Ships are expendable, endangered whales species are not

2009-2010 Antarctic Whale Defense Campaign: Operation Waltzing Matilda

After three long weary and dramatic months upon the most remote and hostile seas in the world, the Sea Shepherd ships Steve Irwin and Bob Barker were welcomed by crowds of cheering supporters in the port of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, on Saturday, March 6^th, 2010.

Sea Shepherd just completed the most ambitious and effective campaign to defend the great whales that we have ever undertaken and Operation Waltzing Matilda, the sixth voyage to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to oppose the illegal whaling activities of the Japanese whaling fleet, was astoundingly effective.

For three straight weeks from February 5th until February 26th we prevented the entire Japanese whaling fleet from killing a single whale. The month before, we had shut the whalers down for twelve days giving us thirty-three solid whaling-free days, which is one-third of their whaling season. In addition, our actions forced the harpoon vessels Shonan Maru 2 and the Yushin Maru 3 to break off from whaling activities to serve as security vessels to oppose Sea Shepherd interventions, and this prevented these two vessels from killing whales for almost the entire season.

We will not know the final results until the Japanese whaling fleet reports back to Tokyo in April, but we cut the kill quotas nearly in half during the three previous years and this year was much more effective, so the results promise to be very satisfying.  We know we have cost the whalers tens of millions of dollars in lost profits.

But this achievement was not without cost. We lost one of our three ships when our newly acquired, fast interceptor boat Ady Gil was deliberately rammed and cut in half by the Japanese harpoon vessel Shonan Maru 2. The six crewmembers of the Ady Gil narrowly escaped the collision with their lives and the $1.5 million USD, high-tech trimaran Ady Gil sank and was lost.

This is, of course, something not unexpected when we deliberately sail our vessels into harm’s way to defend the whales from their remorseless killers. Our view is that ships are expendable, and that endangered species of whales are not.

The Ady Gil was, in fact, so effective in disrupting whaling operations that after only two days on January 6th, the Japanese whalers made the decision to destroy it in a cowardly act. The Ady Gil was struck while idling in the water. The Shonan Maru 2 made an abrupt and deliberate turn to strike the Ady Gil at full speed while all the time aiming their high-powered water cannons and long-range acoustic weapons on the Ady Gil crew.

Later in the campaign, we lost one of our crew when the Japanese whalers took Captain Peter Bethune of the Ady Gil as a prisoner. He had courageously boarded the Shonan Maru 2 undercover of darkness while the harpoon vessel was underway at 15 knots. He managed to make his way past the formidable anti-boarding spikes and nets on the whaling vessel – and he did so completely undetected. He stayed on the Shonan Maru 2 for over an hour and a half waiting for the sunrise so that our helicopter could be overhead filming when he calmly walked up to the bridge wing door. He knocked and calmly presented a citizen’s arrest warrant and an invoice for the value of his sunken ship to the Japanese whaling captain responsible for the criminal and reckless act.

As a result Captain Bethune was seized and taken prisoner – the first New Zealander to be taken as a prisoner of war from the Southern Ocean to Japan.

Amazingly, the Japanese harpoon vessel Shonan Maru 2 left the fleet for the express purpose of taking Captain Bethune back on the month-long voyage to Japan at enormous expense, and even more importantly, it meant that it would not be able to continue participating in whaling operations. By that act alone, Captain Bethune saved dozens of whales. The Shonan Maru 2 is scheduled to arrive in Japan in mid-March, and Sea Shepherd has arranged for expert legal representation for Captain Bethune upon his arrival.

Despite the escalated aggressiveness of the Japanese whalers this year, Sea Shepherd crew was able to disrupt the whale slaughter without causing a single injury to any of the whalers.

We had a powerful secret weapon this year. Thanks to the generosity of American television personality Bob Barker, we were able to purchase a former Norwegian Antarctic whaling ship in Africa. We moved it to Mauritius and quietly prepared it for departure on December 18th for the Southern Ocean.

The Steve Irwin had departed from Fremantle in Western Australia on December 7th and the Ady Gil departed from Tasmania leaving Hobart on December 18th.

The deployment of the Bob Barker effectively countered the Japanese tactic of putting a tail onto the Steve Irwin that prevented our flagship from closing in on the whaling fleet because our position was being relayed in real time to the Nisshin Maru enabling them to avoid us. The Steve Irwin was forced to return to Tasmania to lose the tail. When we returned, the Yushin Maru 3 was assigned to search for the Steve Irwin, at the same time the Bob Barker moved eastward along the ice edge and disguised as a Norwegian whaler moved in on the whaling fleet taking them totally by surprise.

The Bob Barker would have been able to stick with the whaling fleet for all of January if not for the deliberate ramming and destruction of the Ady Gil by the Shonan Maru 2 which forced the Bob Barker to stop to rescue our crew on the Ady Gil.

This season marks the third year for the television series coverage of our Antarctic Whale Defense Campaigns. The Animal Planet show “Whale Wars” caught all of the drama of the conflicts and skirmishes in high definition, so there can be no doubt as to what is going down in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary this year.

In February, the Bob Barker was deliberately rammed by the Yushin Maru 3 and suffered a one-meter gash in the hull on the port stern side. The crew was able to make emergency repairs.

Sea Shepherd crew battled the whalers with water cannons, rotten butter stink bombs, and succeeded in painting over the bogus “RESEARCH” signs on the sides of the ship with blood red paint.

Our campaigns have indeed become a war to save the whales in every sense. From the water cannon battles between our ships, to the high-level diplomatic showdowns between Australia and New Zealand and Japan, this battle is being fought in many levels and in many places. With ships being rammed and sunk, and prisoners of war being taken back to Japan, the conflict was more intense this year than ever before.

But it is down in these cold and remote seas off the icebound coast of Antarctica where Sea Shepherd ships and crew are making the most significant difference by actually saving the lives of hundreds of whale and costing the outlaw whalers from Japan tens of millions of dollars in lost profits.

We also scored major political and media victories. The campaign was covered extensively in all international media and especially in Japan. The polls in Australia saw us receiving a 91% approval for our campaigns. This incredible public support in Australia finally forced Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to make good on his campaign promise to take legal action against Japanese whaling activities.

Now that Operation Waltzing Matilda has been the most effective anti-whaling campaign ever mounted by Sea Shepherd, we must address new strategies and new tactics in preparation of taking our ships back to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in December 2010 to oppose the Japanese pirate whalers once again should they return to those waters.

Our objective is simple – we need to sink the Japanese whaling fleet economically, we need to bankrupt them. It really is the only language that the whalers understand – profit and loss, and our job is to boost their losses and lower their profits.

The secret to success is to never surrender and to never give up the fight and to continue to hit the killers hard year after year until they are bankrupt and politically and economically forced to call it quits.

Intelligence willfully destroyed to read books
Moby Dick read by the light of burning whales,
Without a thought, blind to the connections
By death’s bright light, is read another book
Thou shalt not kill is one of the lying tales.
We define what is right by biased selections
- Captain Paul Watson, “Planet of Whales”

The Antarctic Treaty clearly prohibits any activity the damages the Antarctic marine and atmospheric eco-systems.

The slaughter of whales by the Japanese whalers is not only a violation of the Treaty that prohibits commercial activity, it is also a factor in releasing large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere by removing whales as significant repositories of carbon.

And thus Japanese whaling is an activity that Japan should be factoring in on their calculations for greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol.

The whales are to the ocean what trees are to the land, both whales and trees store carbon by the ton.

Last week at an Ocean Science meeting held in Portland, Maine, scientists revealed their estimates of carbon released by whaling.

In nature, when whales die, the carbon in their bodies is sequestered in the deep ocean. Whaling by humans however releases that carbon into the atmosphere. According to scientists the last century of commercial whaling has released some 100 million tons of carbon in the Earth’s atmosphere.

According to a recent news article in the BBC:

Dr. Andrew Pershing from the University of Maine described whales as the "forests of the ocean."

Dr. Pershing and his colleagues from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute calculated the annual carbon-storing capacity of whales as they grew.

"Whales, like any animal or plant on the planet, are made out of a lot of carbon," he said. “And when you kill and remove a whale from the ocean, that's removing carbon from this storage system and sending it into the atmosphere."

He pointed out that, particularly in the early days of whaling, the animals were a source of lamp oil, which was burned, releasing the carbon directly into the air.

"And this marine system is unique because when whales die [naturally], their bodies sink, so they take that carbon down to the bottom of the ocean. "If they die where it's deep enough, it will be [stored] out of the atmosphere perhaps for hundreds of years."

In their initial calculations, the scientists calculated that 100 years of whaling had released an amount of carbon equivalent to burning 130,000 sq km of temperate forests, or to driving 128,000 Humvees continuously for 100 years.

Dr. Pershing stressed that this was still a relatively tiny amount when compared to the billions of tons produced by human activity every year. He said that whales undertook an important role in storing and transporting carbon in the marine ecosystem.

Simply leaving large groups of whales to grow, Pershing said, could "sequester" the greenhouse gas, in amounts that were comparable to some of the reforestation schemes that earn and sell carbon credits.

In addition, according to the BBC:

He suggested that a similar system of carbon credits could be applied to whales in order to protect and rebuild their stocks.

"The idea would be to do a full accounting of how much carbon you could store in a fully populated stock of fish or whales, and allow countries to sell their fish quota as carbon credits," he explained.

"You could use those credits as an incentive to reduce the fishing pressure or to promote the conservation of some of these species."

Other scientists said that he had raised an exciting and interesting problem.

Professor Daniel Costa, a marine animal researcher from the University of California, Santa Cruz, told BBC News: "So many more groups are looking at the importance of these large animals in the carbon cycle.

"And it's one of those things that, when you look at it, you think: ' This is so obvious, why didn't we think of this before?’”

Dr. Pershing pointed out that whales, with their huge size, were more efficient than smaller animals at storing carbon. He said that the marine carbon credit idea could be applied to other very large marine animals, including endangered Bluefin tuna and white sharks.

Dr Pershing said, "These are huge and they are top predators, so unless they're fished they would be likely to take their biomass to the bottom of the ocean when they die."

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society should receive carbon credits for every whale we prevented from being killed this year and over the past five years.

Not only is saving whales a good thing for the whales, it’s also a good thing for the planet and ultimately that means it’s a good thing for humanity.

1800 Hours: Perth and Fremantle
100 Hours: Sydney and Hobart
0200 Hours: (PST) Friday Harbor and Los Angeles

Captain Paul Watson has ordered the Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker to disengage from further pursuit of the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru and to set a course for Hobart, Tasmania.

“The Bob Barker has a fuel valve problem that has a potential to cause an engine breakdown,” said Captain Paul Watson, “I can’t risk leaving the Bob Barker down on the coast of Antarctica without the Steve Irwin as back-up to assist. Therefore, I felt the safest thing to do was to end the campaign and recall the ship to port. Both ships have done an awesome job this year. We’ve hurt the Japanese whaling fleet more this year than any year before.”

The decision to officially break off the engagement as of midnight marks three full weeks that the Japanese whaling fleet has been unable to kill a single whale.

Only two more weeks remain in the whaling season. By the time the whalers regroup and deal with the weather, they will not be able to recoup their losses.

“When we add these three weeks to the two days of interventions by the Nisshin Maru and the 8-10 days that the entire fleet ran 2,500 miles to the West in January, it means a shutdown of an entire month. Add to this the days lost to bad weather, and the fact that two harpoon vessels spent weeks tailing Sea Shepherd ships, and with the Shonan Maru 2 out of the picture and on it’s way to Japan with Captain Peter Bethune as a prisoner, it spells financial disaster for Japan’s whaling fleet,” said Captain Paul Watson. “Operation Waltzing Matilda has been our most successful campaign in the six year history of our interventions in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. We have done the best job possible with the resources available to us, and I am confident that we have prevented the slaughter of hundreds of whales.”

The Sea Shepherd’s Steve Irwin is scheduled to arrive back in Hobart on March 6th. The Bob Barker will follow a few days later.

Sea Shepherd will now arrange a legal defense for Captain Peter Bethune in Japan.

The Steve Irwin is scheduled to depart on March 16th for the Mediterranean to oppose Bluefin tuna poachers.

10:00 Hours (Perth & Fremantle)
13:00 Hours (Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart)
18:00 Hours (PST) Friday Harbor and Los Angeles

Position of the Steve Irwin:  62 Degrees 21 Minutes South.  92 Degrees 56 Minutes East

The Shonan Maru 2 transporting Sea Shepherd prisoner Captain Peter Bethune is heading towards the Lombok Strait at 12 knots and is at a position 450 kilometers west of the Exmouth Lighthouse.

This position was relayed from observations by private yachts reporting to the Taz Patrol and posted on Twitter.

It is estimated that Captain Peter Bethune will arrive in Tokyo by mid-March. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is preparing for legal representation for Captain Bethune upon his arrival.

This is the first time that a New Zealander has been transported as a prisoner of war to Japan since World War II.

The Bob Barker is engaged with skirmishes with the Yushin Maru 3 as it continues to block whaling operations in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

The Steve Irwin is en route to Hobart, returning for fuel and to prepare for departure to the Mediterranean to protect Bluefin tuna.

Today marks 20 straight days that whales have not been slaughtered in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary due to interventions by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

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In the Southern Ocean today, at approximately 1200 (AEST), the Sea Shepherd vessel M/Y Bob Barker encountered the Yushin Maru 3, an illegal Japanese whale killing ship.  The Yushin Maru 3 is the same vessel that intentionally rammed into the Bob Barker 19 days ago as the Sea Shepherd ship found the Japanese fleet for the second time and reinitiated the blockade of the Nisshan Maru—which functions as Japan’s illegal water-borne whale slaughterhouse.

For nearly three weeks now, Sea Shepherd has halted the Japanese whale slaughter, which Japanese politicians and publicists claim is for research purposes despite the fact that the data collected is of no value to any independent scientific body.

Bob Barker picking up netting

This is the first time in many days that Sea Shepherd activists have seen any ship in the illegal fleet other than the Nisshin Maru—and they were quick to take action.  As the Bob Barker gave chase, they deployed a small inflatable boat which caught up with the Yushin Maru 3 and despite the whale killers’ use of water cannons and maneuvers through ice flows to try to discourage the five brave activists in the small boat, many stink bombs (made with rotten butter) successfully landed on the decks of the Yushin Maru 3.

Chuck Swift, Captain of the M/Y Bob Barker, said, “Our small boat crew did a spectacular job today.  They acted bravely and, while not posing any physical danger to anyone, sent a strong (and strong smelling) message to these whale poachers: We will not tolerate your illegal actions.”

The stink bombs, composed of butyric acid, are less acidic than vinegar or orange juice, but the smell is extremely strong and pungent—and very uncomfortable to work around.

Andrea Gordon, a US citizen voluntarily serving as Boson’s Mate on the M/Y Bob Barker, stated, “We will not allow the illegal killing of whales in our presence.  Now, even if the Yushin Maru 3 manages to move out of our range, they will have a difficult time performing their illegal work.  We feel very good about that.”

After their encounter with the illegal whale killer, the crew of the Bob Barker turned their attention to some illegal gill nets in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.  After carefully inspecting the buoys for proper markings—and discovering none—the crew worked until 0200 removing the buoys and confiscating the nets.

credit: Glenn Lockitch / Sea Shepherd

Reports that Sea Shepherd supports shooting Japanese whale poachers are inaccurate.

“The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has never used firearms and has no intention of using firearms against illegal whalers,” said Captain Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd president and founder. “We are proud of our record of never causing an injury to any person in our entire history. We may be aggressive, obstructive, and we may damage harpoons, nets, and longlines used by poachers, but we have never, and will never, injure a human being.”

The reports originated from statements made by Mr. Ady Gil, who said that elephant poachers are shot in East Africa for illegally killing elephants and speculated that whale poachers deserved to be shot also.

Mr. Gil is a supporter of Sea Shepherd, and as an individual, he is free to express any viewpoint he so wishes.  However, Mr. Gil does not speak for Sea Shepherd or serve as a representative or spokesperson in any official capacity.  Therefore, any opinions expressed by Mr. Gil are his own personal opinions and not the opinions of Sea Shepherd.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is an anti-poaching organization specializing in opposition to illegal activities that exploit marine wildlife species. The organization has a policy of nonviolence and working within the boundaries of international conservation law. In its 33-year history, Sea Shepherd has never inflicted any injuries to any person nor has any Sea Shepherd activist ever been convicted of a felony crime.

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After 18 days of chasing and preventing the illegal Japanese whaling fleet from killing any whales, the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin broke off to return to Hobart, Tasmania. They are scheduled to arrive on March 6th. “We have reached our limit on fuel reserves,” said Captain Paul Watson, “We have no choice but to return. We have just enough fuel to get home.”

With the Steve Irwin dropping out of the chase, the Japanese whaling fleet still has a problem. The Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker has sufficient fuel to continue chasing the whaling fleet for most of the remaining days in the season. The Bob Barker is presently pursuing the Nisshin Maru through ice packs heading into the Cooperation Sea. Sea Shepherd is assuming that the three harpoon vessels of the fleet are waiting to the South for the factory ship to rejoin them. “Each day we prevent the killing of a whale is a victory for us,” said Captain Chuck Swift of the Bob Barker, “My crew are committed to staying down here as long as possible to block their illegal whaling operations. They don’t have much time left and with that time left, they will see the Bob Barker on their tail defending the whales.”

The Institute for Cetacean Research in Japan is reporting that Togo has stripped the Bob Barker of the Togo flag. “If it is true, then it is interesting that Japan has been informed but Sea Shepherd has not. That indicates that Japan put pressure on Togo to remove the flag,” said Captain Paul Watson, “We did expect to lose the flag because Togo is one of Japan’s puppet nations selling their vote to the Japanese at the International Whaling Commission. We registered the ship purposely in Togo for the purpose of exposing the Japanese imperialistic relationship to Togo. We got the flag from Togo the same way that Japan got Togo’s vote.”

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society had already begun the process of reflagging the Bob Barker in anticipation of Togo removing the flag. “We’ve got the Japanese running around the globe trying to deflag our vessels and spinning tall tails about our “piratical” maneuvers against their fleet of whale poachers,” said Captain Paul Watson, “But the story is getting bigger, and every day we expose the truth about the illegalities of Japan’s whaling operations in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Most importantly we are cutting their kill quotas and costing them tens of millions of dollars in profits. Our objective is to bankrupt them and I am confident that we will be able to sink them economically.” Sea Shepherd’s Operation Waltzing Matilda has been our most successful whale defense campaigns yet. Sea Shepherd expects to prevent the killing of more whales this season than on the previous five campaigns.

Captain Peter Bethune continues to be held prisoner on the Japanese vessel Shonan Maru #2 and is being taken back to Japan. He will be the first New Zealand citizen since World War II to be transported as a prisoner from the Southern Ocean to Japan.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society opposes any compromise deal that will allow continued whaling in the Southern Ocean. “The only reason the Japanese are getting offers of compromise is because they are a wealthy powerful nation and that gives special dispensation to poachers from Japan,” said Captain Paul Watson, “I can’t see the world compromising with elephant poachers in East Africa or bush meat traders in West Africa. African poachers are jailed or shot. Japanese poachers do whatever they like, wherever they like, whenever they like, and the governments of the world step back for fear of offending Japan. It’s humiliating, cowardly, and pathetic that the signatory nations to conservation treaties and regulations allow the poachers to call the shots.”

Since February 6^th, the Sea Shepherd ships Steve Irwin and Bob Barker have had the Japanese whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru under constant pursuit. The chase has covered 5,100 miles going in every possible direction without any clear destination.

"The whalers seem to be practicing ‘spin the bottle’ navigation," said Sea Shepherd helicopter pilot Chris Aultman, "At different set times of the day, the course is changed as if the officer coming on watch simply spins a bottle and goes in that direction."

Yesterday, the Nisshin Maru led the Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker down a dead-end corridor between massive icebergs straight into a dense floe of ice. The Nisshin Maru ventured into the ice, and the two Sea Shepherd ships followed. After hours of getting stuck and going nowhere, the Nisshin Maru backtracked and left the ice field the way it went in. The Nisshin Maru had then headed North, then West, and this morning decided to head East again.

"From their maneuvers it is obvious that the Japanese are not very experienced with ice navigation,” said Steve Irwin First Officer Locky MacLean, “Our Captain is a very experienced ice navigator so leading us into the ice to attempt to shake us off is like tossing Br’er rabbit into the briar patch. We’re right at home in the ice, the whalers obviously are not.”

The Nisshin Maru is riding very high in the water. The depth marker on the bow is showing less than two meters. It was four meters when the pursuit started. They have used a great deal of fuel in this pursuit and it does not appear that they have a great amount of whale meat onboard.

“There is approximately three weeks left in the whaling season before the weather turns nastier than it is now,” said Captain Paul Watson on the Steve Irwin, “We will be able to stay with the fleet into March. I am confident that our objective of cutting kill quotas in half will be achieved.”

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The Sea Shepherd ships Steve Irwin and Bob Barker have now had the illegal Japanese whaling processing ship, Nisshin Maru, on the run for two weeks. No whales have has been killed since February 5th.

Three weeks remain in the whaling season, and the Sea Shepherd ships have fuel reserves to continue the chase. The Bob Barker was refitted prior to purchase and has fuel capacity four times what it was designed for.

“I believe the continued running of the Nisshin Maru from East to West and back East again is their attempt to run us out of fuel,” said Captain Paul Watson, “I think they are now surprised that we are still on their tail and continuing to disrupt their illegal whaling operations.” With the Shonan Maru No. 2 disengaged to transport Captain Peter Bethune to Japan, this removes the fourth harpoon boat from the fleet.

“I think we can guarantee now that the Japanese whaling fleet will fail to get their kill quota by 30% to 55% based on past observations of Sea Shepherd disruptions,” said Captain Watson, “They will not be seeing any profits for this season.”

Mr. Masayuki Komatsu, the former Japanese whaling commissioner who once referred to Minke whales as the “cockroaches” of the sea, has warned Japan not to retreat from whaling in Antarctica because it would be handing a decisive victory for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. “Our minister said that they are going to retreat from Antarctica, Sea Shepherd must be happier," Komatsu said.

“If the only reason that Japan wishes to continue whaling is because they refuse to be seen backing down from Sea Shepherd than that is truly pathetic and extremely petty on the part of the Japanese government,” said Captain Watson, “What Komatsu is really saying is that we are humiliating Japan by effectively disrupting their illegal poaching activities. If it’s now all about saving face now that they’ve already lost, then they should retreat while they still have half a face left.”

The Sea Shepherd ships will be pursuing the Japanese fleet this weekend during the visit to Australia by Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada.

The Japanese fleet is staying just outside the boundaries of the Australian Antarctic Territorial waters (EEZ) most likely for diplomatic reason during the Okada visit. This move can be viewed as an unofficial recognition of the EEZ. In 2008, the Australian Federal Court ruled that Japan could not kill whales inside the waters of the EEZ. The Japanese whaling fleet is in contempt of that Federal Court order.

Extra funds to support ongoing project to protect the Galapagos Marine Reserve

On February 4th, 2010, at the Goed Geld Gala in Utrecht, the Netherlands, the Dutch National Postcode Lottery not only donated the annual amount of half a million Euros, they also handed over an additional check worth €1 million to Geert Vons, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s General Director of the Netherlands and Alex Cornelissen, Director of Operations, Galapagos. The extra funds will support a specific project in Sea Shepherd's ongoing efforts to protect the Galapagos, a UN World Heritage Site.

Despite clear rules and legislation, commercial fisheries are still exploiting the legally protected Galapagos Marine Reserve. In particular, the illegal finning of sharks, the catching of tuna, marlin and other illegal poaching activities form a serious threat for the Galapagos Marine Reserve.

With this special project funding, Sea Shepherd will both logistically and financially support the local authorities to protect this delicate and unique ecosystem. A primary goal of this project is to set up an “Automatic Identification System” for vessels. This will enable all the authorities and organizations involved to monitor illegally operating fishing vessels and to act instantly to enforce exiting regulations.

The Dutch National Postcode Lottery funding has made this project to stop illegal poaching possible, thus enabling Sea Shepherd to better protect the Galapagos Marine Reserve. Sea Shepherd is extremely grateful for the support it has received.

Since 1989, the Dutch National Postcode Lottery has donated almost €3 billion to support good causes. This year, 75 social and environmental organizations will receive €513 million from the Dutch National Postcode Lottery.

It has been two weeks since the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society located the Japanese whaling fleet and shut down illegal whaling operations in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. The Sea Shepherd ships Steve Irwin and Bob Barker continue to pursue the illegal Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru despite a blizzard, heavy winds and mammoth swells.

“The conditions are horrendous,” said Steve Irwin 1st Officer Locky MacLean,“It’s a challenge but one that we are handling with ease. Try as they might to head into the wind and seas, they have not been able to shake us off.”

In the rough conditions, the Nisshin Maru attempted to turn on the Steve Irwin a couple of times and almost caused a collision but the Sea Shepherd ships are quite easily avoiding their reckless maneuvers.

All illegal whaling operations have been shut down since February 5^th. The Sea Shepherd ships are achieving their objective of cutting Japanese whaling fleet profits and the lethal kill quota.

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After we escorted the whalers out of the whales’ safe haven for more than 7 days, the Japanese whale processing vessel Nisshin Maru re-entered the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary this morning.

Our vessel Steve Irwin warned them in Japanese that they were illegally entering a whale sanctuary. The Steve Irwin began to circle the Nisshin Maru causing the massive Japanese factory ship to stop dead in the water at 60 degrees 10 Minutes South and 76 Degrees 45 Minutes East. In calm waters with slight snow flurries and surrounded by icebergs, the Nisshin Maru has been stopped for two hours.

The objective of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is to shut down illegal Japanese whaling operations, so we are quite pleased with this development. Due to our efforts, the Japanese whaling fleet has not killed one whale since February 5th.

With the Nisshin Maru stopped in the water and the Steve Irwin circling, a pod of Humpback whales surfaced between the two ships to take a look. The crew of the Steve Irwin cheered with joy to see the whales they are protecting swimming freely and without danger of being killed.

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Crikey! And now for something completely different.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society always likes to inject a little humor into our campaigns and today we decided to do just that.

As a tribute to the late and legendary Steve Irwin for whom the Sea Shepherd flagship is named, the crew of the Steve Irwin delivered dozens of crocodile eggs onto the flensing deck of the Nisshin Maru.

Each of these eggs was sponsored by Sea Shepherd supporters on shore who paid $50 to inscribe a message on the outside of the egg. When these eggs make contact with water, a baby crocodile emerges from the egg and expands rapidly.

A few of the eggs were signed with messages from Terri, Bindi and Robert Irwin.

“I cannot think of anything more appropriate for the Steve Irwin to toss onto the bloody flensing decks of the Nisshin Maru than crocodile eggs and baby crocs.” Said Captain Paul Watson.

Of course these baby crocs and their eggs are not real. We can just see the Japanese trying to accuse Sea Shepherd of cruelty to animals for this action and they probably will since they can’t seem to tell the difference between fact and fiction.

“Before his tragic death Steve wanted to join us in our efforts to defend the whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary,” said Captain Paul Watson. “Because of that, we asked Terri Irwin for permission to name our ship in his honour.”

The croc delivery went very well. Japanese water cannons provided the moisture to crack the eggs and to release the expanding crocs onto the deck of the Nisshin Maru.

“Steve would have loved this,” said 3rd Officer Vincent Hayes of Williamstown, Victoria.

So down here in the Southern Ocean today - Crocs rule!

We love you Steve!

photos credit: Barbara Veiga / Sea Shepherd

The Japanese government has said they will have Captain Peter Bethune of New Zealand taken to Japan to be tried on unknown charges in a Japanese court.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Captain Peter Bethune were prepared for this possibility prior to the boarding of the Shonan Maru #2 by Captain Bethune.

“Captain Peter Bethune’s $3 million dollar vessel the Ady Gil was rammed, sunk and destroyed by the Captain of the Shonan Maru #2. The incident injured one of the six crewmembers and could have killed all six,” said Captain Paul Watson, “Captain Bethune was entirely in his rights to confront the man who almost killed him and destroyed his ship. And now this same Japanese captain who destroyed a ship almost killing its crew is intent on bringing Captain Bethune back to Japan as his captive. The question must be asked - who are the pirates here?”   

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society sees this as an opportunity to rally support for Captain Peter Bethune in New Zealand and Australia. These Japanese poachers plunder the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary with impunity and now they are hauling a courageous Kiwi hero to the Land of the Rising Sun to crucify him for defending the whales.

Captain Peter Bethune is no longer just a man who set a world record in boating and had the courage to defend the whales. He will now be the very symbol of the citizens of New Zealand and Australia and their love for the great whales.

The last time a Kiwi was taken prisoner to Japan was in their great war of imperialism when they attempted to enslave both Australia and New Zealand. They have now returned to plunder Australian and New Zealand waters and once again they are arrogantly flaunting the law and taking prisoners.

“I don’t think that Australian and New Zealanders are going to tolerate the abuse of Peter Bethune by the thugs from Japan who annually plunder the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary for profit in the name of research,” said Steve Irwin Chief Cook Laura Dakin of Canberra.

“If the Japanese put Peter Bethune on trial in Japan, it will be a case that will draw the attention of the world,” said Captain Paul Watson, “What is the Japanese government thinking? The persecution of Captain Peter Bethune will a rallying point for an international campaign to free Captain Bethune and to end the brutal illegal slaughter of the whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is concerned that Peter Bethune may have been hurt after he entered the wheelhouse of the Japanese whaling fleet security vessel Shonan Maru #2.

Glen Inwood, the spokesperson in New Zealand for the Institute of Cetacean Research has reported that Captain Bethune cut his hand while boarding the Shonan Maru #2 and was receiving medical treatment from the ship’s doctor.

“This is very strange,” reported Captain Paul Watson on the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin. “We spoke with Pete after he boarded and we were in contact with him for an hour and a half after he boarded until he entered the wheelhouse of the Shonan Maru #2. He reported that he had not received any injuries during the boarding. We are now quite concerned as to how this injury reported by Glen Inwood was received because we know for a fact it was not received during the boarding of the whaling vessel.”

The Sea Shepherd Conservation is not surprised that New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has taken Japan’s side over the interests of one of his own citizens.

“Obviously trade relations between Japan and New Zealand take priority over the rights of a New Zealand citizen.” Said Captain Paul Watson. “New Zealand has done nothing in response to the deliberate sinking of a New Zealand registered vessel. Captain Bethune had no other option than to press for his rights as a citizen knowing that his government could not be counted on to represent his interests.”

Prime Minister John Key made a statement while condemning the Sea Shepherd action. He said. "I believe there is a way through this over time. That will require some goodwill on both sides and I just don't know if that's possible but that's got to be the long term solution."

Keys says he is worried the incident will mar otherwise good diplomatic and trade relations with Japan.

Captain Watson responded to Key's statement by saying, “The whales don’t have the luxury of time and when has time been a factor in the enforcement of the law. These whalers are poachers and you don’t deal with criminals with long-term solutions. This is like telling bank robbers that we will negotiate with them until they agree to stop robbing banks. Key’s needs to stop whoring his country out to the Japanese and he needs to understand that a Japanese poacher deliberately rammed and destroyed a New Zealand vessel and now is holding a New Zealand citizen hostage onboard a Japanese whale poaching ship.”

At 0630 Hours, Sea Shepherd Captain Peter Bethune of the vessel Ady Gil, which was sunk by the Japanese security ship Shonan Maru 2, boarded the whaling ship to conduct a citizen’s arrest of the skipper of the Shonan Maru 2.

Captain Bethune boarded the whaling ship under cover of darkness from a Jet Ski as the Shonan Maru 2 was traveling at 14 knots in the Southern Ocean. His first attempt failed when he fell into the frigid waters, but despite this the crew of the Shonan Maru 2 failed to see him and he successfully boarded the whaler without detection.

Captain Bethune’s breaching the security of the whaling fleet security vessel remained undetected for one and a half hours.

At 0800 Hours, once the sun had risen, Captain Bethune calmly knocked on the bridge wing door, entered the wheelhouse, and presented himself to the Captain of Shonan Maru 2 where he informed the skipper that he was under arrest for the sinking of the Sea Shepherd ship Ady Gil on January 6th, 2010.

All radio communications with Peter Bethune ceased at 0805. The Shonan Maru 2 did acknowledge that Bethune was onboard.

The Sea Shepherd ships Steve Irwin and Bob Barker continue to pursue the Japanese whaling ship Nisshin Maru eastward across the Southern Ocean. The ships are presently south of Australia’s Heard Island.

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credit JoAnne McArthur / Sea Shepherd

At 0629 Hours (Perth Time), New Zealand Captain Pete Bethune of the recently sunk Sea Shepherd vessel Ady Gil breached the Japanese government security ship Shonan Maru 2 and successfully boarded the vessel under cover of darkness.

His mission is to attempt a citizen’s arrest of the skipper of the Shonan Maru 2 for the destruction of the Ady Gil and attempted murder of the six Ady Gil crewmembers.

At 0600 Hours, Captain Bethune (of New Zealand) left the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin on a Jet Ski driven Larry Routledge (of Great Britain).

The Jet Ski lay in wait for the Shonan Maru 2 to approach. With the Japanese vessel making 14 knots through the water, Routledge maneuvered the Jet Ski into position under the anti-boarding spikes along the port side of the Shonan Maru 2.

Captain Bethune made the jump and climbed onboard the whaling ship without being noticed. Captain Bethune is presently onboard the Shonan Maru 2 awaiting sunrise to make his presence known.

Captain Bethune also has a bill for $3 million dollars to present to the Master of the Shonan Maru 2. The bill is for the cost of replacing the Ady Gil.

Captain Bethune will be demanding that the Shonan Maru 2 Captain surrender himself to Sea Shepherd or take his ship to the nearest Australian or New Zealand port to turn himself in to legal authorities.

Captain Bethune will make it clear that he does not wish to return to a Sea Shepherd ship without the Captain of the Shonan Maru 2.

Sea Shepherd anticipates that the Japanese will hold Captain Bethune as prisoner onboard the Shonan Maru 2.

“This was an impossible mission,” said Captain Paul Watson. “Captain Bethune boarded a Japanese whaling fleet security ship at high speed in total darkness, breached the spikes and anti-boarding nets and is presently onboard and the Japanese crew are still not aware that he is there. He is there to demand justice for the sinking of his ship.”

Letter to Shonan Maru

Invoice for the Ady Gil

The crews of the Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker celebrated Valentine's Day by painting the Research sign on the side of the Nisshan Maru with red paint. The paint represented the blood of the whales, exposing the bogus nature of so-called research by the Japanese whaling vessels.

The word "research" is in English and not Japanese, because the Japanese fully understand that the whaling is a commercial operation. It is only the West that the Japanese whalers are trying to fool.

The Japanese whalers have not killed a whale for ten days now because of Sea Shepherd’s intervention.

The Japanese Institute for Cetacean Research has accused Sea Shepherd of harassing the fleet each day. Of course Sea Shepherd is harassing the fleet. We did not come down here to hang banners.

Sea Shepherd ships have a single objection - to cut kill quotas inflicted by the illegal poaching operations of the Japanese whaling fleet.

For those who accuse Sea Shepherd of being criminals, Captain Paul Watson has only this to say: "If we are criminals, either arrest us or shut the hell up. I'm getting pretty fed up with whiners who can't back up their ridiculous accusations with the law. Cite a law that we have broken, cite a violation. The truth is that there have been no violations and we have not been charged with a single criminal act or maritime violation in six years of opposing these poachers."

Sea Shepherd, on the other hand, can cite laws, such as: the regulations of the International Whaling Commission, the Antarctic Treaty, the Law of the Sea, and an Australian Federal Court order prohibiting Japanese whaling in the Australian Antarctic Territorial waters.

Japanese whalers are barred from entering Australian and New Zealand waters. Sea Shepherd ships are not barred. Japanese whalers are barred from Indonesian waters. Sea Shepherd ships are not. If a Japanese whaling ship enters an Australian or New Zealand port it will be arrested. Sea Shepherd ships are not arrested.

So who indeed are the criminals? The poachers illegally killing endangered and protected whales inside the boundaries of an established international Whale Sanctuary, in violation of a global moratorium on whaling, and in contempt of an Australian Federal Court order, OR the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which is simply trying to stop these illegal activities, and doing so in a responsible manner without causing injuries or breaking the law?

Tomorrow marks the 70th day since the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin departed Fremantle to begin Operation Waltzing Matilda.

"This is a long protracted campaign involving three vessels coming from three different countries under different flags and with volunteers from 18 nations. We are navigating the most remote and hostile waters in the world and we are opposing an increasingly aggressive opposition. We have lost one ship and had another damaged. But, we are cutting their kill quotas and costing them their profits and thus Operation Waltzing Matilda has been a success," said Captain Watson. "We will not retreat and we will never surrender the whales of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to the poachers from Japan."

credit: Barbara Veiga / Sea Shepherd

“If Japanese Fisheries Minister Hirotaka Akamatsu has any sense of honor and dignity he will apologize for the lies that the Institute of Cetacean Research have made in accusing Sea Shepherd of injuring three Japanese whalers on February 11^th,” said Paul Watson, the Captain of the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin.

Japan's Fisheries Minister Hirotaka Akamatsu publicly condemned Sea Shepherd and told reporters on Friday, "I am full of rage. I could not believe they did such a thing."

“Well, Mr. Alamatsu, we did not do such a thing, and we have the documentation to prove that the injuries suffered by the three crewmembers on the Shonan Maru 2 were self inflicted,” said Captain Watson.

The video taken by Sea Shepherd provides irrefutable evidence that the three Japanese crewmembers were overcome with pepper spray that they had sprayed into the wind in their attempt to fire the chemical irritant at Sea Shepherd crew in an inflatable boat.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has an unblemished record of never having caused a single injury and this video evidence absolves Sea Shepherd of any blame in this incident and will expose the fact that the Institute for Cetacean Research and the crew of the Shonan Maru 2 deliberately fabricated the story that they were injured by the rotten butter bombs tossed on the deck by Sea Shepherd crew.

Rotten butter is butyric acid but it is less acidic than beer, is non-corrosive, non-toxic, organic, and biodegradable. It does not irritate skin or eyes but it does stink. The pepper spray being fired by the whalers is a painful eye and skin irritant. The Japanese whalers are now aware of just how irritating it is.

The Sea Shepherd crew is not protesting whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Sea Shepherd is intervening against illegal poaching operations by the Japanese whaling fleet.

“The whalers are targeting endangered Fin whales and protected Minke whales inside the borders of an internationally established Whale Sanctuary in violation of a global moratorium on commercial whaling, and in violation of the Antarctic Treaty. These people are poachers and they are criminals and they are no different than elephant poachers in East Africa, except that the African poachers are black, poor, and are shot for their crimes. The Japanese poachers get hit with stink bombs and then whine about how unfair it is,” said Captain Watson.

“The government of Japan should be ashamed of the lies of the Institute of Cetacean Research and the stream of propaganda the ICR spews out everyday in their pathetic effort to justify their crimes in the Southern Ocean,” said Captain Chuck Swift of the Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker.

Watch the video here

On February 11^th, during a confrontation between Sea Shepherd and the Japanese security ship Shonan Maru 2, an incident occurred that provided an excuse for the Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR) to issue a media statement accusing Sea Shepherd of injuring three Japanese crewmembers with butyric acid (rotten butter).

According to the ICR media release, the three men were injured when butyric acid splashed into their faces.

Captain Paul Watson doubted the story because butyric acid, which is essentially rotten butter, is non-corrosive, nontoxic, and organic. It does not burn nor does it cause eye or skin irritation.

In reviewing video footage of the confrontation, the Sea Shepherd crew discovered the real source of injuries for the three Japanese crewmembers. The three crew were indeed injured because they shot themselves in the face with pepper spray.

The video clearly shows three Japanese crewmembers on the deck of the Shonan Maru 2. Two of the crew are wearing metal tanks on their backs with nozzles in their hands looking just like the ghost busters. A third crewmember is standing by. The video shows the two crew with the tanks aiming their nozzles at the Sea Shepherd crew in an inflatable boat. The nozzles send out a blast of pepper spray towards the Sea Shepherd crew and the camera. However the wind was not in favor of this Japanese tactic and the pepper spray is blown back into the faces of the three crew, who can be clearly seen rubbing their eyes. They appear to be suffering irritation to their eyes.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will be posting video footage as proof that the media release by the ICR was a lie and an attempt to accuse Sea Shepherd of injuring Japanese crewmembers.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has never caused a single injury to any person since the organization was founded in 1977.

“I think this video absolves Sea Shepherd of any wrong-doing and demonstrates that the Japanese whalers routinely spin their stories to demonize our efforts to defend the whales from their illegal activities,” said Captain Paul Watson.

The Sea Shepherd ships Bob Barker and Steve Irwin have had the Japanese whaling fleet on the run for eight days without a single whale being killed. The Nisshin Maru is continuing to head westward and the fleet and the Sea Shepherd ships are now 2000 miles south of South Africa.

photo credit: Sea Shepherd