Media release - January 11, 2008
Following a 10-day search in Antarctic waters, the Greenpeace ship Esperanza today confronted Japan's whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
The whaling fleet immediately took flight from the Esperanza,
which is now in high-speed pursuit. While the fleet is on the run,
the whalers are unable to hunt. If the Japanese fleet tries to
start whaling, the Esperanza's international crew of activists will
take peaceful action to prevent the Japanese government's slaughter
of nearly 1,000 whales, including 50 endangered fin whales. The
activists will use high-powered water pumps to create a curtain of
water, obscuring the harpooners' view and denying clear aim at the
whales.
Greenpeace also radioed a statement to the whaling fleet in both
English and Japanese. "Our vessel and crew are here in the Southern
Ocean to condemn your hunt, which includes endangered species, and
to insist that you leave the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and
return to port immediately," said Sakyo Noda, Greenpeace Japan
whales campaigner. "Your so-called scientific whaling is a hoax and
has been dismissed as useless by the International Whaling
Commission. Modern scientific research on whales does not require
killing them."
When the whaling fleet left its home port of Shimonoseki in
November, the government of Japan confirmed that the sole purpose
of its so-called science program was to bring a return to
commercial whaling. A June 2006 independent opinion poll by Nippon
Research Center shows that a majority of the Japanese public does
not support this hunt.
"The Japanese people do not support the whaling that is being
carried out in their name and with their tax money," said Junichi
Sato, whales project leader for Greenpeace Japan. "It is time for
Prime Minister Fukuda to put an end to Japan's whaling scandal and
to recall the fleet home to Japan."
This is Greenpeace's ninth expedition to the Southern Ocean to
defend the whales and the second in the last year. In February
2007, the Esperanza assisted and then escorted the whaling factory
ship Nisshin Maru out of Antarctic waters, following a fire that
left the factory ship disabled and one crewman dead.
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