LONDON (AP) — Icelandic coast guards and special forces seized a ship operated by a group founded by anti-whaling activist Paul Watson and detained its crew, officials in the Arctic island nation said Saturday. The Icelandic Coast Guard said the crew of whaling ship Hvalur 9 requested assistance on Thursday evening because they believed their safety was under threat from the protest vessel Bandero. Coast guards and the police special forces Viking Squad boarded the vessel around midnight on Thursday and detained its crew. Along with Norway and Japan, Iceland is one of the only countries still practicing commercial whaling. Watson was imprisoned in Greenland for five months in 2024 after being arrested on a Japanese warrant over charges of obstructing a whaling ship in 2010.