Both Solo and Greenpeace's vessel Sirius have been under arrest in the Norwegian port of Egersund due to the protests. Police want to hold both until after the commercial whaling season finishes on August 15. Norway has set a total quota of 301 whales for this year. Norway resumed minke whale hunts last year, defying a moratorium by the International Whaling Commission, arguing stocks had recovered to 86,700 in the northeast Atlantic. Greenpeace says the stock may be highly exaggerated and that minke whales, eaten in Norway as sausages or steaks, are an endangered species.
Norwegian law allows police to impose fines which can then be paid or disputed in court.
The owner of the Senet, the whaling vessel most hit by the protests, is seeking cash from the environmentalists for cutting loose a whale after it was harpooned. Since then, under tight protection from Norwegian coastguard vessels, the Senet has harpooned its full quota of eight whales.