Sea Shepherd Intercepts Japanese Whaling Fleet : Melbourne Indymedia

Captain Paul Watson calculated a possible interception course by dropping out of the chase behind the Greenpeace ships Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise. He headed due west and caught the fleet as they attempted to head south towards Porpoise Bay.

At 0200 Hours they were spotted on radar. The Farley Mowat passed the Esperanza and headed to the Japanese factory ship, the Nisshin Maru, coming alongside.

The Nisshin sped up as the Farley Mowat came alongside. A few moments later the factory ship turned and came towards the Farley Mowat despite the fact that the Farley Mowat on the starboard side of the Nisshin Maru had the right of way.

Both ships were on a collision course and the Nisshin Maru's bow was plunging high out of the water as she came at full speed towards the Farley Mowat.

Captain Watson ordered a mooring line deployed behind the Farley Mowat. As soon as the Nisshin Maru saw the line they turned and backed off to avoid their prop being fouled.

At 0600 Hours the Nisshin Maru was heading west into heavy seas with the Farley Mowat on her tail.

Captain Watson notified the Nisshin Maru that they were in violation of International law and that acting under the authority of the United Nations World Charter for Nature, he was ordering them to depart the Southern Oceans and return to Japan.

The Farley Mowat and the Esperanza are chasing the Nisshin Maru in Heavy weather. The chase is expected to last all day and chances are good that no whales will die in the Southern Ocean on Christmas Day.

At 0800 the position of the Farley Mowat and the Japanese factory ship was 62 degrees 55 minutes South and 136 degrees and 38 minutes East.

Why is it that racist terrorists like Sea Shepherd go free and some poor kid who burns a flag goes to jail?

Yes, it's gonna be a <i>white</i> Christ-mass...
Heil Howard!

This is the most inspiring campaign ever, onward on... I have donated my $100AUD. And anyone else who has the means I urge you to do it also.

If they are disabled at sea it will cost them a lot of money to get towed back/to a viable port for repairs, and totally throw the whaling program. The sea shepherd team might just manage it.

Good work, I love this a real defence of endangered wildlife being played out.

Matt

Good on ya Sea Shepherd, master and crew.

Thankyou for taking down ZagoVors
comments. They do hurt you. So this
will be known at every other Indymedia
center. Regards

Thank you for the thorough and informative piece on the Japanese whaling issue. It's nice to read something from the non-mainstream media that provides so much detail. After googling news from all around the world, yours is the first site to actually list the violations of the Japanese whaling fleet in such detail.

Keep up the good work Melbourne Indymedia!

Sea Shephers deserves a medal. I will not be buying Japanese goods until they stop whaling. I say boycott Japan !!!

Yea, good on ya! Boycott Japanese goods. Don't forget to never buy (or shoplift) a Sony CD.

While you're at it, boycott Korean products because they eat dogs (even more intelligent, cute and huggable as whales).

Then, if you're worried about humans -- you should boycott Chinese goods because, after all, they invaded and subjegated Tibet.

You may as well boycott American products too, because of the whole Iraq thing.

I'm sure all these evil countries will be brought to their collective knees by your withdrawal from the global market place.

Dear Paul Watson.
Thanks for your great work. But please don't forget that it was a hard work also for Greenpeace to find the whalers fleet. It was their goal - they found the whalers on the high sea.

A few weak minded & idiotic posters below, but I guess you would expect that from a race that kills whales for sushi. They obviously dont care about pain or sufferring. They dont care about the future of our wonderful planet and what will be left over for their own children to enjoy.

Thank heavens for Sea She[pard and all who support the protest. May you all have a pace in heaven.

I hope Paul Watson and his crew manage to do some damage to the Japanese boats. Hit them hard and make em go home.

Im cheering for you all down there.

God bless you all.

The evil ways of the Japanese must be opposed. Not content to inflict suffering on the innocent creatures of the sea around their country they move into the territory of another with no respect for anyone. Like a virus. I'm sorry 'Sea Sheep,' does that make me a racist? I have a problem with innocent, intelligent creatures being massacared to near extinction for some uncaring idiot in a sushi bar. Is that racist of me? So sorry to offend you! Hopefully you will be the one that drowns very soon. As for 'boycotting everything' maybe we should boycott idiots with nothing to say.

"I have a problem with innocent, intelligent creatures being massacared to near extinction for some uncaring idiot in a sushi bar."

Whales are about as intelligent as slugs. Why is it that you people are so concerned about whales and not the half a million "innocent, intelligent" HUMAN BEINGS that were killed when the US nuked Japan, or are being killed RIGHT NOW in the Middle East?

I don't support whaling... But I don't support an ultra-right group of racists who use a very few NON-ENDANGERED whales being killed in order to launch a racist campaign against Indigenous people.

And I don't think that it is OK to call an entire Nation of people "evil" because they do EXACTLY WHAT EVERY OTHER NATION DOES by fucking up a bit more of the environment...

Unless of course, you think AUSTRALIANS ARE "EVIL" for digging up the Uranium to poison not only our own back yard, but the rest of the planet too.

The fact is that this is just an other excuse for Australians to dredge up the old anti-Asian hatred but sound PC at the same time.

Actually, I am half Asian and do not have anything against Asian people. I do however have a problem with sharing this planet with ignorant arseholes like yourself. You are significantly less intelligent than a slug. In fact, I liken you to a parastite. Look at the pure shit you talk. I hope to see you and you're fellow arseholes on the endangered list. Unlike the whales, nobody will mourn your loss. It can't be possible that you are so ignorant.

Japan is killing protected whales in a marine mammal sanctuary, selling illegal whale meat and buying pro-whaling votes in an international decision-making body. More than 25,000 whales have been hunted and killed since the ban on whaling was imposed. Even more shocking, this unsanctioned killing is happening in the protected waters of Antarctica’s Southern Ocean Marine Sanctuary, defying international law. How is this possible? The fact of the matter is that it is against the law for these whales to be hunted!!! These Japanese whale killers have to cheat there way to even get a couple votes to whale. You guys get NO good humanitarian points in my opinion. You would rather make life miserable just to make a few bucks... You must be soooo proud....