The organization says the Japanese fleet is scattered, no longer hunting whales

Jan 7, 2014 08:59 GMT  ·  By
Sea Shepherd says three of its vessels have chased the Japanese fleet out of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary
   Sea Shepherd says three of its vessels have chased the Japanese fleet out of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary

Recent news from Antarctica says that green group Sea Shepherd has successfully put an end to this year's Japanese hunt in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, at least for the time being.

The organization details that, after locating the Japanese fleet, its three vessels, i.e. The Steve Irwin, The Bob Barker, and The Sam Simon, chased the whalers out of their hunting grounds.

According to Sea Shepherd, the Japanese whaling fleet is presently scattered and unable to continue slaughtering whales.

“Sea Shepherd has all ships in the Japanese whaling fleet accounted for, and can confirm that the whale poaching fleet is scattered and currently not hunting whales,” the group said in a statement, as cited by Mongabay.

“The harpoon ships are separated by hundreds of miles. The Nisshin Maru [i.e. the Japanese factory ship] is on the run and unable to stop and whale in its self-designated whale-poaching grounds,” Sea Shepherd went on to detail.

Thanks to the organization, the Japanese fleet was forced to leave its hunting grounds just one day and a half after this year's whaling season had begun, the same source details.

Despite having spent so little time in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, the whalers did manage to kill a few marine mammals.

Thus, just yesterday, Sea Shepherd released footage showing the bodies of three minke whales lying on the deck of The Nisshin Maru.

A pool of blood easily noticeable on the Japanese vessel's deck led the organization to believe that a fourth whale had been killed and butchered before the conservationists managed to track down The Nisshin Maru and its accompanying ships.

The organization says that its three vessels will remain in these waters, and that the crew aboard them will continue to do their best to stop Japan's fleet from killing whales.

“We have won this battle, but the war for the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary will wage on over the coming months,” explained Adam Meyerson, captain of The Sam Simon.