{"id":53066,"date":"2015-02-09T12:00:16","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T12:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=53066"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:26:08","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:26:08","slug":"if-japan-hated-sea-shepherd-before-wait-until-they-see-whats-steaming-towards-them-in-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/02\/if-japan-hated-sea-shepherd-before-wait-until-they-see-whats-steaming-towards-them-in-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"If Japan Hated Sea Shepherd Before, Wait Until They See What’s Steaming Towards Them in 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anti-whaling activism out of Australia just got a whole lot smarter, faster and flashier. Not to mention scarier.<\/em><\/p>\n

27 Jan 2015 – <\/em>Sea Shepherd \u2013 the globally renowned environmental organisation with its southern base in Australia \u2013 has just upped the ante in the fight to prevent illegal whaling with an announcement yesterday that construction will begin immediately on a state-of-the-art vessel aimed squarely at frustrating Japan\u2019s ongoing attempts to strip our ocean of whales.<\/p>\n

The ship is as scary looking as it is technologically advanced, and will be built in Vietnam before being based at Sea Shepherd\u2019s Williamstown port in Victoria, for operations during the 2016-17 whaling season.<\/p>\n

The announcement follows a donation worth \u20ac 8.3 million ($11.2 million AUD) from the postcode lotteries in the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom (the Dutch Postcode Lottery contributed a whopping \u20ac 7.5 million).<\/p>\n

Adam Burling, spokesperson for Sea Shepherd Australia told New Matilda it was a \u201cgame changer\u201d in the defence of the ocean\u2019s gentle giants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge breakthrough for Sea Shepherd,\u201d Burling said. \u201cNever in our whole history have we been able to get access to a new ship \u2013 we\u2019ve just never been able to afford it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the ships we\u2019ve operated have been pretty old, so this is a game changer for us. It will not only add to our fleet, but spearhead the campaign to stop whaling in the southern ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>

An artist’s rendering of the new ship Sea Shepherd will unveil to help frustrate the 2016-17 whaling season.<\/p><\/div>\n

Currently Sea Shepherd has six ships in its international fleet. Three of those are based in Australia \u2013 the Sam Simon, the Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker.<\/p>\n

All three ships have served Sea Shepherd well, and will continue their operations. But the newly planned ship will take Sea Shepherd\u2019s activism \u2013 and capacity \u2013 to a whole new level.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big thing about this ship is the speed, and the technology that will come with it,\u201d said Burling.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth in terms of their maritime history, and ship building, Japan is world renowned and they have state-of-the-art fleets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been up against ships that are faster and better equipped than ours, and while we\u2019ve still achieved incredible results with an older fleet, this changes everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sea Shepherd describes the Southern Ocean as \u201cone of the last regions of untouched natural beauty on the planet\u201d. It\u2019s been fighting illegal whaling and fishing between around Antarctica since 2002, and has saved more than 5,000 whales from slaughter.<\/p>\n

The whaling season officially operates from December until early March, but this season has seen a break, after Japan\u2019s defeat in the International Court of Justice last year. But Burling says the break is only a brief hiatus.<\/p>\n

Japan is preparing a new submission to the International Whaling Commission, and again arguing that it\u2019s whaling is for scientific purposes (as in, scientifically speaking, this whale meat is delicious!\u2019) – the same claim rejected by the ICJ. Its latest proposal indicates Japan intends to continue whaling for at least another decade.<\/p>\n

In fact, the Japanese fleet is already back in the Southern Ocean, planning its next hunt.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re down there now doing \u2018non lethal research\u2019\u2026 They\u2019re looking at whale migratory patterns and krill movements, so that they can come back next year,\u201d said Burling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the words of Captain Peter Hammarstedt<\/a>, (in charge of Sea Shepherd\u2019s global fleet and captain of the Bob Barker) they\u2019re basically bank robbers casing out the bank for the robbery they\u2019re planning next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

But notwithstanding a break in the whale hunt, there\u2019s never really any lull for Sea Shepherd in its fight to protect our oceans – this year the organisation launched Operation Ice Fish, which is specifically targeting illegal fishing operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly, there\u2019s no shortage of work for Sea Shepherd in terms of policing international maritime law, and taking on some of the most destructive activities on the planet against the ocean and its creatures,\u201d Burling said.<\/p>\n

For the last 40 days, the Bob Barker has been trailing an Interpol-wanted vessel named \u2018Thunder\u2019, operating in waters south of Australia. It\u2019s one of six known vessels currently suspected of illegal fishing in the southern ocean. The target of the poachers is the Patagonian Toothfish.<\/p>\n

\"Veterinarian,<\/a>

Veterinarian, Colette Harmsen and Biologist, Bia Figueiredo find eggs in a deceased female tooth fish, during Operation Ice Fish this month. (IMAGE: Jeff Wirth \/ Sea Shepherd Global)<\/p><\/div>\n

Bob Barker interrupted the hunt by the Thunder, and forced the crew to dump more than 45 kilometres of illegal gill nets (which contained more than $2 million worth of Toothfish). A second Sea Shepherd ship, the Sam Simon, joined the operation to clean up the nets, while the Bob Barker continues to shadow the vessel, which has ceased fishing for now.<\/p>\n

The Sam Simon is also involved in the shadowing of three vessels spotted by the New Zealand Navy two weeks ago near the Ross Sea (off the coast of Antarctica). The NZ Navy wasn\u2019t able to board or arrest the crews, so the Sam Simon is expected to take over the monitoring of the vessels, and to interfere with any attempts to fish.<\/p>\n

\"Sea<\/a>

Sea Shepherd Captain Paul Watson. Photograph from 2007 by James Nachtwey\/VII.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0A Bit about Sea Shepherd and Its Fleet<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n