Posted under Whaling
If your anywhere near Hobart, get down the docks on Saturday (noon) and welcome them in!
The whaling fleet on the other hand is barred from Japanese and New Zealand ports. Jakarta Animal Aid organization is working to have them banned from ports in Indonesia because of their illegal whaling activities in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
The Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin will arrive in Hobart on January 17th to refuel, before returning to pursue and harass the whalers into the month of March.
“We have demonstrated that the whalers can by physically stopped,” said Captain Paul Watson. “If we had just one more ship down here, we could stop them by 90% and we could bankrupt them totally. Shutting down illegal whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is a very doable task. We are doing the best we can with the resources available to us. With more support we could win this war to save the whales.”
The battle to save the whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary has moved 3000 miles north with activists in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia demonstrating before the Japanese Consulate and pressuring Indonesian authorities to block repairs on the pirate Japanese whaler Yushin Maru #2 .
These rock hard bergy bits can rip open your hull and easily smash a rotating prop. You need an "ice class" vessel to sail here without risk of damage.
The Yushin Maru #2 left the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary on December 20th, 2008. They suffered ice damage to their prop while being pursued by the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin. It took the Yushin Maru #2, 16 days to arrive in Surabaya averaging only 7.5 knots a day.
Every day that this harpoon ship is kept out of the slaughter saves the lives of whales. The whaling fleet has had their killing efficiency cut by one-third and that coupled with the fact that the Sea Shepherd pursuit of the fleet shut down whaling activities for three weeks is going to have a profound impact on the kill figures for this season.
The Jakarta Animal Aid organization has been spearheading the protests in Surabaya against the Yushin Maru #2
The Australian Federal Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, has been urged to personally meet an anti-whaling ship when it arrives in Hobart to refuel on Saturday.
The Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin has suspended its pursuit of Japanese whalers through Antarctic waters in order to refuel.
It is due to dock at noon (AEDT) on Saturday and will spend five days in Hobart.
Greens leader Bob Brown has promised the Steve Irwin a warm reception, and he wants Mr Garrett to be there in person.
“I think it would be fantastic, he would have 21 million Australians behind him if he did that,” Senator Brown told AAP, adding the symbolism would seen to be very strong in Tokyo.
Before entering politics Mr Garrett was a leading figure in the conservation movement, serving on Greenpeace’s international board and as the president of the Australian Conservation Foundation. He also sang environmental protest songs with rock band Midnight Oil. (ed: Now it appears he’s a Japanese puppet!)
But as environment minister, some green groups have accused him of going soft on issues such as whaling.
He decided not to send out an Australian ship to monitor the Japanese fleet this whaling season, and a promise to take Japan to the International Court of Justice has not yet eventuated.
Sea Shepherd founder Captain Paul Watson said he would like to meet Mr Garrett in Hobart.
“He’d certainly be welcome, but I’d be very surprised,” Capt Watson told AAP.
A spokesman for Mr Garrett said he would not be in Hobart to welcome the anti-whalers.
“The minister has no plans to travel to Hobart,” he said.
The anti-whaling activists plan to return to Antarctic waters after their Hobart pit-stop to continue chasing the Japanese fleet.
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