Sea Shepherd Drives Japanese Whalers Out of Australia’s Waters

Monday, December 29, 2008 Posted in Wildlife Conservation

On Dec. 27, 2008,
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s ship Steve Irwin has driven the Japanese whaling fleet out of the Australian Economic Exclusion Zone.

“We have chased the whalers for over 800 miles since last Saturday through bad weather and heavy ice conditions,” said Captain Paul Watson. “They have fled eastward and they are continuing eastward and we are on their tail and we will keep on their tail.”

Since finding the Japanese whaling fleet on December 20th, the Steve Irwin has had close encounters with the harpoon vessel Yushin Maru #2 and the spotting vessel Kaiko Maru and has observed and tracked the Nisshin Maru from the air.

The Steve Irwin has not been able to close with the main body of the fleet because they keep moving eastward. They have not been whaling since Sea Shepherd located them and they are not whaling now. They continue to flee.

The good news is that they are no longer whaling in Australian waters and they only managed to hunt in the waters of the Australian Antarctic Territory for about a week before being forced to flee the Australian EEZ.

They are now in the waters of the Ross Dependency and the Steve Irwin is in pursuit.

For more on this story visit www.seashepherd.org

by Nikole

2 comments

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January 4, 2009 - 7:30 pm

Bryan - I watched an episode of this show last week, and I have to give kudos to the dedicated Sea Sheperd crew. It’s not the kind of thing I could do.

I don’t understand why it takes an agency like this to patrol these waters. Doesn’t the Australian government have a problem with the Japanese whaling in their waters?

January 14, 2009 - 11:16 pm

Nikole - Bryan I finally got an answer to your comment above…”Doesn’t the Australian government have a problem with the Japanese whaling in their waters?”

Posted by Sea Shepherd on their website. “The government of Kevin Rudd was elected on the promise that they would take an aggressive stand on whaling. They have done very little other than pay lip service to this issue. The government is not reflecting the concerns and the passions of the Australian people and appears disinterested in actually protecting endangered whales.”

From Sea Shepherd website “I think we need to work with the Australian government to oppose illegal whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary,” said Captain Paul Watson. “Mr. Garrett may disagree with our tactics but the bottom line is we are on the same side, we both represent the concerns of the Australian people and Sea Shepherd is a non-violent organization with no criminal record. I think a meeting and friendly discussion would be a positive contribution towards marine conservation efforts.”

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