The U.S. government position is that we couldn't hold him because at the time, there was no indictment pending, and we had no legal process to take him intocustody.
Using a satellite phone, he called officials in New Zealand and Australia both countries claim sovereignty over parts of the Southern Ocean and are staunchly against whaling and requested that a naval vessel take the Japanese ship intocustody.
There is also the question as to whether Judge Rakoff could remand Gupta intocustody(take him to jail) immediately, or will he allow him to surrender at a future date to some federal prison camp.