Japanese Whaling Fleet Forced to Run from Sea Shepherd : Melbourne Indymedia

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_070208_1.html

ABOARD THE FARLEY MOWAT, 0630 Hours, February 9th, 2007 (0930 Hours, February 8th, PST) –

The Sea Shepherd ship Robert Hunter has closed in on the Japanese whaling fleet. The Sea Shepherd helicopter Kookaburra has flown over the Japanese whaling ship the Nisshin Maru and the three harpoon vessels accompanying it. The identification of the Japanese fleet is 100% positive. The Sea Shepherd ships have covered thousands of square miles and have been searching for the whaling fleet for over 6 weeks.

The Nisshin Maru is the factory ship of the fleet. The kill ships bring the dead whales back to this factory vessel and transfer them to the 130m long processing ship where the whales are butchered and stored. The Japanese whaling fleet plans to illegally slaughter over 900 whales in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary this year – including 935 piked (Minke) whales and 10 fin whales.

This Japanese whaling operation is in violation of many international laws and regulations, including:

* They are violating the Southern Ocean Sanctuary
* They are violating the International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium on commercial whaling.
* They are targeting endangered fin and humpback whales that are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. (CITES).

The Sea Shepherd flagship Farley Mowat is also closing in on the fleet and moving towards their position. The Robert Hunter, can easily outrun the Nisshin Maru. The Nisshin Maru was forced to stop its whaling activity and is now attempting to flee the area and both Sea Shepherd ships are now in full pursuit and closing in on the illegal whaling vessels of the Japanese whale killing fleet. Photos are now available.

The Japanese whaling fleet position is 66 Degrees 46 Minutes South and 169 Degrees 52 Minutes East. 122 East northeast of Sturge Island.

The objectives of the Sea Shepherd vessels are to enforce international conservation law against illegal Japanese whaling operations in accordance with the principles established by the United Nations World Charter for Nature.

The Farley Mowat has a crew of 20 under the command of Captain Paul Watson. The Robert Hunter has a crew of 37 under the command of Captain Alex Cornelissen of the Netherlands.

Sea Shepherd News
News Releases

Whalers Activities Disrupted by Sea Shepherd

February 8th, 2007 - 1130 Hours (Pacific Coast Standard time)
February 9th, 2007 - 0830 Hours (Auckland N.Z. time)

The Sea Shepherd ships Farley Mowat and the Robert Hunter have been engaged in a confrontation with the Japanese whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru since 0530 Hours this morning.

When the Robert Hunter first approached the Nisshin Maru there were three hunter killer vessels with the mother ship. These vessels quickly fled northward. The Nisshin Maru fled east straight towards the Farley Mowat. At two miles from the Farley Mowat, the Nisshin Maru turned and fled back west again.

There was a pod of whales in the area near the whalers. The Sea Shepherd crew is happy to report that these whales fled and are now safe from the Japanese harpoons.

The Sea Shepherd crew has successfully delivered six liters of butyric acid onto the flensing deck of the Nisshin Maru. This "butter acid" is a nontoxic obnoxious smelling substance. The foul smell has cleared the flensing deck and stopped all work of cutting up whales.

[RH_Approaching_Nisshin_Maru]

Sea Shepherd crew in Zodiacs have nailed plates to the drain outlets (near the waterline) on the Nisshin Maru that spill the blood of the whales from the flensing deck into the sea. This is backing up the blood onto the flensing decks. The plates are secured by Hilt nail guns that drive steel nails through solid steel.

Sea Shepherd has relayed the coordinates to the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza. Despite Greenpeace's refusal to cooperate with the Sea Shepherd ships, the whales need every anti-whaling ship in the area. Greenpeace refuses to give Sea Shepherd their position so it is unknown how long it will take them to reach the area where the whaling fleet is operating.

Sea Shepherd was able to outmaneuver the Japanese satellite tracking system by taking the ships south of the Balleny Islands through heavy ice. Thirty years of ice navigation opposing the Canadian seal slaughter has proven quite helpful. The Japanese satellite surveillance program cannot track a ship's wake through the ice. "We came in the back door out of the freezer so to speak," said Captain Paul Watson.

The Sea Shepherd ships have been searching for the Japanese fleet for five weeks and have covered thousands of square miles of ocean.

The crew of both Sea Shepherd ships are relieved that the Japanese whaling fleet has been found and is now under pursuit and engaged in confrontation with the Robert Hunter and the Farley Mowat. They can now do what they do best – save whales!

'Pirates' found, battle resumes

Sea Shepherd activists attacked the Nisshin Maru from inflatables after they found it early today.

Sea Shepherd activists attacked the Nisshin Maru from inflatables after they found it early today.

Andrew Darby
February 9, 2007 - 2:24PM

Two missing Sea Shepherd activists have been found safe in the Antarctic, and hostilities have resumed against the Japanese whaling fleet.

The whalers called a truce to help the hardline anti-whaling group in their search caused when the two aboard a Zodiac inflatable dinghy disappeared suddenly in fog in icy waters south-west of Australia.

Sea Shepherd president Paul Watson told theage.com.au the inflatable's engine broke down, stranding Karl Nielsen, of Perth, Western Australia, and John Gravois of Los Angeles, USA.

"We just kept going out from one point in a circular search until we found them," said Captain Watson, aboard the Sea Shepherd flagship Farley Mowat. "They were standing up and waving and smiling."

Captain Watson said he had thanked the Japanese for their assistance, and then told them, "now it's back to business." He said the other Sea Shepherd vessel, Robert Hunter, was back on the stern of Nisshin Maru.

It is the first time the Japanese whaling fleet has worked in coordination with the anti-whaling ships of Sea Shepherd or Greenpeace.

But Hideki Moronuki, whaling section chief of the Japanese Fisheries Agency, told theage.com.au: "Their dangerous activity caused this tragedy. I ask Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace to stop this kind of dangerous activity immediately.''

The inflatable carrying the missing Australian and American was last seen operating alongside the factory ship Nisshin Maru when a sudden fog and drizzle descended on the sea near the Balleny Islands, south west of Tasmania, according to a Sea Shepherd statement.

Sea Shepherd activists had attacked the Nisshin Maru from inflatables after they found it early today, attempting to seal up its drain pipes, and lobbing foul-smelling butylic acid onto its deck.

The Sea Shepherd website says seven Australians are aboard the Farley Mowat - carpenter Benjamin Baldwin, deckhand Tom Baldwin, pilot Kylie Burnell-Jones, chief cook Laura Dakin, cook Sara McNabb, 3rd officer Karl Neilsen, nurse Kristy Whitefield.Another Australian, cook Jenifer Gibson, is aboard the Robert Hunter.

The identity of the rescued Australian is yet to be made public.

After weeks of searching for the whalers unsuccessfully in the Ross Sea, the two Sea Shepherd vessels appeared to take the fleet by surprise.

In their first attack, Captain Watson said his crew cleared the whale-flensing deck of the Nisshin Maru, when they threw a non-toxic "butter acid" on it from an inflatable dinghy.

Activists in inflatables armed with nail guns were also fixing steel plates over drain outlets in the side of the fleeing factory ship, preventing the escape of whale blood from the flensing deck.

He said the fleet had scattered and the Robert Hunter was still in contact with Nisshin Maru, which was steaming away at high speed and attempting to use its water cannon on the activists. "They are easily avoided," he said.

The attack came almost five weeks after Sea Shepherd began searching for the fleet in the Ross Sea, and with their vessels beginning to run low on fuel.

The group has begun negotiations to enter Australia or New Zealand ports, a decision complicated by their status as "pirate" whalers.

The Farley Mowat has been stripped of its Belizean registration, and Britain is to de-register the Robert Hunter in 10 days' time.

Talks are under way with both the Australian and New Zealand Government's in a bid to avoid arrest.

Greenpeace's ship Esperanza, which had hoped to be first to reach the whalers, was about a day's sailing away from the position where Sea Shepherd found them, and approaching from the west, a Greenpace spokesman said.

The Japanese Government's Institute for Cetacean Research, which owns the fleet, is harpooning up to 935 minke whales and 10 fin whales under its program of "scientific research". A spokesman for the ICR was unable to comment immediately.

- with Jano Gibson and AAP

Good time to hit Japanese news sites and leave some comments.

Its not a very big issue in Japan, and when its discussed there is never any mention of the numerous international laws Japan is in violating.

Lots of ultra nationalists, lots more fun then melb indy trolls.