Voice from the Deep!

Excellent News!!!

The Japanese harpoon ship Yushin Maru #2 has been ordered to leave the Port of Surabaya, East Java in Indonesia without repairs. The Indonesian Forestry Authorities, the CITES Authorities and local government officials in East Java demanded the expulsion of the Yushin Maru #2 from Surabaya harbour and from Indonesian waters.

This drama began on December 20th, 2008 when the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin pursued the Yushin Maru #2 into dense ice packs off the coast of Antarctica. (Google Earth Location) As a storm moved in, the Steve Irwin broke off the pursuit and headed South as the harpoon vessel kept running North into heavier ice conditions.

“I could see the danger coming as the ice began to push the floes tighter together,” said Captain Paul Watson of the Steve Irwin. “The harpoon vessel seemed more afraid of us at the time than of the ice, and we last saw them on a course directly into the thick of it.”

The result was ice damage to the propeller that reduced the speed of the harpoon vessel from 21 knots to only 7.5  knots. It took the whaling ship 16 days to travel 3,000 miles North to Surabaya to seek repairs. Although both New Zealand and Australia were much closer, the ports of the two countries are closed to Japanese whaling vessels.

Once in Surabaya, Jakarta Animal Aid organized demonstrations and meetings with officials. Captain Paul Watson called Femke Den Haas of Jakarta Animal Aid from the Steve Irwin to encourage and support their efforts. Femke said the officials in Indonesia simply needed to see evidence of Japan’s illegal whaling activities and evidence that Australia will not allow Japanese vessels to enter Australian ports for fuel or repairs. Three of the most passionate whale defending politicians in Australia responded immediately with the following:

Former Australian Environment Minister and Sea Shepherd spokesperson Ian Campbell immediately wrote to the officials in Indonesia stating:

This communication is to provide you and the relevant authorities in the clearest possible terms that Australian law prohibits the entry to any Australian Port of Japanese Whaling vessels. This prohibition has been Australian law since the introduction of the moratorium on Whaling under the International Convention on Whaling.  Japan has systematically breached this international agreement over the passed two decades, and successive Australian governments have banned these ships from our ports through special legislation and regulation.

I am happy for this advice to be forwarded to the Authorities. It can be confirmed with reference to an Australian Embassy.

Yours faithfully,

Ian Campbell
The Honourable Ian G. Campbell
Australian Government Minister for the Environment (2004-2007)

 Senator Bob Brown, the leader of the Australian Green Party sent the following:

The harpoon vessel (Yushin Maru #2) is seeking repair in Surabaya, Indonesia.

Clearly it would have been expedient for this ship to have entered an Australian port. However the risk of public hostility, and complete inability to have repairs carried out means an effective blockade on the Japanese whaling ship entering Australian or New Zealand ports.

The Indonesian authorities should ensure the ship is refused servicing in that country too.

Yours Sincerely,

Senator Bob Brown

 Mayor Peter Tagliaferri of Fremantle, Australia sent the following letter to the Port officials and to Mayor Banbang Dwi Hartono of Surabaya.

I write to you as Mayor of the City of Fremantle, Western Australia.

The City of Fremantle does not support the illegal slaughter of whales and has constantly conveyed this through diplomatic processes to the Japanese government.

I believe the Yushin Maru #2 is seeking propeller repairs in your port as a result of ice damage.

The City of Fremantle would not support this vessel to enter our fishing boat harbour to seek repairs to continue an illegal activity.

I, as Mayor of the City of Fremantle, urge you to also not allow this vessel to be repaired in your port and as a result the Yushin Maru #2 will not be able to rejoin the illegal whaling.

Best Regards,

Peter Tagliaferri
Mayor of City of Fremantle

 Good on ya boys.. glad you have the balls to stand up for the people of Australia, unlike a certain Peter Garrett fellow!

So what next for the ill-fated yushin Maru #2?

The Yushin Maru # 2 has not killed any whales since at least December 20th and because of this decision in Surabaya, they will not be returning to the Southern Ocean very soon. This effectively reduces the killing power of the Japanese whaling fleet by a third leaving the Yushin Maru # 1 and Yushin Maru #3 as the two remaining harpoon boats.

The decision to expel the Yushin Maru #2 from Surabaya saved a great many whales,” said Captain Paul Watson.

This loss of a harpoon vessel coupled with Sea Shepherd’s successful disruption of the whaling between December 20th and January 7th will have a significant impact on the kill figures. And when the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin returns to disrupt the fleet for another month and a half, the impact will be even greater.

Sea Shepherd’s goal is to save as many whales as possible and to cost the whaling industry as much in profit losses as possible. So far the campaign has exceeded expectations. It is also very humiliating for Japan to have one of their ships literally kicked out of an Indonesian port after being barred from entering Australian and New Zealand ports for years

It is not known where the Yushin Maru #2 is limping off to now as they seek repairs but we will be following them and we will be doing everything we can to delay their return to Antarctic waters.

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Here is an article copied from Sea Shepherd…  it’s pretty damning for the Japanese ship Yushin Maru #2 as they have lied right in the face of the Idoneasian officials who questioned the captain about the purpose of his vessel when they docked in Jakarta.  Says it all really, under hand, illegal tactics from start to finish!

Google Earth link - where the ice damage occured.

Yushin Maru #2 is in the port of Surabaya, Indonesia awaiting repairs to an ice damaged propeller. The vessel has denied being a whaling ship to Indonesian authorities. The ship’s captain is arguing that the Yushin Maru #2 is involved with research and does not even have a harpoon onboard. Indonesian officials apparently were unable to see a harpoon on the vessel.

The vessel is denied entry to Australian and New Zealand ports because of its illegal whaling activities in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Proof of the involvement of the Yushin Maru #2 in illegal lethal whaling can be found on the website of the Institute for Cetacean Research where the ship is listed as one of the three harpoon vessels of the Japanese whaling fleet.

On December 20th, the crew of the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin observed and photographed the Yushin Maru #2 with the harpoon clearly seen on the bow covered in a green tarp with the shape of the harpoon quite apparent.

The Japanese harpoon whaling vessel the Yushin Maru No. 2, clearly showing a covered harpoon.

The Sea Shepherd crew also filmed and photographed the Yushin Maru #2 in January 2008 with the harpoon clearly seen.

The Japanese harpoon whaling vessel the Yushin Maru No. 2 showing a harpoon on the bow, January 15, 2008

This was also the same ship that two Sea Shepherd crew boarded to deliver a message that the whaling fleet was in violation of an Australian Federal Court order prohibiting whaling in the waters of the Australian Antarctic Territory.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is requesting that the government of Australia provide information to the government of Indonesia to confirm that Japanese whaling vessels cannot use Australian ports for refueling and repairs. In the meantime, Indonesian officials might ask the Captain of the Yushin Maru #2 why he voyaged some 3,000 miles to Surabaya when he could have had closer access to the ports of Hobart, Adelaide or Fremantle.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is working with Jakarta Animal Aid and Earth Island Institute to delay any repairs to the Yushin Maru #2 and to communicate with Indonesian officials on the illegal activities of this outlaw whaler presently in the port of Surabaya.

View Sea Shephard article…

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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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The Steve Irwin is to return to port to refuel, probably to Dunedin (Port Chalmers) in New Zealand.

Edit: Due to  a request from Japan for Australia to deny the Steve Irwin permission to dock in Australia, Captain Paul Whatson has elected to force the issue and has steered a course for Hobart in Tasmania. This will force the hand of the Australian Government in making a decision that could go either way! Currently the Japanese whaling fleet are prohibited from docking in Australia for any reason…

The Steve Irwin encountering rough weather during the chase

They’ve made a gallant effort in preventing the Japanese whalers from illegally killing whales in the Antarctic whale sanctuary.

They have chased the Japanese fleet for around 2,000 miles, from the far West of the whale sanctuary near Commonwealth Bay in the Australian AntarcticTerritory, to the Eastern side of the Ross Sea, the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin has been forced to cut off the pursuit to return to land for refueling.

Google Earth map of the area 

“We have engaged them, we have stopped their whaling activities for two weeks and we have successfully chased them out of the Australian Antarctic Territorial waters,” said Captain Paul Watson. “We now have to return to land to refuel. We don’t have the luxury of refueling at sea like the Japanese fleet has. We don’t have the resources to operate two ships down here and we don’t have the support of Greenpeace to relieve us. We are doing the best we can with the resources available to us and we are having a significant impact on their kills.”

The Steve Irwin has been on the tail of the Japanese whaling fleet for two solid weeks, keeping the fleet under pressure, preventing them from whaling and pushing them continuously to the East.

The harpoon vessel Yushin Maru #2, the first whaler that Sea Shepherd encountered this season, has not been seen since December 20th. “The Yushin Maru #2 is not with the fleet and we have no idea where it is, but that ship cannot kill whales independent of the factory ship Nisshin Maru,” reported Captain Watson from the Steve Irwin.

The Steve Irwin will return to the nearest available port to refuel and then will head back out in pursuit of the fleet again as quickly as possible.

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