 Claiming the Japanese whaling fleet's actions to be illegal, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society acts against Japanese whaling ships engaged in yearly hunts, attempting to interrupt or cut short the whaling activities.The ICR considers the activists' methods as constituting piracy, terrorism, and illegal harassment of the ICR fleet.Critics of the ICR point out that recent scientific advances allow for the use of non-lethal techniques in cetacean research, such as biopsies or determination of cetacean dietary intake through analysis of DNA samples from whale feces.