Sea Shepherd Prepares to Take on Japanese Whalers Alone This Year

[flvegan]

The Japanese whaling fleet will depart from Japan next month.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Ship Steve Irwin will also depart at the end of November from Brisbane, Australia.

The Japanese fleet and the Steve Irwin should arrive in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary around the same time.

“Our objective is simple,” said Captain Paul Watson. “We intend to once again intervene against illegal Japanese whaling and once again we intend to save the lives of as many whales as we can with the resources available to us. We have been the cause of the Japanese whaling fleet losing profits for three years in a row. We intend to make it a fourth year of red ink for the whaler’s books.”

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society cannot depend on the government of Kevin Rudd in Australia to help the whales.

“They have reneged on their promises and have done far less than the John Howard government when Senator Ian Campbell was the Environment Minister,” said Captain Watson. “I think Environment Minister Peter Garrett should have kept playing music and stayed out of politics. He is no friend to the whales, kangaroos, trees or the environment – just another hot air politician.”

Exactly a year ago today, a month before the Australian elections, Rudd and Garrett both promised to appoint a whaling ambassador and they promised to take legal action against Japan.

Shadow environment minister Greg Hunt said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Mr. Garrett had been hoping the public would forget about their promises on whaling.

“It is time the Minister and his boss finally stated once and for all whether they will deliver on the promises they made last year,” he said.

Greenpeace may or may not send a ship southward. They haven’t said.

<snip>

"We have a few surprises for the whalers this year,” said Sea Shepherd 2nd officer Peter Hammarstedt of Sweden. “We intend to be more aggressive and even more relentless in our interventions. We do not intend to witness the killing of any whales, we intend to make sure no whales are killed on our watch.”

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_081017_2.html

I'm a bit disappointed, as I was expecting two Sea Shepherd boats this year. Not disappointed in Sea Shepherd, just disappointed that they couldn't find/afford/rig another boat.

[flvegan]

1. Greenpeace announces they are a no show this year.

Greenpeace Surrenders to the Japanese Whaling Fleet

Greenpeace has officially announced that they will not be sending a ship to the Southern Oceans to oppose whaling by the Japanese Whaling fleet. This means that Sea Shepherd will be alone in our high seas opposition to illegal Japanese whaling operations when the whaling season opens in a month.

"As a Greenpeace co-founder, I am deeply offended that Greenpeace has been raising millions of dollars in the name of defending whales all year and now two weeks before the Japanese whaling fleet is scheduled to depart, they announce they will not be going," said Captain Paul Watson. "In my opinion they collected funds under false pretenses and now they have abandoned the whales. Shame on them."

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-081104-1.html

Agreed, shame on them.

[CrispyQ]

2. Time for an extra donation to this worthy cause. --nt