Clashes between the Japanese whaling fleet and the conservation group Sea Shepherd intensify in the Ross Sea. As the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin attempted to hamper the transfer of dead whales to the factory processing ship the Nishin Maru there have been collisions between catcher boats and The Steve Irwin. As rotten butter are thrown at the Japanese fleet there have been reports of ball bearings and bit of metal and whale blubber being thrown back by Japanese crew men with some injuries being sustained.
Undaunted the Sea Shepherd groups resolve to continue their campaign of opposition in the Ross Sea counting every whale saved from the Japanese harpoons as a success. Captain Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd, a founding member of Greenpeace, has been urging the Australian government to uphold election promises to hold the Japanese to account over their infringements of international law by continuing to harvest whales for commercial use in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Watson claims he will “back off” if Australia acts through the International courts. They are showing little sign of doing so.
The travesty of the Japanese claim to be hunting and killing these animals for research purposes is clear for all to see when the factory ship, the Nishin Maru, its scuppers running with blood and capable of butchering several whales an hour has the words RESEARCH emblazened on it’s side.
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