Captain Paul Watson, who commands the group's ship Steve Irwin, now in Melbourne after several weeks at sea obstructing the activities of Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean, has revealed that Sea Shepherd is to commit further resources which will allow a continuous disruption of whaling.
By 2009, the group plans to have an extra ship committed to the fray, with one ship able to harass whalers while the other returns to port for fuel and supplies.
'It's going to be very expensive but it will be worth it,' Capt Watson told reporters. 'Our actions are going to have a significant impact on the Japanese quota. By far the most effective method is to keep chasing the fleet. They cannot do anything while we are following them and getting in their way.'
It is not yet clear where finances for the extra operations will come from. Recent operations have been aided by support initiated by Terri Irwin, widow of the late Australian TV naturalist Steve Irwin, through Wildlife Warriors Worldwide, formerly the Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation.
'Each year we exhaust our resources on this campaign,' said Capt Watson at the end of January, at which point the Steve Irwin had burned 200 tons of fuel, its depletion forcing the return to Melbourne. 'We need support to purchase another 200 tons of marine diesel. If we can get that support, we can refuel and return [to harass the whaling fleet].'
Sea Shepherd has stated that while at sea chasing the whalers through January - a period in which two of its activists boarded a Japanese vessel to have their say and were held for a number of days before release - the Steve Irwin succeeded in preventing any takes between 8 January and the end of the month.
But following the ship's return to port, the whalers took at least five whales and more look to be following. Whaling operations are due to continue until March.
Sea Shepherd's January efforts were aided by Greenpeace's ship Esperanza, which chased the whaling fleet's factory ship Nisshin Maru some 4300 miles over a period of two weeks, to ensure that any catches taken by the hunter vessels could not be transferred to the mother ship.
Greenpeace has now announced its withdrawa; from physical confrontation on the ocean to concentrate on its shore campaign. The options are to muster public support against Japan's high takes, and contribute to the preparation of an international challenge to its activities.
It is likely that any formal challenge would revolve around the notion, currently sanctioned by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), of 'scientific research', under which Japan is adding - allegedly fraudulently - extra catches to those allowed under international law governing commercial takes.
Campaigners have the support of Australia which, although a trading partner of Japan, has publicly damned current levels of Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean, and supports the principle of reduced catches.
It has launched surveillance operations to gather evidence of activities by Japanese whaling ships for possible use in any challenge over takes.
Peter Garrett, Australia's Environment Minister, said last week: 'We're in this for the long haul. We will use the full suite of measures that we've identified as necessary [to force Japan to reduce whaling levels].' |
