The Bob Barker making its way through the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Photo: Carolina A. CastrThe Japanese Whaling Fleet Leaves the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary
Operation Divine Wind is over! The Japanese whalers are going home!
The Japanese whaling fleet has left the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and they are heading home. “Once Captain Peter Hammerstedt and his crew on the Bob Barker closed in on the Nisshin Maru on March 5th, the whaling season was effectively over for the season,” said Captain Paul Watson on the Sea Shepherd flagship Steve Irwin recently returned and now berthed in Williamstown, Victoria, Australia.
Since March 1st, the Bob Barker has followed the Nisshin Maru as they headed steadily northwestward. The Japanese harpoon vessels have stopped tailing the Bob Barker. The fleet has left the waters of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, according to Captain Peter Hammarstedt. The Japanese government security vessel, Shonan Maru #2, has been spotted by fishing vessels at thirty degrees South, which is due east of Brisbane, Australia indicating that the vessel is well on its way back to Japan.
A Minke Whale swims freely, as it should, in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Photo: Billy DangerIt has been a long and difficult campaign and although handicapped by the temporary loss of the scout vessel the Brigitte Bardot, the Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker
were able to chase the Japanese whaling fleet for more than 17,000
miles, giving them little time to kill whales. In addition, two of the
three harpoon vessels spent more time tailing the two Sea Shepherd ships
than killing whales.“The kill figures will not be released by Japan until April, but in my opinion they will not get over 50% for certain and my prediction is it will not be above 30%. Not as good as last season, but much better than all the previous years.” Said Captain Paul Watson. “It has been a successful campaign. There are hundreds of whales swimming free in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary that would now be dead if we had not been down there for the last three months. That makes us very happy indeed."
The Bob Barker will return to Hobart, Tasmania, the Brigitte Bardot is completing repairs in Fremantle, and the Steve Irwin is now berthed in Williamstown.
In December 2012, if the Japanese whaling fleet returns to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will launch Operation Cetacean Justice with four ships, two helicopters, four UAV (drones), and 120 volunteers.
“If the Japanese whalers return, Sea Shepherd will return. We are committed to the defense of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.” Said Captain Paul Watson. “No matter how long it takes, no matter how risky or expensive. The word “sanctuary” actually means something to us and that something is worth fighting for.”
The frigid Antarctic waters begin to freeze as the Bob Barker heads home. Photo: Carolina A. Castro |
Visit our
Operation Divine Wind site for information about our 2011-12 Antarctic Whale Defense Campaign |
http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/2012/03/08/the-whalers-head-home-1352
Nisshin impossible: Japanese whalers quit
The Nisshin Maru was far from its whaling grounds last night.
Sea Shepherd's leader, Paul Watson, said the Nisshin Maru was steaming north last night, far from its whaling grounds, weeks before the usual season's end.
Fleet security ships had dropped away from the group's long-range ship, Bob Barker, and were also headed back to Japan, Mr Watson said.
''What with the bad weather they've been having, too, they certainly lost the whole of March,'' he said.
It would be the second year in a row that the Japanese government had ended the hunt early under conservationist pressure, although this year the Nisshin Maru was able to stay ahead of the anti-whaling activists for longer.
Under constant pressure from the fleet's security ships, the activists finally came within sight of the factory ship only last Monday at Commonwealth Bay, in Australian Antarctic waters south of Hobart.
Japanese security ships tried to blockade the Bob Barker in what the Institute of Cetacean Research said was a ''containment measure'' to head off the pursuit of the Nisshin Maru.
The activists said the harassment kept the Nisshin Maru moving, and with unusually bad weather, reduced the number of whales taken. Mr Watson estimated the whalers were likely to have taken only around 30 per cent of their quota.
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