Ex-harpooner Shintaro Takeda says it was lucky no one died in the ugly clashes that he witnessed between Japanese whaling ships and Paul Watson's Sea Shepherd off Antarctica some 15 years ago. In the 2000s and 2010s Sea Shepherd activists played a rough high-seas game of cat and mouse with Japanese ships as they sought to slaughter hundreds of whales every year for "scientific purposes". Sea Shepherd founder Watson, 73, is in custody in Greenland. Japan wants to extradite the US-Canadian campaigner over the alleged damage and injuries caused. A court hearing on his continued detention was due later Wednesday. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES