Anti-whalers set to resume hounding Japanese fleet

Feb 14, 2008

SYDNEY (AFP) - A ship carrying militant anti-whaling activists was due to head back to Antarctic waters Thursday to resume harassing Japanese whalers, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society said.

The group's ship the Steve Irwin has been in port in Melbourne, Australia for 12 days to refuel and take on supplies after weeks of pursuing the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean.

"A special thank you to Australia," the group's leader Paul Watson said in a message posted on Sea Shepherd's website. "You helped to send the Steve Irwin back to sea as a ValentineÂ’s Day gift to the whales."

Donations of cash, food and supplies had "flooded onto the decks of the whale conservation ship" while it was in port, the statement said, adding that it was due to leave for Antarctic waters on Thursday night.

The Steve Irwin intends to "harass and intervene" against the whalers for the next four to five weeks in an effort to prevent them hunting until the end of the season.

"In January we prevented them from slaughtering whales for three weeks, we cost the Japanese over two million dollars in fuel during the pursuit and we exposed their illegal whaling activities worldwide, and most importantly we got the story into the Japanese media," said Watson.

"This provoked a real debate in Japan on the cost of whaling to JapanÂ’s reputation."

On January 15, two activists from the Steve Irwin boarded a Japanese harpoon ship to deliver a protest note, setting off a two-day stand-off before they were released to an Australian customs vessel.

An international moratorium bans the slaughter of whales for commercial purposes but Japan exploits a loophole which allows the animals to be killed for scientific research and targeted 1,000 this season.

Watson said that next year Sea Shepherd intends to return to the Southern Ocean with a second ship "with the objective of mounting a non-stop pursuit."
The environmental group Greenpeace had also hounded the Japanese whalers but abandoned the chase for the season after running low on fuel in late January.