Sea Shepherd in the News
Welcome to this news page where you can learn about selected media coverage that Sea Shepherd has received around the world. Part of Sea Shepherd’s mission is to document and expose atrocities being committed against marine wildlife and their habitats, so every report (whether in magazines, newspapers, online, radio, and/or TV) is very important.
Please come back and visit frequently as we add more news items (both new and past) on a regular basis. Entries are shown with the most recent first.
Recent Coverage
August 19, 2008 -- The Age - Australia online/print news
Whale activists vow to fight Japan
Animal rights activists vowed no let-up in their campaign to stop Japan's whaling as reports on Tuesday said Tokyo was seeking further arrests overseas of people who obstructed a hunt.
"We will not be deterred, we will not retreat and we will never surrender the lives of these defenceless whales to the outlaw whalers from Japan," said Paul Watson, captain of the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship.
Japanese police on Monday sent to Interpol the names of three members of the Sea Shepherd - two US citizens and a Briton - who are accused of disrupting the controversial whaling expedition in the Antarctic Ocean last year. . . . more
August 19, 2008 -- The Chicago Tribune - USA online/print news
3 activists sought by Japan
Police reportedly obtained arrest warrants Monday for two Americans and a Briton. Their crime? Harassing Japanese whaling ships.
ARREST TARGETS
The unidentified people are with the U.S.-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an animal-rights group whose activists aim to disrupt Japan's annual whaling operations. The aim of the warrants, according to Kyodo News agency, was to place the three on an international wanted list.
1,000 WHALES A YEAR
Commercial whaling was banned by the International Whaling Commission in 1986. But Japan kills about 1,000 whales a year under an allowed scientific whaling program that Tokyo says provides crucial data for the commission on populations, feeding habits and distribution of the mammals in the seas near Antarctica. Sea Shepherd and other groups condemn it as a pretext for keeping commercial whaling alive.
. . . . more
August 18, 2008 -- Environmental News Network - USA online news
Japan seeks to arrest anti-whaling activists
Japanese police have sought arrest warrants for three anti-whaling activists after their heated clashes with Tokyo's whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean last year, the government said on Monday.
"It's natural to seek an arrest warrant after determining that there was a crime," Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told a news conference.
"No matter what you think about whaling, physical protests should be avoided."
Two Americans and a Briton from the hardline Sea Shepherd group are suspected of having obstructed Japan's whale hunt through protests such as jamming a ship's propeller with a rope, Kyodo news agency reported. . . . more
June 26, 2008 -- Newsweek - USA online/print news
The Whale Man
Paul Watson will do just about anything to prevent the killing of whales. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which he founded in 1979, has sunk eight whaling ships, rammed numerous others and seized more than 80 poaching vessels. Watson's "environmental navy" seeks to disrupt whalers from Japan, Norway and Iceland—among the few countries who still allow the practice under a global moratorium on hunts. The Canadian-born Watson, 57, was a cofounder of Greenpeace but left that organization in 1977 in a disagreement over the group's direction. NEWSWEEK correspondent Jimmy Langman caught up with the somewhat controversial Watson in Santiago, Chile, this week at the International Whaling Commission meeting. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: What do you hope to achieve this week in Santiago?
Paul Watson: We are here in part to announce that we are launching our fifth Antarctica campaign, and in that we will take even a much more aggressive stand. I think the key to ending whaling is to keep their losses up over their profits. In the last two years, we have cost them about $70 million, so we just have to keep that up.
. . . more
April 17, 2008 -- Vancouver Sun - Canada online/print news
EU official criticizes Canada for blocking seal hunt observers
Canada fumbled its chance to prove once and for all that its critics are wrong in asserting that the seal hunt is cruel and inhumane, Europe's environment czar said Thursday.
European Union Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said the Canadian government, which complains that the EU is being manipulated by anti-sealing groups spreading misinformation, blocked a team of European experts sent on a fact-finding mission during the 2007 hunt.
"If a team of experts wasn't able to look at what is happening, and how it is being conducted, why do they (the Canadian government) claim that other evidence is not correct?" Dimas, in Paris to attend a major climate change conference, told Canwest News Service.
"I don't know whether it was bad faith. I don't think so. But the fact is they were prevented from doing what they were going to do."
The comment from Dimas, who said he will present legislation soon to ban all seal product imports into Europe, represented a two-pronged attack Thursday on the embattled Canadian industry . . . more
April 17, 2008 -- Economist.com - Canada online/print news
Who's the pirate?
A public-relations coup for animal-rights activists
HIS ship flies a flag that looks suspiciously like the skull and crossbones. But Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an animal-welfare group known for its aggressive tactics, says it's the Canadian government that is guilty of piracy after a unit of the national police boarded and seized one of the society's ships off Canada's east coast on April 12th.
Just where the Farley Mowat, a Dutch-registered yacht being used by the society to protest against Canada's annual seal hunt, was at the time is in dispute. Mr Watson, who was not on board, claims the skirmish happened in international waters, making it an act of piracy. To make his point, he paid half the C$10,000 ($10,000) bail for its captain and first officer in C$2 coins, calling them dubloons. Loyola Hearn, the federal fisheries minister, insists that it was in Canadian waters, claiming that the “money-sucking manipulators” were endangering seal hunters on the ice floes.
The ship's GPS navigation unit, now in police hands, will eventually yield the truth. But Mr Watson and his group have already scored their public-relations coup. Videos of the seizure and arrests, interspersed with gory scenes of hunters clubbing seals to death, flooded television newscasts and sprouted on the internet. Many featured close-ups of cuddly, white-coated pups, although their killing has been banned since 1987.
This year's hunt for 275,000 harp seals and 8,200 hooded seals was supposed to be conducted under new, more humane rules aimed at making it more palatable to tender-hearted Europeans. That, however, now seems to be a lost cause; the EU is already considering a ban on all seal products from Canada. . . . more
April 17, 2008 -- New York Times - USA online/print news
Green Pirates Claim Victory on Whaling
A day after our post on Indonesia’s declaration of victory against pirates, environmentalists who cultivate their own pirate image were claiming a victory over Japan.
The Japanese whaling fleet returned after a 5-month hunt with only half of what they hoped to catch, ostensibly in the name of science, though the meat ends up in the market. But this was no unlucky-fisherman tale, as a Japanese official told CNN. “This year’s mission was disrupted intensively by Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd, who use violent means for disturbance,” said Hajime Ishikawa, chief of Japan’s whaling mission.
A day later, the head of Shepherd, Paul Watson, sounded trumphant. “I think it is safe to say that the Sea Shepherd crew seriously affected their profits this season,” he said in a news release. “My crew and I are elated that 484 whales are now swimming free that would otherwise have been viciously slaughtered. And we are especially pleased that not a single Fin or Humpback died, and that is a complete victory.”
His deputy, Peter Hammarstedt, promised another round. “We hope to hurt them even harder next year,” he said. . . . more
April 16, 2008 -- Canada.com - Canada online news
Jailed sealing protesters to be deported back to Europe
Two European activists will be deported to their home countries Friday after being arrested earlier this week and jailed for allegedly getting too close to the seal hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, one of the protesters said Wednesday.
"I'm still a bit shocked by the whole sort of ordeal," said Peter Hammarstedt, 23, the first officer of the anti-sealing vessel, the Farley Mowat. "Once again the thing we're being accused of doing is allegedly being within a half a nautical mile of someone skinning a seal alive and for that Canada deports us."
"Not only that but they storm our ship with pretty much SWAT team storm troopers on international waters, force us into this country at gunpoint, then force us back out."Society, Alexander Cornelissen (R), Captain of the Farley Mowat, and First Officer Peter Hammarstedt leave the Cape Breton correctional facility in Reserve Mines, Nova Scotia, April 14, 2008, after Cornelissen and Hammarstedt were released on bail.
Hammarstedt is a Swedish national and Alexander Cornelissen, of Amsterdam, is the captain of the Farley Mowat. Last week, the ship was carrying 17 members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The group, whose head office is in Washington, D.C., maintains it was in international waters legally observing Canada's seal hunt.
However, the two men were arrested and appeared in a Sydney, N.S., courtroom on Monday on charges of approaching within one-half nautical mile of a seal hunt without a permit. . . . more
April 14, 2008 -- CBC News - Canada online/print news
Bail to be paid in 'doubloons' after coast guard 'pirate action'
The head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Paul Watson, is in Cape Breton to post bail — in toonies — for the skipper and first officer of the group's ship, the Farley Mowat.
"I took out 5,000 $2 coins and that's what we're gonna pay the bail. They want cash, we'll give them cash. Doubloons. I think it's appropriate for their pirate action," Watson told CBC News.
"I figure since they're going to board our vessel at gunpoint on the high seas and take all our property, they are pirates and we will give them a pirate ransom."
Watson said Canadian author Farley Mowat personally put up the money to bail them out . . . more
April 14, 2008 -- Globe and Mail - Canada online/print news
Protesters vow to end seal hunt
The war of words over the seizure of the anti-sealing vessel Farley Mowat continued Monday, with Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Paul Watson vowing that the end is near for the Canadian seal hunt.
Mr. Watson, who is in Sydney to bail two crew members out of jail, told CTV News that his team has footage of seals screaming while being skinned alive that will be used to help end the hunt.
“We haven't seen any evidence of a humane hunt here,” Mr. Watson said. “We're presenting this evidence to the European Parliament. They are going to pass a bill to ban seal products. That will end the Canadian seal hunt. We're looking at the end of days for the seal hunt.”
Author Farley Mowat donated the $10,000 needed to bail the ship's captain and first officer out of jail, Mr. Watson said. . . . more
April 3, 2008 -- Mother Jones - US online news
Ice Blocking Canada's Seal Hunt
Good news. Thick ice is slowing sealing boats from reaching the baby harp seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, reports Planet Ark. Consequently, only three pups out of a quota of 275,000 were killed the first day. This after last year's "hunt" was affected by a lack of ice. The Canadian government has promised the slaughter will be more humane this year. How? After a hunter shoots or clubs a seal, he now must check its eyes to ensure it is dead, and if not, the animal's main arteries must be cut.
Okay, let's get clear about this. That does not qualify as humane.
The Canadian seal hunt is the largest mass slaughter of marine mammals on Earth, according to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Just what are they doing with all those dead baby seals? The furs are made into coats and clothes. And there's a growing market for seal oil, high in omega-3 fatty acid… and PCBs . . . more
April 1, 2008 -- The Toronto Star - Canada online/print news
Seal hunt controversy continues
Witness recalls frantic calls to icebreaker night seal hunters' ship capsized being towed
The annual seal hunt that began in tragedy continued in controversy yesterday after an animal rights protest ship claimed a Coast Guard ship rammed it twice north of Cape Breton.
The high-seas skirmish, which was hotly denied by federal fisheries officials, comes on the heels of a rescue operation gone awry that cost the lives of four seal hunters over the weekend.
Yesterday, a seal boat captain who saw the crew of the ill-fated L'Acadien II pitched into the waters north of Cape Breton, provided a chilling account of the catastrophe.
Wayne Dickson, who was following in his own boat, recounted how he was racing to reach the capsized boat and tried to warn the crew of the Coast Guard icebreaker Sir William Alexander who were towing it.
"Stop the f------ boat! Stop! Stop! Stop! You're going to kill them f------ guys – their boat's upside down!" he shouted during an emotional interview with The Canadian Press yesterday as he recalled his frantic radio message to the icebreaker. "They were still dragging the boat through the water. But there was no response.". . . more
March 31, 2008 -- CTV.ca - Canada online/broadcast news
Activists, coast guard clash over seal hunt
Always a tense time in Atlantic Canada, this year's seal hunt has proved no exception, with a conservation group clashing with the Canadian Coast Guard in the Gulf of St. Lawrence just three days into the annual seal hunt.
On Sunday, the coast guard icebreaker Des Groseilliers collided with the Farley Mowat, a ship owned by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon warned the militant group earlier in the month that the ship was believed to be in contravention of international maritime laws and should not enter Canadian waters.
But the ship came anyway, with the society claiming the Farley Mowat is a registered yacht and not subject to the same laws as commercial vessels. . . . more
March 31, 2008 -- CNN - US online/broadcast news
Canadian vessel, conservation group ship collide
A coast guard icebreaker and a ship owned by an activist conservation group collided off Canada's east coast as tensions mounted over the country's annual seal hunt.
A spokesman for Canada's federal fisheries department said Monday that the icebreaker was "grazed" twice Sunday by the Farley Mowat, a 177-foot vessel owned by the U.S.-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
But the conservation group countered that its ship was rammed twice by the 321-foot icebreaker Des Groseilliers about 40 miles north of Cape Breton.
"It rammed the stern end of the Farley Mowat and when the Farley Mowat was stopped, it came back and hit them again," Paul Watson, head of the society, said from Los Angeles, California. "It was twice so it was intentional." . . . more
March 28, 2008 -- CBC News - Canada online/broadcast news
Mind yourself at seal hunt, Canada warns Watson
As the harp seal hunt opens in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada's fisheries minister is cautioning one of the world's best-known anti-sealers to be on his best behaviour.
Paul Watson, who has been campaigning against the seal hunt since the 1970s, says he will be observing the hunt when it opens Friday in the southern Gulf.
Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn said he expects no problems, so long as Watson follows the rules.
"From some of the experiences in the past, of course, we're not sure how far some of these people will push the limits," Hearn said . . . more
March 28, 2008 -- Daily Mail - London, UK online/print news
Environmental activists who thwarted Japan whale hunt to target annual seal cull
Environmental activists who thwarted Japan's whale hunt have promised to employ similar tactics to disrupt Canada's annual seal hunt, which began today.
Paul Watson, the head of the Sea Shepherd Society, says he and other members of his group will document what they describe as the "perverse abomination" of the seal hunt.
Mr Watson claimed his boat, the Farley Mowat, will remain outside of Canada's 20km territorial limit.
He added that it would be an international incident if Canadian authorities tried to board the ship.
Canada's Fisheries Minister has threatened Mr Watson with prosecution and warned him to steer clear . . . more
March 27, 2008 -- The Canadian Press - Canada online news
Sea Shepherd to oppose seal hunt in gulf after it starts Friday
Despite a stern warning from Ottawa to steer clear of Canadian waters, animal rights activist Paul Watson is vowing to head to the ice floes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence next week to oppose the annual seal hunt.
Watson said Wednesday he and members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will sail into Canadian waters aboard the Farley Mowat to document the "perverse abomination" of the hunt from outside Canada's 12-mile territorial limit.
The commercial hunt is set to begin in the southern gulf Friday. A much larger hunt off Newfoundland and Labrador will open in April.
"We intend to document the killing of seals," he said from New York City.
"This is a Dutch vessel with an international crew and I think it will be an international incident if Canada tries to board a Dutch vessel in waters which are not within the 12-mile limit." . . . more
March 24, 2008 -- The Los Angeles Times - USA online/print news
Animal Planet treads risky waters
Aiming to show its hard edge, a network crew follows anti-whaling activists in 'Whale Wars.'
Animal Planet's desire to become less warm and fuzzy means exposure to some unaccustomed issues, like danger on the high seas and journalistic fairness.
A network crew returned to port in Australia last week after tagging along on a mission to interfere with a Japanese whaling expedition in the Antarctic. A miniseries about the experience, "Whale Wars," is expected to air this fall.
To make the series, Animal Planet worked with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, activists who are considered either heroic defenders of wildlife or dangerous meddlers, depending on your politics.
On this trip, the group tossed rancid butter on Japanese ships to make the decks slippery and to spoil whale meat, and diplomatic intervention was needed after two society members climbed aboard a Japanese ship.
"There is an inherent excitement in what they do," said Charlie Foley, Animal Planet's vice president of development. "It's always dangerous, and there are also questions about whether this is something they should be doing.
"It's not a prototypical Animal Planet story, and that's one of the reasons we were attracted to it." . . . more
March 21, 2008 -- Canada.com - Canada online news
Anti-sealing vessel heading to East Coast hunt
For the first time since 2005, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is heading back to East Coast ice floes to monitor the annual seal hunt.
The animal rights organization's ship, the Farley Mowat, will leave Bermuda for the Gulf of St. Lawrence on Monday with an international crew of volunteers, founder Paul Watson says on the Sea Shepherd website.
The date for the hunt has not yet been set, but when it does begin, new rules will require sealers to ensure an animal is dead before it's bled out or skinned. If the seal is still alert, hunters will have to cut the main artery to ensure a quick death.
Watson derided the claim that the new rules make the hunt more "humane," and called it a glorified welfare scheme . . . more
March 10, 2008 -- The Daily Telegraph - Australia online/print news
Anti-whale protesters save seals from culling in Canada
After returning to Australia, anti-whaling protesters on board the Sea Shepherd's Steve Irwin are leaving to head up to Canada to join global protests against the annual seal hunt.
Canada has set a limit for its annual seal harvest this year of 275,000 harp seals, and announced new rules to make the slaughter less cruel as well as curb international protests over the hunt.
The quota includes allocations of 2,000 seals for personal use and almost 5,000 seals for aboriginal hunters, as well as 16,000 seals carried over from last year for commercial fleets that did not capture their 2007 quota, fisheries officials said today.
As well, Canada has adopted recommendations of the Independent Veterinarians Working Group to "ensure beyond any possible doubt that a seal is dead before it's skinned", said fisheries spokesman Phil Jenkins . . . more
March 4, 2008 -- The Sydney Morning Herald - Australia online/print news
Whale protest causes a stink
Heavily protected paramilitary officers are now guarding a Japanese ship whose crew say they were injured by a Sea Shepherd protest over Antarctic whaling.
The clash led to condemnation from the top levels of the Japanese and Australian governments, but left Sea Shepherd undeterred as it pursued the fleeing factory ship Nisshin Maru last night.
"I think they are going to have a hard time killing any more whales this season," Sea Shepherd's leader, Paul Watson, said.
The two sides confronted each other after his ship, the Steve Irwin, reeled in the Nisshin Maru following a long chase off the coast of the Australian Antarctic Territory.
As the Steve Irwin drew alongside, the activists hurled "rotten butter" butyric acid in refilled VB bottles, and packets of methacell powder, onto the deck of the factory ship, Captain Watson said.
He said the organic, non-toxic compounds made the deck foul-smelling and slippery, and it was impossible for any of the whalers to have been injured by the missiles. He challenged them to produce any video evidence to the contrary . . . more
March 3, 2008 -- Daily Mail - London, UK online/print news
Antarctic whale war continues as protesters bombard harpoon ship with 'stink bombs'
The whale war in the Antarctic erupted again today when activists bombarded a Japanese vessel with foul-smelling stink bombs and a goo that made it difficult to walk on the decks.
The militants, on board the Sea Shepherd's anti-whaling ship Steve Irwin, hurled the bottles and packets containing foul-smelling and slippery substances onto the decks of the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru.
"I guess we can call this non-violent chemical warfare," said the Sea Shepherd's captain, Paul Watson, speaking from the Southern Ocean where clashes between militants and Japanese whaling ships have begun again with the return of the activists to Antarctica.
"We only use organic, non-toxic materials designed to harass and obstruct illegal whaling operations - and we know this latest attack has succeeded because the Japanese crew appeared to be hating the smell and having difficult negotiating their decks." . . . more
March 3, 2008 -- CNN International Asia - USA online/broadcast news
Activist: Attack on whalers "nonviolent chemical warfare"
Anti-whaling protesters hurled containers of butyric acid at a Japanese whaling ship in Antarctic waters, injuring four crew members, a Japanese official said Monday.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society acknowledged the Sunday incident, saying it had lobbed more than two dozen bottles of rotten butter at the Nisshin Maru, 'sending a stench throughout the whale killing ship that will remain for days."
Butyric acid is found in rotten butter.
The Sea Shepherd boat had to move a half-mile away from the whaling ship because "it stinks too bad to remain any closer," activist Todd Emko of New York said in a statement from the group.
The conservation group said it also threw packets of a slippery chemical on to the deck of the ship, making it difficult to cut up whales.
The unnamed substance becomes more slippery when mixed with water so it will be difficult to wash off the deck, a Sea Shepherd statement said . . . more
February 22, 2008 -- The Herald Sun - Australia online/print news
Activists 'to arrest Japanese whalers'
AUSTRALIAN activists say they will board Japanese whaling ships, destroy equipment and make citizen's arrests fairly soon in the latest attempt to drive the hunters out of the Antarctic.
The captain of the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin, which made international headlines after two crew members were detained by the Japanese last month, says he has a team of 17 specially-trained crew members - nine of them Australian - ready to put their lives on the line.
Paul Watson told NEWS.com.au the group would risk being shot at to stop the killing of whales by "criminals" in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
He said the Japanese fleet was in "clear violation of an Australian (Federal) Court order prohibiting whaling operations inside the Australian Economic Exclusion Zone".
Crew members had been trained to board a whaling vessel, destroy hunting equipment and make citizen’s arrests of crew members, he said from on board the Steve Irwin . . . more
February 14, 2008 -- The Age - Australia online/print news
Anti-whalers resume hunting Japanese
Anti-whaling protest ship the Steve Irwin is returning to the Southern Ocean to resume its chase of the Japanese whaling fleet.
The Sea Shepherd vessel has spent 12 days in Melbourne undergoing repairs, refuelling and resupplying, and new crew members have been brought on board.
Steve Irwin captain Paul Watson said Victorians had donated money for fuel and other supplies during its stay in Melbourne.
"We are anxious to return to the coast of Antarctica," Sea Shepherd cook Amber Paarman said.
"Every moment that we are not on the tail of the Japanese fleet means that the lives of the whales are in peril." . . . more
February 8, 2008 -- The Independent - London, UK online/print news
Pictures reveal truth about Japan's 'scientific' whaling
New pictures expose the gory reality of Japan's so-called 'scientific' whale hunt in the Southern Ocean, with a slaughtered adult minke whale and calf being hauled on board a Japanese factory ship.
The release of the photos marks a significant shift in whaling politics, for they were taken not by the environmental activists who spent much of January harassing the whalers on their Antarctic hunt but by officials working for the Australian government.
They were put into the public domain by the eco-friendly administration of the new Labor premier, Kevin Rudd, accompanied by withering comments from Australian ministers.
For a government to become so strongly involved raises the stakes considerably in a dispute in which most of the international community is ranged against Japan.
It provoked anger in Tokyo and a warning to Australia from a Japanese official that this was "dangerous emotional propaganda that could cause serious damage to the relationship between our two countries".
But there was as much, if not more fury, at the pictures in Australia. Peter Garrett, the Environment Minister, and a former member of the rock group Midnight Oil, said: "It is explicitly clear from these images that this is the indiscriminate killing of whales, where you have a whale and its calf killed in this way." He said he felt sick and sad looking at them and added: "To claim that this is in any way scientific is to continue the charade that has surrounded this issue from day one." . . . more
February 5, 2008 -- The Fiji Times Online - Fiji online/print news
Whaling warriors weigh in
A WHALE-hunting season of high drama on the huge swells of the Great Southern Ocean has culminated in a precisely structured and exquisitely polite meeting of government ministers in Tokyo.
The water cannon, whale blood, stink bombs and yelled imprecations have been matched with the deep bows of Japanese diplomacy.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith met his Japanese counterpart, Masahiko Koumura, on Thursday night, and the vexed issue of whaling was high on the agenda.
The Japanese whaling fleet, hunting as many as 1000 of the giant mammals for scientific research, has been harassed and monstered by both Greenpeace and the vigilante conservationist group Sea Shepherd.
Yet as the protesters steamed back to Australia, at the very time Smith was meeting Koumura, the Japanese fleet began hunting again, harvesting as many as five minke whales.
Few environmental battles excite the emotions as much as the fight against whaling . . . more
February 5, 2008 -- The Dominion Post - New Zealand online/print news
Activists seek cash to resume sea battle
Controversial activist group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has vowed to escalate its anti-whaling tactics after Japan resumed killing whales in the Southern Ocean.
The whalers halted the slaughter for nearly three weeks till Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace ships shadowing them were forced to return to Australia last week to refuel.
The resumption of whaling, confirmed by Australian Customs vessel Oceanic Viking, which is tailing the Japanese fleet, was greeted with sadness and anger on the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin.
Skipper Paul Watson is trying to raise nearly $200,000 to refuel the ship and hopes to leave Melbourne for another stint in the Antarctic by next week. Greenpeace will not return during this campaign . . . more
February 4, 2008 -- Reality TV World - US online news
Animal Planet rebranding, adding more animal-themed reality shows
After spending its first 12 years of existence focused on more traditional wildlife observational programming, Animal Planet is relaunching and rebranding itself around a new more adult-targeted programming schedule that will include animal-themed reality shows and additional Meerkat Manor-like anthropomorphic series . . .
. . . Whale Wars will follow the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's effort to eradicate illegal whaling operations by using radical methods, such as disabling or sinking whaling ships and disrupting whale carcass processing . . . more
February 4, 2008 -- Tehran Times - Iran online/print news
Anti-whalers vow bigger Antarctic presence next year
Militant environmental activists on Saturday vowed to increase their presence in the Southern Ocean next year in their bid to prevent Japanese whalers from killing the giant mammals.
Paul Watson, captain of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel the Steve Irwin, said his ship had stopped the Japanese fleet from killing whales for three to four weeks but was now forced to return to port to refuel.
Next year he wants to bring two ships into the Antarctic waters.
"We're aiming to come back next year with two ships which will be staggered, so they'll work as a tag team -- once one ship returns to port to refuel, the other ship can be out chasing the fleet," he said.
"The best way to stop their criminal action -- because that's what this senseless slaughter is, criminal -- is to keep on them. It's going to be very expensive but it will be worth it" . . . more
February 3, 2008 -- The Age - Australia online/print news
Whaling crusaders to fight on
THE captain of an anti-whaling ship that docked in Melbourne yesterday wants to increase the number of activist ships tailing Japanese whaling boats.
Captain Paul Watson and his crew on the Steve Irwin received a heroes" welcome from families, friends and activists gathered at Melbourne's Docklands. More than 100 people cheered, waved and whistled as the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's ship sailed into Victoria Harbour about 2.30pm yesterday . . . more
February 3, 2008 -- ABC News - Australia online/broadcast news
Police still to question Sea Shepherd activists
Australian Federal Police are yet question two members of the Sea Shepherd conservation group who boarded a Japanese harpoon boat without permission last month.
Australian Benjamin Potts and Briton Giles Lane were held for several days after boarding the Japanese whaling vessel, before being freed in a deal worked out by the Australian Government . . . more
February 2, 2008 -- ABC News - Australia online/broadcast news
Sea Shepherd activists keen to return to sea
The two Sea Shepherd activists who were held captive on a Japanese whaling boat for three days plan to go back to sea as soon as possible.
The Sea Shepherd ship the Steve Irwin has arrived at Victoria Harbour in Melbourne to refuel, restock and make some minor repairs.
About 100 people welcomed the vessel back to Melbourne after its campaign against Japanese whalers.
Australian Benjamin Potts, who was held by the Japanese, says he and the other captive, Briton Giles Lane, are ready to go back despite the experience of being tied to the side of the Japanese boat . . . more
January 31, 2008 -- BBC News - UK online/broadcast news
Japanese hunters resume whaling
Japan's Antarctic fleet has resumed whaling after anti-hunt activists suspended their pursuit of the vessels in the Southern Ocean to refuel.
Media reports say an Australian customs vessel saw five whales being harpooned and hauled on to a Japanese ship.
The Japanese fleet had stopped hunting for three weeks while it was pursued in Antarctic waters by the campaigners.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith held talks with his Japanese counterpart in Tokyo on the issue.
A ministry spokesman said Mr Smith had expressed disappointment that whaling had resumed in the Southern Ocean.
He also "conveyed the Australian government's strongly held view that Japan's whaling programme should cease". . . more
January 25, 2008 -- The Age - Australia online/print news
Japan PM defends 'scientific' whaling
JAPANESE Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has mounted a defence of his Government's Antarctic whaling, in a sign of the hunt's growing domestic sensitivity.
Mr Fukuda was asked about 'scientific' whaling in the parliament, the Diet, and also spoke to the BBC in Tokyo as the program came under greater scrutiny in the Japanese media.
He conceded in the Diet that there were cultural differences over whaling, and in the way that Japan hunted and conducted its science.
But he said it was unforgivable to illegally interfere with whaling, referring to the stand-off over the detention of two Sea Shepherd activists who boarded a Japanese vessel last week . . . more
January 24, 2008 -- The Economist - UK online/print news
Salty shepherds
THE Southern Ocean is usually one of the world's loneliest shipping lanes. This month it has turned into an unseemly battleground over a bid by Australia's government and various environmental groups to stop Japan hunting and slaughtering whales. Japan aims to kill more than 900 minke and 50 fin whales from a region bordering Antarctica by mid-April. It claims the hunt is for scientific research; its critics say this is a brazen front for a commercial whale-meat harvest. As images of the protesters" antics inflame anti-Japanese feeling in Australia, the clash is also threatening the stability of one of Australia's strongest regional ties.
On January 22nd Greenpeace, an environmental-lobbying group, wedged a small inflatable craft between the Nisshin Maru, the Japanese fleet's factory ship, and its refuelling vessel. It managed to delay, but not stop, the operation. This was a minor episode compared with a manoeuvre a week earlier by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an anti-whaling body. Two protesters boarded one of the Japanese whaling vessels to deliver a letter demanding that the harpooning stop and, say the Japanese, splashed acid about.
They were detained on the Japanese ship, grabbing headlines worldwide, until an Australian patrol boat returned them to their own ship three days later. More protests seem likely. Paul Watson, captain of the Sea Shepherd ship tracking the whalers, says he is prepared to keep up the chase for weeks. He painted Greenpeace as timid for its failure to prevent refuelling: "Of course it's dangerous. Stopping the whaling fleet is not a game." . . . more
January 21, 2008 -- Sydney Morning Herald - Australia online/print news
It's time whaling became extinct
I am a huge fan of Japan, and have travelled there many times. I eat sashimi, I watch sumo, and I'm regularly mocked by my friends for pronouncing karaoke correctly. But there is one element of Japanese culture that leaves a sour taste in my mouth, and that's whaling. I have to admit, I've never tried whale meat – sorry, I mean, never conducted valuable primary whale research – so I don't know what I'm missing. But then again, I've never eaten human either, for similar moral reasons.
And what's more, the vast majority of Japanese people have never eaten whale either. According to an Asahi Shimbun survey from 2002, 96 per cent of Japanese have never eaten or rarely eat whale. And despite the protestations that it's a vitally important part of their culture, the lack of consumption has resulted in a substantial stockpile. And as a result a lot of the whale meat has started to be used for dog food. The Japanese Government has launched a campaign to try and encourage people to eat it, with a pamphlet series amusingly entitled Scrumptious Whale Meat!, but it's failing. And no surprise – why bother with boring old whale meat when you now have universal access to the Teriyaki McBurger?
Kazuo Shima, Japan's former delegate to the International Whaling Commission was quoted in the SMH on Saturday as saying that the West had tried to turn the whale into the equivalent of a sacred cow. He's spot on. We want whales to be inviolate because many species are endangered, and the harpooning process is inherently cruel, resulting in a painful death. And we shouldn't apologise for that. There are times when it's important to maintain cultural relativism, and respect different countries" right to devise their own norms, but there are times when, frankly, one particular set of values is purely and simply better – in the case of the death penalty, for instance. Whaling, similarly, is one practice that simply shouldn't be tolerated . . . more
January 20, 2008 -- Times Online - London online/print news
War of the Whales
Paul Watson has been engaging in acts of derring-do on behalf of the animal kingdom for more than 30 years.
In the early 1970s, not long after he co-founded the Greenpeace environmental movement, the Canadian was among a small group of activists who took to the seas off California to try to stop a Soviet fleet from killing whales.
Watson - Greenpeace membership number: 007 - was steering a small, fast, inflatable Zodiac speedboat. His aim was to position himself between the whales and the Soviet harpoons. The whalers had already opened fire on a passing pod of whales, and at one point an injured sperm whale broke away from the group. It headed straight for Watson’s boat.
As Watson heaved on his rudder, the whale passed a few feet away, its eye clear of the water. It seemed to be staring directly at the men who were trying to save it. Watson has never forgotten that moment.
“"In an instant my life was transformed and a purpose for my life was reverently established,"” said the man who would later fall out with Greenpeace and found one of the world’s most aggressive environmental groups, the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society . . . more
January 19, 2008 -- Los Angeles Times - US online/print news
Whaling showdown strains partnerships
They were pirates to some, hostages to others. But two anti-whaling activists who drew global attention this week by forcibly boarding a Japanese harpoon ship in Antarctic waters have demonstrated how the emotional clash over Japan's annual whale hunt can disrupt even the best international friendships.
The high seas showdown sent shudders through the Japanese and Australian governments, which have a close partnership on trade and security issues but find themselves on opposing sides of a whaling dispute in which middle ground is evaporating.
Alarmed officials in Tokyo and Canberra, the capitals, watched as this year's whale kill in the Southern Ocean near Australian waters took a nasty turn, with mutual accusations of racism and hypocrisy followed by the dangerous boarding of the Japanese whaler by eco-vigilantes . . . more
January 18, 2008 -- Associated Press - US online/print news
Australia Returns Activists to Ship
A tense standoff in frigid Antarctic waters ended Friday when two activists who had jumped on board a Japanese whaling boat were returned to their ship by Australian officials.
Their return paved the way for the Japanese fleet to resume killing whales, and for their staunchest opponents to restart their campaign of harassment to stop them.
Paul Watson, head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, said the two crew members were safely back on board the group's ship, the Steve Irwin.
Earlier Friday, an Australian customs ship picked up the two activists — Australian Benjamin Potts, 28, and Briton Giles Lane, 35 — who prompted the faceoff when they leaped from a rubber boat onto the deck of the Japanese ship Yushin Maru 2 on Tuesday.
The dispute underscored the high-stakes nature of the contest fought each year in the remote and dangerous seas at the far south of the world, thousands of miles from the possibility of regular emergency or rescue services.
At issue is Japan's foray into the Antarctica in November under a program that allows the killing of minke and fin whales for scientific research, despite an international ban on commercial whaling. Opponents say Japan has used the loophole to kill nearly 10,000 whales over the past two decades and sell their meat on the commercial market . . . more
January 17, 2008 -- The Guardian Unlimited - UK online/print news
A tale of two ships
Yesterday evening a nautical drama was being played out between seven ships deep in the heaving, wild and normally extremely lonely Southern Ocean on the edge of Antarctica. The Nisshin Maru, a large Japanese whaling factory ship, was steaming due south at 15 knots in heavy seas with a crew of 80 and with the carcasses of possibly 50 whales aboard.
Two miles behind it, in full sight but not in radio contact, was the Esperanza, a Greenpeace vessel converted from a Russian navy fire-fighting ship with a volunteer crew of 21 nationalities and a Dutch captain. The Esperanza is well equipped, as you would expect from a large and well-resourced operation with more than 200,000 members, but it looks tiny beside the vast whaling vessel.
Steaming towards both ships, and due to meet them in possibly a day or two among the icebergs and the fogs, is the MV Steve Irwin, the black-painted flagship of Captain Paul Watson and the California-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the world's most uncompromising environmental enforcement group. His crew is smaller, but - like that of the Esperanza - made up of brilliant and committed seamen. Discipline is everything at sea and both sets of volunteers, male and female and drawn from just about every country, respond magnificently to the challenge and the danger . . . more
January 16, 2008 -- The New York Times - USA online/print news
Japan Pauses Whale Hunt During Standoff
Protesters scored a victory in a high-seas campaign to disrupt Japan's whale hunt in the Antarctic, forcing the fleet to a standstill Wednesday while officials scrambled to unload two activists who used a rubber boat to get on board a harpoon vessel.
The faceoff was a rapid escalation of the annual contest between the fleet that carries out Japan's controversial whale hunt in southern waters and the environmentalist groups that try to stop it.
The founder of the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling group, Paul Watson, told The Associated Press by satellite phone that the Japanese are targeting vulnerable whale stocks and said his organization will keep harassing the fleet.
"We will chase them until they stop their hunt," Watson said from the bridge of the Steve Irwin, a Sea Shepherd vessel. "As long as we are chasing them, they aren't killing whales" . . . more
January 16, 2008 -- The Australian - Australia online/print news
Sea Shepherd ready to rescue activists
CONSERVATION group Sea Shepherd says it will launch its own agressive rescue of two activists detained on a Japanese whaling ship if it has to.
The activists boarded the Japanese harpoon vessel Yushin Maru No. 2 in Antarctic waters yesterday afternoon to deliver a written plea to stop killing whales.
A witness said the pair, from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel Steve Irwin, was tied to the rails of the ship and immersed up to their waists in freezing seawater after an attempt to throw one overboard.
Sea Shepherd has vowed to stop the activities of Japanese whalers, who it says are hunting the animals for research purposes.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said today that Japan had agreed to release the pair; Benjamin Potts, 28, of Sydney, and Giles Lane, 35, from Britain.
But Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson, the captain of the Steve Irwin, said today he had not been told by authorities in either Japan or Australia that his crew would be returned . . . more
January 14, 2008 -- The Age - Australia online/print news
Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd close in on whalers
Greenpeace has claimed a new success in its Southern Ocean pursuit of the Japanese whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru, forcing it to steam out of its whaling grounds.
The pursuit ran on last night, with Nisshin Maru showing no signs of slowing as it steamed north, away from the whalers" designated research area off the Antarctic coast . . .
. . . "We have reached the place where the Nisshin Maru was only hours ago," Sea Shepherd's Paul Watson said. "We are on their trail and will continue to pursue as they continue to run."
Greenpeace has refused to release its position, but Captain Watson said the fleet was located in the Co-operation Sea, about 4500 kilometres south-west of Perth. The Australian Government's customs patrol ship Oceanic Viking was still potentially a few days" steaming from the Nisshin Maru, but the factory ship's course was likely to bring it closer to contact . . . more
January 8, 2008 -- The Age - Australia online/print news
Research to save whales grounded
AUSTRALIA's commitment to ending whaling has again been called into question, this time over its decision to cancel research in the Antarctic.
The first aerial survey of minke whales was meant to highlight Australia's argument that whales do not have to be killed in order to study them.
But a delay in approving flights to Australia's Wilkins ice runway means the study has been scrapped for the summer, a spokeswoman for Environment Minister Peter Garrett confirmed yesterday . . . more
January 5, 2008 -- The Guardian - UK online/print news
50 people who could save the planet
Stranded polar bears, melting glaciers, dried-out rivers and flooding on a horrific scale - these were the iconic images of 2007. So who is most able to stop this destruction to our world? A Guardian panel, taking nominations from key environmental figures, met to compile a list of our ultimate green heroes . . .
. . . who are the people who can bring about change, the pioneers coming up with radical solutions? We can modify our lifestyles, but that will never be enough. Who are the politicians most able to force society and industry to do things differently? Where are the green shoots that will get us out of the global ecological mess? . . . more
January 3, 2008 -- The Sydney Morning Herald - Australia online/print news
Japanese whalers" location to remain secret
THE anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd has condemned the Federal Government's decision to keep the location of the Japanese whaling fleet secret.
The move was a betrayal that would withhold vital information from anti-whaling groups, Paul Watson, of Sea Shepherd, said.
"Once again the cards are stacked against us, as governments continue to co-operate with each other to maintain the status quo," he said, adding the Government owed it to the Australian public to say where the fleet was.
The information would greatly assist the search for the whalers now under way by Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace protest ships over an ocean area more than 7000 kilometres wide . . . more
January 1, 2008 -- The Daily Telegraph - Australia online/print news
Harpoons aimed at pro whale cull Flannery
ENVIRONMENTALIST Tim Flannery has found himself pilloried and isolated after he claimed the annual Japanese whale cull was sustainable.
Green groups involved in the fight against whaling for decades have responded with shock and surprise that Mr Flannery would support the whale hunt.
The Australian of the Year and prominent scientist made the comments to The Daily Telegraph yesterday as the Greenpeace protest ship reached Antarctic icebergs in pursuit of the Japanese fleet.
Mr Flannery said he was much more concerned about the decimation of essential krill populations than the death of common whales . . . more
December 28, 2007 -- Brisbane Times - Australia online/print news
We'll get them this time, vows whaling protest leader
WITHIN a week, anti-whaling boat the Steve Irwin hopes to be harassing the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean.
But yesterday it made an unscheduled appearance at Victoria Harbour at Docklands to replace pistons and take on fuel.
Since leaving Melbourne on December 5, the Steve Irwin and its 41-strong crew from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society have fruitlessly searched the Southern Ocean for the whalers.
Captain Paul Watson is confident he will find the Japanese this time around, with the boat likely to leave Melbourne today, leaving behind a couple of crew who suffered from seasickness.
He said that this year the Japanese had started whaling in a different area, 3000 kilometres from where the Steve Irwin had been searching. We didn't find that out until recently.
But now that the general location of the Japanese is known, he hopes to disrupt the planned slaughter of about 1000 whales. "If we catch them they'll run from us," Captain Watson said. "We'll just keep them on the run" . . . more
December 26, 2007 -- The Daily Astorian - Oregon, USA online/print news
OSU to ramp up research to save whales
The widow of TV wildlife entertainer Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin will launch a nonlethal whale research program in Antarctic waters next year to prove that Japan's scientific whaling cull is a sham.
Terri Irwin has announced that the whale watching program she started to honor her late husband, who died in a stingray attack off Australia's Great Barrier Reef in September 2006, would expand into scientific research.
"We are working with Oregon State University to do formalized research in the southern hemisphere," said Irwin, who is from Eugene. "We can actually learn everything the Japanese are learning with lethal research by using non-lethal research."
The Newport-based Marine Mammal Institute at OSU will begin studies in the southern and northern hemispheres on a variety of whale species to improve information on their habitats and stock identity, which could eliminate the need for killing whales solely for gathering research data . . . more
December 20, 2007 -- The National Post - Toronto, Canada online/print news
Australia to shadow Antarctic hunt by Japanese whalers
CANBERRA - Australia will send a fisheries patrol ship to shadow Japan's whaling fleet near Antarctica and gather evidence for a possible international court challenge aimed at halting the yearly slaughter.
The icebreaker Oceanic Viking, used for customs and fisheries policing, will leave for the Southern Ocean in days to follow the Japanese fleet, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and Environment Minister Peter Garrett said yesterday.
The decision risks antagonizing Japan's government, which says it will not tolerate interference in the 'scientific" whaling expedition. Japan says the program is necessary to prove that cetacean populations have recovered sufficiently to allow a return to commercial whaling, banned internationally since 1986.
"One of the few issues on which we fundamentally disagree is Japan's policy of undertaking so-called 'scientific whaling" in the face of widespread opposition from the Australian and international community," said a statement from the ministers.
"Australia is determined to play a leading role in international efforts to stop Japan's whaling practices" . . . more
December 19, 2007 -- Brisbane Times - Australia online/print news
Shooting the Slaughter (SEQ snapper trails Japanese whalers)
Thousands of kilometres from the hot Queensland summer a group of the state's frontline animal warriors are in the depths of the Southern Ocean, sailing into battle against the annual Japanese Whale slaughter.
Chantal Henderson, from Cotton Tree on the Sunshine Coast, is on board the flagship vessel of the Sea Sheppard Foundation which was recently renamed to honour Steve Irwin.
"We're doing really well, the crew is in good spirits with the common goal is to stop the slaughter of these whales," she said.
"Being Antarctica it's pretty cold down here but I went out before on the zodiac and it wasn't too bad - but there are icebergs around so it is definitely a bit chilly."
Ms Henderson joined the 41-member crew of the Steve Irwin as the official photographer for the Sea Sheppard Foundation, recording some of the images that will be used as evidence against Japan in a planned International Court case next year . . . more
December 18, 2007 -- ABC News - Australia online/broadcast news
Federal Court due to rule on whaling ban
As the Federal Government decides what to do when Japanese whaling vessels arrive in the Southern Ocean for their annual hunt, it may have to take into account a court ruling on the issue.
Any day now, the Federal Court will hand down a decision on whether the Government should enforce a ban on whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
Before the election, the Labor Party promised to enforce the ban, but it is yet to announce its plan of action.
Meanwhile, in rough waters off the coast of Antarctica, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is on the lookout for Japanese whaling vessels . . . more
December 16, 2007 -- New Zealand Herald - New Zealand online/print news
The whale warriors set sail
It's easy to like Paul Watson. The teddy-bear-faced 57-year-old has a sea dog's shock of white hair and walrus moustache, a rebel leader's expansive charisma and a poet-cum-PR guru's genius for spin. He is the most affable zealot. He is also at war with most of 
humankind.
Born and raised in Canada, Watson now has a place in Washington, but the ocean is his real home. He heads the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the vigilante marine conservation organisation he founded 30 years ago after he was expelled from Greenpeace, which he also co-founded, for being too confrontational towards sealers.
He calls his fleet, which includes three ships, Neptune's Navy. This navy's ultimate enemy is anyone who pillages nature - which, in Watson's eyes, implicates humans" numerous destructive habits and appetites.
But the immediate focus is enforcing the flimsy conventions and laws in place to protect endangered marine life . . . more
December 14, 2007 -- The Australian - Sydney, Australia online/print news
Whale navy plan "could harm ties with Japan"
OPPOSITION Leader Brendan Nelson has warned that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd may be risking Australia's relationship with Japan with his proposal to use the military to monitor Japanese whalers.
Japan has so far kept silent about a plan by the Rudd Government – flagged before the federal election – to use the navy to search for evidence of illegal whaling in Australian waters.
Australia and other nations have long been angered by Japan's continued killing of hundreds of whales in Antarctic waters for so-called research purposes.
This season, Japan is planning to kill 935 minke whales, 50 fin whales and, for the first time in 40 years, 50 humpback whales . . . more
December 14, 2007 -- The Age - Australia online/print news
Rudd drafts plans to spy on whalers
AUSTRALIA is developing plans to monitor Japanese whaling in order to mount international legal action over the controversial Antarctic hunt.
It has also reversed previous government policy and will back a long-running Federal Court case against the hunt.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the Government was considering the best way to collect data to help in a legal case against the fleet.
But with the whaling about to begin, including a 'research" kill of humpback whales that migrate along the Australian coast, anti-whaling groups are calling for urgent diplomatic action.
The Rudd Government went to the election promising to step up pressure over whaling, but has so far declined to spell out its plans. Minister for Defence Joel Fitzgibbon and Attorney-General Robert McClelland have taken advice on how to deal with the whalers . . . more
December 10, 2007 -- Port Macquarie News - Australia online/print news
Keep your hands off Migaloo
The Japanese have their sights set on one of Port Macquarie's favourite visitors, Migaloo the white whale.
Foreign whalers won't give a commitment to spare the endangered humpback from the harpoon as they target the Southern Ocean's whale sanctuary.
In sushi restaurants whale is valued about $90 a kilo. There is a higher price on Migaloo because of his rare albino breed.
But, Australians believe the bright white mammal is worth more to them through his contribution to the country's $300 million-a-year whale-watching industry.
He makes an annual migration north through Australia's eastern waters off Port Macquarie.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society left Melbourne last week on it's fourth mission to save the endangered humbacks from pirate whalers.
The $500,000 trip is called Operation Migaloo . . . more
December 10, 2007 -- The Sydney Morning Herald - Australia online/print news
Apathy in the face of whale slaughter
Illustration: Michael Mucci
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This morning, in the grey swells of the Southern Ocean, a pirate ship will enter the waters of the Australian Antarctic Territory. It is a black ship, bearing a black pirate flag, the Jolly Roger. For the past five days it has sailed south, so that it can take position and wait for its prey.
The prey is expected to arrive on Saturday, the day when Japanese whaling ships, operating under the patronage of the Japanese Government, are scheduled to begin hunting minke whales, humpbacks and fin whales in southern waters. This is an area where Australia has declared an exclusive economic zone extending 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) from the Antarctic coastline in a large swath of Antarctic waters. This is prime whale territory.
Yet the only intimidating presence that stands between the whaling ships and the slaughter of more than a thousand whales - the Japanese have set themselves a quota of 1030 - will be a private ship sailing under a Jolly Roger on which the crossed bones have been replaced by a trident and a shepherd's crook. The shepherd's crook signifies that this ship is operated by Sea Shepherd, the environmental vigilante of the sea . . . more
December 6, 2007 -- Shipping Times - UK online news
Sea Shepherd vessel named in honour of Steve Irwin
Terri Irwin has granted the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society permission to rename its ship currently known as Robert Hunter in honour of her late husband, Steve Irwin.
Captain Paul Watson, founder and president of Sea Shepherd and Terri Irwin officially announced the new name for the ship Steve Irwin at a press conference at 12:00 on December 5th at Victoria Docklands in Melbourne, Australia.
Sea Shepherd said they were proud to partner with Terri Irwin to launch Operation Migaloo as she and Steve have been world renowned for their conservation work. Terri knows that Steve would have been extremely honoured to be acknowledged in this way as he shared Sea Shepherd's passion for saving whales . . . more
December 6, 2007 -- Kiwi FM -- Auckland, New Zealand radio news
Listen to Captain Paul Watson’s first radio interview from the Operation Migaloo campaign! The interview is with Wallace Chapman from Kiwi FM in Auckland, NZ interviewing Captain Watson en route to the Southern Ocean on reasons for naming the ship after Steve Irwin and the Operation Migaloo campaign. (Website: www.kiwifm.co.nz)
MP3 - Duration: 6:06, Filesize: 2.5MB
December 6, 2007 -- Herald Sun - Australia online/print news
Steve Irwin's fighting spirit lives on
TERRI Irwin is awaiting the day she reads the headline 'steve Irwin stops whaling vessel".
And it may happen sooner than later as the Crocodile Hunter's widow yesterday unveiled a new moniker for an anti-whaling ship owned by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
The newly christened Steve Irwin, formerly the Robert Hunter, left Melbourne yesterday bound for Antarctic waters where its crew will attempt to stop Japan's so-called scientific whaling.
With a crew of 41, including 12 Australians, the ship will s
