Activists will drive inflatable boats between the whaler's
harpoons and the whales while using high-powered water pumps to
create a curtain of icy water, obscuring the harpooner's view.
We will never do anything to endanger the Japanese vessels or
crew. We will, however, use all peaceful means at our disposal to
stop the killing of any more whales.
Sanctuary?
The area the Japanese fleet are hunting in has been designated
as the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, designed to help whale
populations recover after the devastating commercial whaling of the
last century. Many countries were responsible for this collapse in
whale populations. Most have since realized the tragic consequences
of their actions and now accept, support and promote whale
conservation and a complete end to commercial whaling.
Modern scientific research does not require whales to die. In
addition to confronting the whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean, we
are proving that nobody needs to fire exploding harpoons into
whales and kill them for science. Our Great Whale Trail research
program, in collaboration with scientists from the Cook Islands
Whale Research, Opération Cétacés (New Caledonia) and the
International Fund for Animal Welfare, includes satellite tracking,
skin biopsy, and photo identification of whales. The program has
already yielded
a vast amount of valuable information. But not a single harpoon
needed to be fired.
Scientific whaling is an expensive hoax -- with most of the
results being stockpiled in commercial freezers or ending up in dog
food.
Karli Thomas, the expedition leader on
the Esperanza spoke to the crew on of the Nisshin Maru on the radio
saying:
Our vessel and crew are here in the Southern Ocean to
condemn your hunt, which includes endangered species, and to insist
that you return to port immediately.
We represent millions of people around the world who want to
see an end to whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale
Sanctuary.
We join with the majority of people in Japan who do not
support whaling on the high seas. (...)
Your so-called scientific whaling is a hoax. It has been dismissed as useless by the
International Whaling Commission"
Japan's research whaling benefits only a very few Japanese
bureaucrats, and has cost Japanese taxpayers billions of yen in
subsidies. It produces research nobody needs, and whale meat very
few want. It deserves to be exposed in Japanese society as a
scandalous waste of money.
When the whaling fleet left its home port of Shimonoseki in
November, the government of Japan confirmed the sole purpose behind
its so-called science program is to bring about a return to
commercial whaling.
"The Japanese people clearly 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."
Humpbacks safe -- for now
On December 22nd, the Japanese government backed down in the
face of pressure from Greenpeace supporters, whale advocates, and
conservation-minded governments, announcing that they would
not hunt humpbacks this season.
Rather than reducing the number of whales being killed in the
Southern Ocean, it looks like the Government of Japan is going to
kill a lot more. Plans are emerging for the construction of a new
factory ship that will be even bigger than the Nisshin Maru and be
able to go on killing thousands of whales over the decades to come.
While our activists will be between the harpoons and the whales in
the Southern Ocean in order to save hundreds of whales from being
killed now, we are urging people to stop even more being killed in
the future by writing to the Japanese Prime Minister.
For the latest, up-to-the-minute news, check out the expedition
blog
and the live
Esperanza Webcams.