Whale slaughter caught on film
BY JEREMY BROWN
The anti-whaling ship Steve Irwin has left Antarctic waters and is heading back to Australia with documentary evidence of illegal whale slaughter.
Recent skirmishes between the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s Steve Irwin and the Japanese whale meat processing ship, Nisshin Maru, in the Ross Sea Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary have caused a lot of embarrassment for Japan, and look set to cause a lot more in future.
Captain Paul Watson announced recently on the Sea Shepherd website: ‘The Japanese sent a security vessel from Fiji on January 31 with orders to take our ship and all video evidence. We cannot allow this documentation to be captured by Japan. We have over 1,000 hours of video footage documenting every moment of this campaign. Our story will be told on a weekly series on Animal Planet with the upcoming show Whale Wars. We left a few days early as a precaution and we were low on fuel anyway.’
According to their Melbourne office the Steve Irwin is expected to avoid capture and dock in Hobart on February 21.
The Steve Irwin pursued the Japanese fleet for 2000 miles between December 18 and January 7. The ship then refueled in NZ and relocated the Nisshin Maru on February 1, pursuing and inhibiting the whaler’s activities before leaving for Tasmania on February 9.
Captain Watson’s main tactic was to stop the harpoon boats from delivering their freshly killed whales to the Nisshin Maru’s slipway. The Japanese boats were faster and larger, he said, and they used aggressive maneuvering, water cannons and military-style sound weapons in these tussles.
There were injuries on board and on one occasion the sound pain weapon was directed at the camera helicopter causing a brief loss of control. In retaliation, the anti-whalers threw rancid butter bombs at the Japanese crew.
Captain Watson said no Japanese were injured by their activities.
‘I need a ship that is as fast as they are, and I intend to build one and return next year,’ he said. ‘We will never stop intervening against their illegal whaling operations and we will never stop harassing them, blockading them and costing them money. As for the facts of what has happened, people will be able to watch Animal Planet and judge for themselves. The camera is the most powerful weapon in the world and we intend to use that power. The whalers are down here to illegally destroy life – we’re down here for the whales.’
The Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR) claims the Steve Irwin’s actions constitute a breach of The United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea. The ICR, a Japanese government authority that manages the Japanese whaling fleet, is required to abide by International Whaling Commission (IWC) rules but is widely believed to be nonconforming.
According to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s office, an IWC review of Japan’s whaling will be delivered to the Australian government by the middle of this year.
For information on Sea Shepherd’s activities visit http://www.seashepherd.org
