Sea Shepherd down under in November

International direct action auteurs Sea Shepherd recently announced plans to return to Antarctic waters in order to disrupt Japan’s 2008-09 whaling ‘season’.

Operation Musashi has been named after the Japanese strategist Miyamoto Musashi, author of The Book of Five Rings and talented with both pen and sword.

Typically emotive, Sea Shepherd founder Captain Paul Watson announced that the group ‘intends to sink the Japanese fleet economically’.

‘Our strategy is to prevent whales from being killed, to force Japan to spend money on fuel without killing whales. My crew and I will not watch whales die,’ said Watson. ‘We will not bear witness to the cruel slaughter of a single whale without risking our lives to prevent its unlawful and cruel murder.’

During the 2007-08 campaign the Japanese fleet held two Sea Shepherd activists captive following a confrontation at sea. Learning from the associated pursuit and its disruption to whaling operations, Sea Shepherd plans ‘to send two fast ships to the Southern Ocean with the purpose of continuously keeping the Japanese whaling fleet on the run’.

Any local talent hoping to support or even join Sea Shepherd’s anti-whaling activities later this year should visit www.seashepherd.org.