Sea Shepherd Activists Attacked by Japanese Whalers During Nighttime

Earlier today, Sea Shepherd Australia announced that, on Sunday, Japanese whalers ambushed one of its ships in the Southern Ocean, i.e. The Bob Barker, and tried to disable it. The attack took place in the waters off Cape Adare in the Ross Sea.

In a press release on the matter at hand, the organization details that the ambush occurred during nighttime, and that the vessels that attacked The Bob Barker and the crew aboard it were two Japanese harpoon ships.

By the looks of it, the Japanese vessels tried to use steel cables measuring 250 and 150 meters (about 820 and 492 feet) in length to jam the Sea Shepherd ship's propellers and rudders.

Looking to protect The Bob Barker, the crew aboard it launched several small boats and did their best to keep the Japanese whalers and their steel cables away from the organization's ship.

However, almost as soon as these small ships made it in the water, the people in them had ice thrown at them by the Japanese crew, Sea Shepherd claims.

Besides, it would appear that the harpoon ships tried to impair the conservationists' vision by shining powerful searchlights on them.

Peter Hammarstedt, The Bob Barker's captain, says that, despite his attempts to contact the Japanese whalers via radio and let them know that their actions were not legal, the latter moved forward with their attack.

According to Sea Shepherd Australia, The Bob Barker was ambushed and attacked under the cover of darkness just as it was tailing the Japanese factory vessel, i.e. the Nisshin Maru.

Although The Bob Barker no longer has the Nisshin Maru on its radar, the factory vessel is kept a close eye on by two other of the organization's vessels, i.e. The Steve Irwin and The Sam Simon.

The Bob Barker, on the other hand, is shadowing the two harpoon vessels and says that the ships are, for the time being at least, unable to kill any whales.

“The Bob Barker is currently within close range of the Yushin Maru and the Yushin Maru No. 3, and can confirm that the two harpoon vessels are unable to whale,” the organization says.

“The Steve Irwin and The Sam Simon are trail-free and shadowing the Nisshin Maru,” it adds.