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There mightn't be the same victory next year. The Japanese whalers are obviously going to get a lot stronger because of the investment of redirected Tsnunami funds under the guise of "helping whaling towns". 

The government really has to get their act together on anti-whaling and give the Sea Shepherd more support. Hopefully the Greens will start pushing a little harder.

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Aussie companies caught out on whale imports

-Australian companies import fresh whale products
-Approvals not granted by current government - Minister
-"The first I've heard of it and I will certainly look into it"

http://www.news.com.au/features/environment/caught-out-on-whale-imports/story-e6...

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/sea-shepherd-anti-whaling-ship-badly...


Sea Shepherd anti-whaling ship damaged by rogue wave in Southern Ocean



ANTI-whaling campaigners have gone to the aid of a Sea Shepherd scout ship badly damaged in the Southern Ocean while pursuing a Japanese factory vessel.

Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson said the group's high-speed interceptor vessel Brigitte Bardot was hit by a rogue wave in six-metre swells around 2,400km southwest of Fremantle at 9pm (AEDT) last night.

Captain Watson said the ship's main hull had been damaged, although the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said this morning it had been told the Brigitte Bardot had "hull integrity" and that one of the pontoons on either side of the 33-metre vessel had been damaged.

AMSA said it was "satisfied there are no huge risks to the safety of life at sea".

Earlier, speaking via satellite phone from the Sea Shepherd flagship Steve Irwin, Captain Watson told The Australian Online: “The wave came into contact with the port side of the vessel, cracking the hull."

He said Brigitte Bardot Captain Jonathan Miles Renecle believed the ship would stay afloat until it received help.

There were also differing accounts of the rescue mission sent to aid the Brigitte Bardot.

Captain Watson said this morning the Steve Irwin was on its way to rescue the vessel but that it would take about 18 hours to reach the stricken boat, which was 385 km southeast of their current location.

Meanwhile another Sea Shepherd ship, the Bob Barker, had taken over pursuit of the Japanese factory vessel Nisshin Maru, he said.

“The vessel will be fine, but it just can't move anywhere without our help,” Captain Watson said.

However AMSA said the Bob Barker was today alongside the Brigitte Bardot, using one of its inflatable boats to help repair the damaged vessel.

Captain Watson maintained the Bob Barker was elsewhere, and that the Brigitte Bardot would remain stranded for another 18 hours.

“They are not on their way to assist, it is their job to follow the Japanese fleet,” Captain Watson told The Australian Online.

“I don't know why the maritime safety authority is putting this kind of information out there.”

The Brigitte Bardot, named after the French actress, has a crew of 10 - three British, three American, one Australian, one Canadian, one Belgian and one South African.

Sea Shepherd purchased the monohull racer to replace the futuristic speedboat Ady Gil, which sank during a fierce clash with whalers in January 2010.

Captain Watson said it would likely need to be helped back to Fremantle by the Steve Irwin for repairs.

“We're not sure if it will be able to get back out there for this season yet, we'll just have to wait and see,” Captain Watson said.

Captain Watson said the incident would not hinder its efforts to stop Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt said he had written to the government twice in the past fortnight warning of incidents such as the one that occurred last night.

“This was not just foreseen, it has been forewarned in writing twice now,” Mr Hunt told The Australian Online.

“(The government) have turned a blind eye to the inevitable risk to life and property at sea from the activities of whalers and protesters.

He said Labor should have sent a Customs vessel out to sea with the Sea Shepherd ships.

“Had they had a Customs vessel in the area they could have taken action immediately,” Mr Hunt said.

“It's just another case of glorious inaction by this Labor government.”



The Sea Shepherd Conservationist Society has been using aerial surveillance technology to locate the Japanese fleet since last year.

“We still have drone capability that are tracking the Japanese fleet and we only need one ship to be able to stop them,” Captain Watson said.

On Christmas Day it deployed the drone and was able to successfully locate and photograph the whaling factory boat.

IT IS not often Japan's whalers agree with their bitter enemies, the anti-whaling activists of Sea Shepherd, but in this case they do.

With Australia's Southern Ocean patrol ship, Ocean Protector, languishing in Fremantle, both sides of the whaling argument have called for the big red ship to monitor the conflict, which broke out again in Antarctic waters this week.

While the two sides were steaming east off the Australian Antarctic Territory yesterday, Ocean Protector was moored in Fremantle, alongside the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin, which had tied up to refuel.

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''It is superbly ironic to see these two vessels moored together,'' Greens senator Scott Ludlam said. ''Right now the most urgent thing is to get [Ocean Protector] to work,'' he said. ''At the very least it should be assisting in witnessing the whaling, and potentially to be a moderator down there.''

The Environment Minister, Tony Burke, repeatedly rejected calls to send the Ocean Protector south this summer, saying the government had ''no plans'' to do so. It dismissed a similar call from Japan at the last meeting of the International Whaling Commission.

According to the Fremantle Port Authority, the 8300-tonne Ocean Protector arrived from Darwin and was due to leave yesterday for ''sea duties''. The Steve Irwin, after escorting the storm-damaged Brigitte Bardot to safety, was preparing to head for the Antarctic, hoping to avoid the whalers' security ship, Shonan Maru No. 2.

The Japanese ship has been tailing the Steve Irwin since Christmas Day, and Senator Ludlam said its presence was inflammatory. Sea Shepherd leader Paul Watson said he would try to elude the Shonan Maru No. 2 last night.

Shonan Maru No. 2's position inside the 200 nautical mile Australian mainland exclusive economic zone challenges a Federal Court injunction, according to Humane Society International.

The 2008 injunction restrains the Japanese government-owned company, Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha, from whaling in an Australian whale sanctuary. ''The conduct of this Japanese vessel is entirely inappropriate and amounts to aiding and abetting Southern Ocean whaling operations," said an HSI campaigner, Alexia Wellbelove.

Anyone directing the security vessel, as well as its crew, could be in contempt of the Federal Court order and in contravention of Australian environmental law, Ms Wellbelove said. HSI called on the government to enforce the injunction.

A spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said while the Shonan Maru No. 2 was legally entitled to enter the Australian EEZ, it was not welcome.

''The government has repeatedly expressed its concerns directly to the Japanese government,'' she said. ''Furthermore, should the Japanese vessel port in Australia, the proper authorities would have the right to charge the master for breaching Australian law.''

http://www.theage.com.au/national/whalers-activists-unite-in-calls-for-patrol-sh...

God luck to the sea shepherd and the campagne to stop whaling. You would think the Japanese would have enough to do other than chase whales around a section of ocean they have no business being in at a cost that is stupid. All for a product they can not sell and even their own people don't want anymore.

I have to say though i do not support the habit of boarding ships at sea that the group uses. I have no sympathy for those involved and expect them to be charged with piracy when they return to Australia. If not we simply condone the Somalian pirates in what they are doing as their cause will be just as important to them as whaling is to us.