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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: JAN-FEB 06

Greenpeace, Sea Sheperds chase whalers

One of the inflatable boats deployed by the Greenpeace ships Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise tries to hinder a Japanese catcher ship as it transfers dead minke whales to the Nisshin Maru factory ship. (© Greenpeace/Kate Davison)

 

SOUTHERN OCEANS WHALE SANCTUARY––Neither Australia, New Zealand, nor the United Nations defends the Antarctic whale sanctuary declared in 1974 by the International Whaling Commission, so Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd Conserv-ation Society did it themselves in December 2005 and January 2006, while the Japanese whaling fleet sought to kill 935 minke whales and 10 fin whales within the sanctuary limits ––which Japan does not recognize.


Greenpeace pursued the whalers with two ships, the Esperanza and the Arctic Sunrise, a helicopter, and combined crews of 60 people, including two photographers and two videographers. For Greenpeace, wrote Geoff Strong of the Melbourne Age, “the most important weapon is not the water spray designed to confuse the harpoonists’ aim,” a new tactic used to reported great effect, “but the new satellite Internet link that allows them to send fresh broadcast-quality images.


“Sea Shepherd has a different method of disseminating the message,” Strong continued. Aboard the Farley Mowat were “an embedded contingent of independent media, including representatives from Australia’s Seven network, National Geographic, and documentary filmmakers from the U.S., France, Brazil, and Canada.


“The whalers have a public relations machine too,” Strong noted. “For the first time they too have been releasing images.”


The most intense action of the campaign started on January 8, according to a chronology pieced together by Andrew Darby of the Age. Minutes of high seas drama spun out into almost a week of competing claims.


“Greenpeace expedition leader Shane Rattenbury, in the middle of an interview to Australia by satellite phone, suddenly described the [8,000-ton] Nisshin Maru taking a 360-degree turn after breaking away from the resupply ship Oriental Bluebird, heading for the [1,000-ton] Arctic Sunrise, and the ships colliding,” Darby recounted. Ratten-bury did not mention, and perhaps did not know, that the Farley Mowat was on the far side of the much larger Oriental Bluebird.


“A New Zealand public relations firm acting for Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research distributed the first still images,” Darby wrote, “showing the Arctic Sunrise ramming the Nisshin Maru and unidentified activists throwing wires into the water near the ship’s propellers. Next, Greenpeace posted edited video showing the Nisshin Maru alongside the Oriental Bluebird, then moving at speed across the Arctic Sunrise’s bow before the collision. Sea Shepherd first released details and pictures of its attacks on the Nisshin Maru, claimed to have just occurred,” on January 9,” Darby said.


On January 10, “Sea Shepherd posted on its website an account of its attack on the Oriental Bluebird the day before, using a metal spike to rip along the side of the re-supply ship. A weblog revealed that the Sea Shepherds were attempting to entangle the propellers of the Nisshin Maru before the collision with the Arctic Sunrise.

 

Greenpeace inflatable charges Japanese fleet


“On January 11,” Darby said, “the whalers released edited video from the Nisshin Maru, showing the last minutes before the collision. The Arctic Sunrise maintained course at slow speed until seconds before the collision, when it clearly powered full astern,” trying to reduce or avoid the impact.


The Japanese Institute for Cetacean Research used the Sea Shepherd photos on January 12 to argue that the Farley Mowat and Arctic Sunrise attacked the Nisshin Maru together before the collision––a dubious theory, in view of 28 years of bitterness between Greenpeace and Farley Mowat captain Paul Watson. Watson, an early Greenpeace leader, broke away to form the Sea Shepherds in 1978, after the Greenpeace board reprimanded him for seizing a seal hunter’s club.


There was further drama on January 14, when Arctic Sunrise second mate Joe Constantine was knocked into the freezing water by the line on a harpoon shot over a Greenpeace inflatable boat by the catcher vessel Yushin Maru #2. His survival suit saved him. “Greenpeace was doing what we have been doing for three weeks––putting our inflatables between whales and harpoons,” Greenpeace Australia Pacific chief executive Steve Shallhorn told the Sydney Morning Herald. “The harpoon impacted on the whale, but the towing rope got caught on our boat. As the whale began to sink, our boat was in jeopardy.”
“The Greenpeace campaign was into its 25th day of direct contact with the fleet,” reported Darby. “In six previous campaigns, the Japanese ships have been able to outrun protesters after a few days.”


This year the Greenpeace vessels proved able to keep the whalers close, but the Farley Mowat had to rely on stealth.


“The Farley Mowat has been forced to leave the Southern Oceans,” e-mailed Watson on January 16. “We are disappointed to have to leave, but have over stretched our fuel and have just enough to reach the nearest port. Sea Shepherd had arranged to refuel from a tanker near the French Kerguelen Islands,” Watson added, “but the delivery was cancelled. The Japanese whaling fleet illegally––and with impunity––refueled from a tanker inside the Antarctic Treaty Zone.


“We have spent 40 days at sea,” Watson continued, “and have chased the Japanese over 4,000 kilometers. We cannot match their speed, so it has been a case of catching up and forcing them to run, then catching up again. We have been able to keep them from killing whales,” Watson said, “for over 15 days in total.”


Shallhorn said the Greenpeace ships would be able to stay close to the Japanese for at least two more weeks.


Greenpeace communications director Mike Townsley put the Greenpeace campaign budget at about $1.6 million. Sea Shepherd operated on about $750,000, Watson said.