Reply #10: Attack plan for Japan's whale ships (Sea Shepherd)

[Barrett808]

Attack plan for Japan's whale ships
Andrew Darby
December 27, 2006

THE anti-whaling activists of Sea Shepherd have unveiled a new secret weapon as they depart for the Southern Ocean to try to put the Japanese whalers out of business — the rules.

Sea Shepherd's president Paul Watson told The Age he planned to inflict just enough damage on a whaling vessel to force it to comply with safety regulations and return to port for repair.

As his flagship, Farley Mowat, paused in Hobart yesterday on its way south, he confirmed that Sea Shepherd had the means to damage a whaling vessel, though he refused to publicly disclose it.

Sea Shepherd has sunk 10 whaling vessels in the North Atlantic since 1979. Last summer it twice tried to foul the propellors of the whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru, and once scraped the side of a fleeing resupply ship, Oriental Bluebird.

The Japan Whaling Association describes Sea Shepherd as an eco-terrorist group and recently condemned the Federal Environment Minister, Ian Campbell, for offering his support to it.

(more)

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/attack-plan-for-japans-whale-ships/2006/12/26/1166895297032.html

Anti-whaling activists dock in Hobart

The Farley Mowat anti-whaling ship has docked in Hobart on its way to Antarctica for its annual attempts to halt Japan's annual scientific whaling operations.

The ship is owned by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and each summer chases Japanese whale research vessels across the Southern Ocean.

The Farley Mowat is in Hobart waiting for its helicopter to be repaired before heading to the Ross Sea, where it will rendezvous with a new, faster ship, The Leviathan.

Captain Paul Watson says Sea Shepherd campaigners will again use every means at their disposal, including deliberate collisions with whaling ships.

"We look on this as a policing operation, so our tactics are interventionist and obstructive," he said. "But we'll of course take every precaution to ensure that we won't injure anybody and we have an unblemished record in that regard. In 30 years of operations, we've shut down numerous whaling operations and never hurt anybody. He says the two ships will also use side-swiping to stop what he calls illegal killing. It's not recognised as scientific whaling but there's more to it than that. They're targeting humpbacks and fins, which are violations of the convention on the international treaty on endangered species. Those are endangered animals - you can't go hunting them. They're killing whales in the Australian territory area. They're taking whales in the Southern Ocean sanctuary."

(more)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200612/s1818414.htm

Donate:
http://seashepherd.org/donate.html

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit in the United States, and a registered Stichting in The Netherlands. Gifts are deductible to the full extent of the law.