14 DAY TRIAL // After months of chasing four Japanese whaling ships and their escort through the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) finally announces the end of the 2011-2012 campaign to stop illegal whaling around Antarctica.
The Japanese whaling fleet is currently heading home in shame, a press release from the SSCS indicates. The vessels, which are operating in the protected waters of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary despite international bans, did not manage to fulfill their quota for this year.
As further evidence that the whaling season is over, the harpoon ships that were following the MY Bob Barker have withdrawn, and are currently heading northwestwards, across the Pacific Ocean. The Shonan Maru #2 security ship is also sailing towards Japan.
Despite the temporary loss of the scout vessel the Brigitte Bardot, the SSCS managed to stop the Japanese whalers from killing about 1,000 whales for “scientific research” purposes. Slowly, whaling is starting to turn into a money drain for the Institute of Cetacean Research of Japan.
“Once Captain Peter Hammerstedt and his crew on the Bob Barker closed in on the [factory ship] Nisshin Maru on March 5th, the whaling season was effectively over for the season,” SSCS leader, Captain Paul Watson, said.
He made the statement from aboard the SSCS flagship, the MY Steve Irwin, which is now docked in Williamstown, Victoria, Australia. “The kill figures will not be released by Japan until April, but in my opinion they will not get over 50% for certain and my prediction is it will not be above 30%,” Watson said.
“Not as good as last season, but much better than all the previous years. It has been a successful campaign. There are hundreds of whales swimming free in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary that would now be dead if we had not been down there for the last three months,” he added.
According to SSCS statistics, the three vessels involved in chasing the Japanese whaling fleet sailed a total of 17,000 miles (27,360 kilometers) during Operation Divine Wind. The campaign was very difficult, more so than in other years, but equally (if not more) successful.
“If the Japanese whalers return [in 2012], Sea Shepherd will return. We are committed to the defense of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. No matter how long it takes, no matter how risky or expensive. The word 'sanctuary' actually means something to us and that something is worth fighting for,” Watson concludes.