Feature story - January 28, 2008
Crew from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza watch the Japanese factory ship, Nisshin Maru on the horizon as they have disengaged from the Japanese government whaling fleet due to low fuel reserves in the Southern Ocean.
The Esperanza has spent the last two weeks successfully preventing the Japanese whaling fleet from hunting in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. The Australian government ship Oceanic Viking is still tracking the fleet.
The Esperanza spent 14 days chasing the whaling fleet's factory
ship, the Nisshin Maru. Without the factory ship, the remaining
hunter vessels have been unable to operate, bringing the entire
whaling program to a halt.
It is estimated that the fleet needed to catch approximately
nine minke whales each day and an endangered fin whale every other
day in order to reach their self-imposed quota of nearly 1,000
whales. However, the Japanese government said they would not whale
while Greenpeace was with the Nisshin Maru.
In a statement radioed in Japanese and English to the Nisshin
Maru, Greenpeace Japan whales campaigner Sakyo Noda said, "we
believe that you are under orders from Tokyo not to allow anyone to
witness your fake science program. Each of you on board your ship
must ask yourself why, if there is nothing wrong with your science
program, do you need to hide from public scrutiny and run away from
legitimate peaceful protest?"
Greenpeace's peaceful protests in the Southern Ocean have
brought the issue of whaling to the forefront of public
consciousness in Japan. The Japanese public is now questioning why
taxpayer funds are paying for a fake research program that
generates thousands of tons of whale meat that goes uneaten, and
nothing of significant scientific value.
We leave the Nisshin Maru, but we do not abandon the campaign to
end whaling in the Southern Ocean for good. And the whaling fleet
will return to Japan with a lot less dead whales than planned
for.
We will continue our work on the political arena and in Japan.
Hopefully next year there will be no need to send a ship to these
waters.