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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 days 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
worlds 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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P.O. Box 2616, Friday Harbor, WA 98250 (USA) Tel:
360-370-5650 Fax: 360-370-5651
Copyright © 2005 Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
All rights reserved
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