Sea Shepherd Denies Whalers Access to Fuel Ship

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) ships Gojira and Steve Irwin intercepted a fuel tanker headed towards the illegal Japanese whaling fleet, in order to refuel it, and stopped it in its tracks.

The tanker, called Sun Laurel, was going to transfer heavy oil to the four Japanese vessels below the 60 degree south latitude line, which is a direct violation of the Antarctic Treaty. The two activist ships communicated this to the captain of the Sun Laurel.

The commander understood the implications of crossing this line, and decided to wait for the whaling fleet above the 60 degree latitude line. This means it had to move another 50 miles away from those boats' current position.

At the same time, the tanker was also taken out of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, where a potential oil spill from a tanker or other ships could have catastrophic consequences on the animals living in this habitat.

Captain Locky MacLean of the Gojira spoke with the Sun Laurel captain about withdrawing from the Sanctuary. The two SSCS ships then escorted the tanker to its new position.

“The captain of the Sun Laurel has confirmed that he has not transferred any supplies or refueled any of the illegal whaling vessels,” SSCS says in a press release.

“This means that as long as Sea Shepherd’s ships continue to prevent any transfer of fuel and supplies, the Japanese whaling fleet will not be able to extend their killing season beyond the first week in February,” the statement adds.

“The Japanese fleet was three weeks late arriving to the Southern Ocean; the Sea Shepherd ships found them before they even began whaling,” it goes on to say. Today marks the two week anniversary of Sea Shepherd intercepting the whaling fleet.

“The Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker will escort the Sun Laurel supply vessel to prevent refueling, and the Gojira will break off within a few hours to resume the hunt for the Nisshin Maru,” the statement says.

In order to ensure that no whales are killed this season, the Sea Shepherd management has issued a call for assistance to Greenpeace, calling that the environmental group send one of its two ships in the Sanctuary to aid in the chase. Greenpeace has yet to issue a formal response.