Sea Shepherd: Fifty Days at Sea for the Whales

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01/23/2006 printer-friendly version

 

 

Fifty Days at Sea for the Whales

 

 

 

The Sea Shepherd Voyage to Antarctica Comes to an End

 

With only 100 miles to go to reach Cape Town, South

Africa, the Farley Mowat has almost completed the

longest voyage ever made in this ship.

 

Fifty days and nearly 8,000 miles covered – the Farley

Mowat left Melbourne, Australia, on December 6, 2005,

and we will arrive in Cape Town on January 25, 2006.

 

We departed with all eight fuel tanks filled to

capacity with 120 metric tons of diesel fuel. We will

arrive in Cape Town with only one day’s supply of fuel

remaining. We stretched our limitations dangerously

but we will safely conclude our journey.

 

During the fifty days at sea, we had chased the

Japanese whalers for over 4,000 miles and shut down

their whaling operations for 15 days. We are not as

fast as the Japanese ships so it was a constant hit

and ambush strategy. We confronted the Japanese

factory ship Nisshin Maru twice and we sideswiped the

whaling fleet supply vessel Oriental Bluebird,

ordering it out of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

 

 

On Dec. 24, 2005, the Farley Mowat

intercepted the Nisshin Maru

 

The Nisshin Maru changed course,

heading for a collision with our ship

 

 

On Jan. 8, 2006, the crew of the Farley Mowat

meets up with the Nisshin Maru again

 

On Jan. 9, 2006, the Farley Mowat orders the whaling

supply ship Oriental Bluebird out of the sanctuary and

sideswipes it

 

 

 

We also had a bonus: On January 4, we intercepted a

longline belonging to the Uruguayan toothfish poacher

Poloma and we seized it (see pictures below), pulling

it up from the bottom a thousand feet below complete

with rope, line, hooks, buoys, anchored weights, and

radio transmitter.

 

 

It was the first voyage where we searched the seas

from our ship with our newly-acquired onboard

helicopter, covering hundreds of miles around the

Farley Mowat in our continued quest for the Japanese

whaling fleet.

 

It was a voyage that took 43 volunteers from 10

different nations into a vast ocean strewn with tens

of thousands of icebergs ranging in size from bergs

the size of houses to massive tabular ice islands the

size of major cities. This is a world where people are

a rarity and where whales, penguins, seals, and

seabirds are the dominant inhabitants.

 

 

It was the second expedition ever mounted to

Antarctica that was exclusively vegan, the first being

our voyage of 2002-2003 to these same waters. This

unique feature of our voyage prompted one Japanese

whaler to laughably accuse us of being “dangerous

vegans and circus performers.” We have to admit, we

were amused and a bit puzzled about being circus

performers.

 

On this voyage Captain Paul Watson stood on the top of

a massive iceberg with Emily Hunter (see pictures

below), the daughter of Robert “Bob” Hunter, a

co-founder along with Captain Watson of the Greenpeace

Foundation. Bob, the first president of Greenpeace,

had died in April 2005. His daughter scattered his

ashes on top of the iceberg as Captain Watson and

helicopter pilot Chris Aultman shared her grief at the

passing of a wonderful father, a good friend, and a

legendary eco-warrior.

 

 

 

On this voyage, many of the volunteer crew of the

Farley Mowat ushered in the New Year by joining the

Penguin Club. Membership was earned by jumping into

the frigid Antarctic seas and swimming with the

penguins. The difficult part was that only a bathing

suit could be worn or no bathing suit at all.

 

There is no more spectacular place on this planet than

the coast of Antarctica. The crew were treated to

sights of whales and penguins, icebergs and weather

conditions that they will never forget.

 

 

What they will remember most, however, is chasing the

whalers and the satisfaction of seeing them run like

cowards each time we approached. What they will

treasure the most is that they prevented the slaughter

of whales and were thrilled when the Japanese whalers

announced that they would not be able to get their

full quota.

 

And they also discovered the key to saving the whales.

There is no doubt the whalers are intimidated by Sea

Shepherd. All we need now is a ship that can match the

speed of the Japanese vessels. If we can get such a

ship, we can shut down their operations and we can

order and escort them from the Southern Ocean Whale

Sanctuary.

 

This week, one whale died on the Thames River in

England. Millions of people followed the rescue and

were saddened when the whale died. An incredible

effort was put into saving the life of that one whale.

It was a display of human compassion that captured the

world’s attention.

 

Yet down here at the bottom of the world, hundreds of

whales are viciously slaughtered. They scream out in

terrified agony as their blood pours into a cold sea

from gaping jagged wounds made from unforgiving

explosive harpoons.

 

 

The tragedy is that we have the ability to stop the

killing. We just lack the support.

 

This year we are launching an appeal to secure a ship

that will bring us back to these lonely and remote

waters. We need a long-range fast ship.

 

Captain Watson and his crew are ready to return to

Antarctica and they are ready to hunt down the whale

hunters with the objective of shutting down their

illegal whaling operations. Given the right ship, they

know they can do the job effectively.

 

“Unfortunately we have a dilemma,” reports Captain

Watson. “The organizations with the money and the

resources to shut down this illegal slaughter will not

intervene to actually shut it down. Incredible amounts

of money are spent on public relations, advertising,

and documentation of the killing. The images are

captured and distributed. We see whales dying in

horrific agony, and the killing continues and

continues despite the protests. The slaughter is

brought to the attention of the public and the public

responds with donations to the same organizations to

get more documentation and to attend more meetings and

to send out more appeals for funding. At the same

time, small groups like Sea Shepherd lack the

resources to simply bring this killing to an end

through direct intervention. And we lack the resources

because we spend the majority our funds on direct

intervention instead of direct mail. It is incredibly

frustrating and incredibly sad for the whales.”

 

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will be campaigning

against the slaughter of seals in Canada over the next

few months and will be campaigning for funds to return

to Antarctica to end the slaughter of whales in

December 2006.

 

 

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society welcomes your

support. To learn how to support our conservation

work, please visit our donation page.

 

 

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360-370-5650 Fax: 360-370-5651

2005 Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

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