Whalers say activists ruined refuelling

Date
    February 27, 2013


Japanese whalers are angrily renewing demands for action to restrain Sea Shepherd activists after what was claimed to be sabotage of refuelling operations off the Australian Antarctic Territory.    

Following five hours of intense conflict, the factory ship Nisshin Maru abandoned its latest attempt to refuel from the tanker Sun Laurel on Monday night.

    Sea Shepherd is sabotaging [the] refuelling operation, which is essential for safe navigation of ships.

During clashes among scattered icebergs north-west of Australia's Davis base, the Sea Shepherd vessels Bob Barker and Sam Simon suffered superstructure damage in collisions with the Nisshin Maru and Sun Laurel.




''Sea Shepherd is sabotaging [the] refuelling operation, which is essential for safe navigation of ships,'' Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research said in a statement.


The ICR called on Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the US as countries from which Sea Shepherd operated, to ''restrain them and deal with their criminal actions in a strict and objective manner''.

The statement made no mention of the Japan Self Defence Force icebreaker, Shirase, which appeared near the conflict and flew a helicopter over the tanker.

The Environment Minister, Tony Burke, called on the Japanese government to confirm that there was no link between the Shirase and the refuelling tanker.

''Let's face it, without fuel there is no whaling fleet,'' Mr Burke said. ''The tanker is the lifeblood for the rest of this disgusting operation.''    

After giving up the attempt to refuel, the whalers made a fresh bid to go whaling, but failed to harpoon any, according to Sea Shepherd founder, Paul Watson.

''We sent small boats out to block them and also found that our helicopter flying ahead of the harpoon vessels can successfully force the whales to dive and disperse,'' Mr Watson said.

He said the Nisshin Maru threatened to damage the Steve Irwin's helicopter deck with water cannon, but the Sea Shepherd ship was able to outrun the factory ship.

''So, no refuelling so far, and no whales killed,'' Mr Watson said by email on Tuesday with pre-dawn darkness still over the scene.    

''I think they may attempt to refuel again today.''

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/whalers-say-activists-ruined-refuelling-20130226-2f44u.html#ixzz2M2c0NPFu

So they have stooped to deliberately ramming ships in the middle of a refueling operation, which could sea tonnes of fuel oil spilled into pristine antarctic waters and many lives lost.

We really should arrest those lunatic self-declared pirates when they get back to Australia. The US courts have already ruled against them. It is time for Australia to restore the rule of law and stop pandering to mindless hippies and militant left wing extremists.

it is a disgusting mess,

  Hail Sea Shepherd for doing what needs to be done,  whilst the govt remains paralysed with 'other' things..

As for the Japanese government .. declaring they'll never stop whaling...  if that isn't a slap across the face with a glove .   what is it.

Its a challenge,  and they know they have it all over us...


soon Indonesian whalers will be on the scene,  and Korean Chinese, Argentinian Falkland' s .. all claiming they're researching whales,  but really  only want to make a business out of exploiting the rich stocks in the Sanctuary area...

it is quite disgusting... and may be a crucial time for survival of all of us.. not just the Japanese....

I find them without any excuse for their provocative behaviour.

Thank goodness for SS...   let good commonsense prevail... sad that people are risking their lives to try and wake people out of their gluttoness apathy..

they are acting as pirates and motives - however good - do not change that.