RTSea: When Japan's Fisheries Agency announced that their whaling fleet would be again heading south towards Antarctica to hunt whales, it once again brought a chorus of complaints from several non-whaling nations and vows from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to take them head on, at sea, as they have done for many years. At one point, it seemed that the whaling fleet might not go out, having been thwarted in their |
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attempts last season by Sea Shepherd. In fact, all seemed quiet enough for a while that Sea Shepherd diverted their attention to the illegal tuna fishing taking place in the Mediterranean. But with the Japanese announcement back in the fall, Sea Shepherd was able to put their ships in pursuit and, having recently spotted the lead factory vessel by aerial drone, are now preparing to engage the fleet using controversial "eco-terrorist" techniques that are praised by some and questioned by others. According to the Sea Shepherd website, "The Sea Shepherd ship, Steve Irwin, deployed a drone to successfully locate and photograph the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru on December 24th. Once the pursuit began, three Japanese harpoon/security ships moved in on the Steve Irwin to shield the Nisshin Maru to allow it to escape. This time however the Japanese tactic of tailing theSteve Irwin and the Bob Barker will not work because the drones, one on the Steve Irwin and the other on the Bob Barker, can track and follow the Nisshin Maru and can relay the positions back to the Sea Shepherd ships." Read Full: Japanese Whaling: ships located by Sea Shepherd headed to Southern Ocean
