The Steve Irwin confronts the Japanese fleet in the Southern Whale Sanctuary. The whalers deploy water cannons and throw objects at Sea Shepherd crew members.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Whalers Violently Defend Their Illegal Whaling Operations
A crewmember from the Steve Irwin was slightly injured after being struck by a high pressure water cannon fired from the Japanese whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru. One of the cameramen on one of the Steve Irwin's inflatable boats was cut and bruised above the eye when a high pressure blast of water knocked him off his feet while he was filming.
A second crew member was also injured in the confrontation with the whalers. Laurens De Groot of the Netherlands was slightly injured when struck in the face by a metal ball thrown by whalers. Whalers onboard the Yushin Maru #3 threw solid brass and lead balls at crewmembers on one of the Steve Irwin's inflatable boats.
The Sea Shepherd crew also discovered that the Japanese whaling fleet is deploying a new weapon in defence of their illegal whaling activities.
The factory ship the Nisshin Maru and the two harpoon vessels in the fleet are equipped with Long Range Acoustical Devices (LRAD). This is a military grade weapon system that sends out mid to high frequency sound waves designed to disorient and possibly incapacitate personnel. It is basically an anti-personnel weapons system.
The Steve Irwin has been chasing the Japanese whaling fleet for twenty-four hours at high speed through scattered ice fields and changing weather conditions for over three hundred miles westward across the top of the Ross Sea.
At 0500 Hours (Sydney Time) the Steve Irwin deployed two fast inflatable boats and a helicopter to harass the fleet and to hurry them along. Sea Shepherd's strategy is to keep the whaling fleet on the move. If they are running they are not killing whales and no whales have been killed during the last 24 hours. In fact the Steve Irwin crew were excited to see Fin whales swimming alongside the ship as they pursued the whaling fleet.
The Japanese harpoon vessels have been maneuvering very close to the Steve Irwin to intimidate and to try and lead the Sea Shepherd ship away from the Nisshin Maru. The confrontation that began in clear weather in dense ice and heavy swells became increasing treacherous as fog and blizzard conditions moved in around 0900 Hours.
The Steve Irwin crew retreated when within range of the acoustic weapons.
"All we need to do is to keep them running and to keep them from whaling and that is exactly what we are doing. It is proving to be a very successful day," said Captain Paul Watson.
Weather conditions are becoming increasing worse with heavy snow, fog, increasing swells and denser ice conditions.
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Sunday, February 01, 2009
Hunting the Hunters at the Bottom of the World
Commentary by Captain Paul Watson
The Ross Sea
From 0930 Hours to 2130 Hours.
From: 67 Degrees 21 Minutes South and 164 Degrees 4 Minutes West
To: 67 Degrees 29 Minutes South and 170 Degrees 6 Minutes West
For twelve hours our ship the Steve Irwin has been on the tail of the Cetacean Death Star, the Japanese whale killing factory ship the Nisshin Maru.
Every hour has brought us closer to this monstrous killing machine, this industrialized floating whale abattoir.
Flanking us is the Yushin Maru #1 on our starboard side and the Yushin Maru #3 on our port side. Both ships are a mile on either side of us.
Earlier they came in close trying to goad us into chasing them to throw us off the tail of the Nisshin Maru. We did not take the bait, instead keeping our focus on catching the mother ship.
And every hour we have closed the gap by a half a mile. By early tomorrow morning we will be alongside them and we will keep chasing them onward. In the last twelve hours we have chased them 150 miles to the west. By 930 tomorrow morning it will be 300 miles.
Where we are heading, we have no idea. The Japanese whalers run and we follow and that is fine with us because as long as they are running, they are not killing whales.
It is a strange sight. Four large ships running full speed across the top of the Ross Sea in one of the most remote and hostile areas of the planet.
All day we have had whales surface beside us and each time we could see the harpoons on the two harpooners running along side us. Harpoons that the gunners dare not fire with us here. They know what we will do if they attempt to kill a whale.
Our best deterrent is our history and with eight whaling ships sunk and numerous others rammed, our reputation as whale defenders gives us a measure of respect in the eyes of these killers. They hunt and kill whales and we hunt and kill whaling ships.
These hunters today became the hunted and like all prey, they run.
We don't want to sink them, we just want to keep their harpoon guns silent and we want to keep them running.
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Fuck all Whale eaters
Weedekind1 5 months ago
Shut up people, everyone has their own view and there is no use in arguing, bust FOR ME, i honestly believe they are doing the right thing because I want our next few generations of children to witness what we have in our past
Roger5970 7 months ago
@zackdeux What did you just say? I dont think anyone understood.
hectichorse 11 months ago
@hectichorse if human don't do anything,it's you, fucker go off the internet,human don't do anything.....then what is internet?go eat your father shit
zackdeux 11 months ago
watch?v=7MnRuydn_wU
jukio02 1 year ago
@marvellegendstoybiz you tool id like to punch your face to you are proof why cousins shouldnt get married
bj5666 1 year ago
@hectichorse So, all poor people are uneducated according to you. Great way to start off an argument.
marvellegendstoybiz 1 year ago
@hectichorse nonsense.
Oh...we're down to name calling and swearing now. Really effective way to get you point across.
Support the whale hunt people.
And dont forget to subscribe to me!
marvellegendstoybiz 1 year ago
@marvellegendstoybiz how are they helping the planet, well have you ever heard of the food web or were you to poor to pay for an education. If whales decrease in population, its prey increase in population, whales prey mainly eat coral. If the prey increases coral decreases thus stuffing up our oceans you fucking prick!!!
hectichorse 1 year ago
@hectichorse ah , i see. so people who don't share your point of view of the world deserve to be "punched in the face". hmmn...
Pretty quick leap to violence, i 'd say. let your fists do the talking? is that it? maybe all the worlds problems can be solved by punching people in the face.
cool! someone doesnt agree with you...punch them in the FACE! wow! its so simple!
Support the whale hunt people. Do the right thing!
marvellegendstoybiz 1 year ago