to create market differentiation for himself."

Capt Watson lists the Dalai Lama as a supporter of Sea Shepherd, noting that Tibet's spiritual leader had endorsed Sea Shepherd's aggressive tactics as "the compassionate aspect of Buddhist wrath".

"The Dalai Lama said to me that you never want to hurt anybody, but sometimes when they can't see enlightenment you scare the hell out of them until they do," Capt Watson recalled.

"This is why we present the pirate image, it's all theatrics. Kids love the pirate image.

"We have to create this kind of legend to scare these guys.

"We're probably the most famous organisation in the world amongst the whalers, the sealers and the outlaw fishermen."

Gold Coast student Fern Holland, 23, has volunteered to be part of Sea Shepherd's 52 member international crew that is embarking on a two month campaign to disrupt the Japanese whalers.

Ms Holland, whose stepfather is Japanese, said she had tried to put fears for her personal safety to the back of her mind for the potentially dangerous mission.

"You do think about it but it doesn't really concern me," said Ms Holland, who studies marine biology at Griffith University.

"I don't have the feeling inside of me that I'm going off to some kind of suicide mission or anything.

"I have a lot of faith in Captain Watson and the fact that in 30 years (of Sea Shepherd operating), no one's been injured."