22 February - In the last week, the difference between what we see and hear, here in the Ross Sea, and what we read in the news could not have been more stark. We are getting conflicting reports from the whaling fleet and from the Institute of...

This morning our ship the Arctic Sunrise was deliberately rammed and damaged by the Nisshin Maru, the factory ship of the Japanese whaling fleet. Straight after the ramming, the Nisshin Maru began to steam away from the "scene of the crime".

Armed and masked, scouring the oceans, stealing food from hungry families – modern day pirates are a far cry from the glamour of Hollywood movies. But they are a multi billion-dollar reality for many communities that can least afford to be robbed...