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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: March 2007

Fire aboard Japanese whaling ship Nisshin Maru ends Antarctic killing early

 

Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research whaling within Antarctic waters ended for the winter on February 24, 2007--far short of meeting a self-assigned quota of 935 minke whales, 50 humpback whales, and 50 fin whales. The latter are both internationally designated endangered species.

"At around 17:30 today," posted the crew of the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza, "the expedition leader of the Japanese government's whaling fleet radioed, informing us that the Nisshin Maru--disabled nine days ago by fire--plans to sail in three hours.

"This is a relief," the posting continued. "After nine long days, the whaling fleet is finally leaving the Ross Sea, and the unsullied environment of the Southern Ocean."

The Nisshin Maru on February 15 caught fire in a below-deck processing area. Most of the 148-member crew were evacuated, leaving 26 to fight the blaze. One crewman, Kazutaka Makita, 27, was killed by the fire.

The catcher vessel Kyoshin Maru returned his remains to Japan, ahead of the rest of the five-ship whaling fleet.

The Nisshin Maru, the only working "factory ship" for whale processing left in the world, also caught fire in 1998, en route to the Antarctic. It made a controversial emergency stop at Noumea in New Caledonia. Reportedly most of the Nisshin Maru electrical parts and wiring were replaced.

The Esperanza and the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Sea stood by this year while the Nisshin Maru lay "rafted up" for emergency repairs between the tanker Oriental Bluebird and the catcher vessel Yushin Maru.

Conservationists feared that a bad turn of weather might force the Japanese ships to separate, and that the Nisshin Maru, without power, might hit an iceberg. The Nisshin Maru, with more than 340,000 gallons of oil aboard, was reportedly about 110 miles from the world's largest rookery of Adele penguins.

Greenpeace offered to tow the Nisshin Maru to safety with the Esperanza, a former Russian firefighting ship, whose master had 10 years of salvage towing experience.

But Japan refused Greenpeace help. A spokesperson called Greenpeace "terrorists" for trying to disrupt whaling--although Greenpeace has emphasized a conciliatory approach this year.

A Greenpeace online travelogue about Japanese whaling communities, posted at www.whalelove.org/wagon for 10 weeks coinciding with the whaling voyage, included an episode in which a Spanish visitor to an elderly Japanese woman's home eats whale meat with her and proclaims it delicious.

"We are making very clear that we have no problem with Japanese culture or eating whales," Greenpeace spokesperson Emiliano Ezcurra, of Argentina, told Agence France Presse. While opposed to whaling in Antarctic waters, Ezcurra added, Greenpeace does not object to coastal Japanese "subsistence whaling," a longtime target of protest by Greenpeace cofounder Paul Watson, who broke with Greenpeace in 1977 to form the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Sea Shepherds

Flying the "Jolly Roger" as self-proclaimed pirates, the Sea Shepherd ships Farley Mowat and Robert Hunter stalked the Japanese fleet for weeks. Barred from registration by six nations in six months, the Farley Mowat sailed from Australia only hours before losing Belize flagging, while the Robert Hunter's British registration expired just as the ships returned to Melbourne in mid-February.

The Sea Shepherds finally caught the whalers on February 8. Initial skirmishing included tossing stink bombs on the deck of the Nisshin Maru, attempts to plug the ship's blood drains, and attempts to foul the propeller with a cable.

On February 9, a Sea Shepherd inflatable vessel piloted by Karl Neilsen, 29, of Australia, and John Gravois, 24, of the U.S., collided with the Nisshin Manu and suffered a cracked hull. Neilsen and Gravois anchored the inflatable to an iceberg and awaited rescue, hidden in heavy fog for about eight hours, with a malfunctioning radio.

Watson issued a maritime distress call, obliging the Nisshin Maru to join in the search until Neilsen and Gravois were found.

On February 12 the Robert Hunter crossed in front of the catcher vessel Kaiko Maru as it pursued a pod of whales, according to a Sea Shepherd press release. This allowed the whales to escape.

"The Kaiko Maru then came alongside the Robert Hunter and swerved into the starboard side to push it into some ice," the Sea Shepherds said.

"The Robert Hunter's hull was penetrated, and a large hole was ripped into the forward compartment area above the main deck.

"Both ships then moved into the ice," the Sea Shepherds continued, "and began to work their way out of the floe, when the Kaiko Maru backed up and rammed into the stern port side of the Robert Hunter." (See page one photo.)

Within another day, low fuel forced both the Farley Mowat and Robert Hunter to return to Melbourne--but not before Watson threatened to ram the Farley Mowat into the intake ramp at the stern of the Nisshin Maru.

"The Sea Shepherd ships were about 1,000 miles from the Japanese whaling fleet when the fire erupted in the factory area of the Nisshin Maru," Watson posted on February 17. "Despite this there are already accusatory rumors."

On landing, police swarmed over the Robert Hunter, a former Scottish fisheries patrol vessel.
"They're assessing the damage to our hull to try to determine exactly who rammed whom," Watson said. "Our position simply is that if we had rammed the Kaiko Maru then we would admit to ramming it. We have no problem with that. On this occasion, though," Watson said, "it was the Japanese ship that deliberately targeted us. The video footage and forensic evidence of the damage will show who rammed whom.

"We were hit below the water line," Watson added, "and will need to get the ship lifted out of the water" for drydock repairs, expected to cost about $50,000.

The Robert Hunter, after refueling and resupplying in Australia, was scheduled to sail to the North Atlantic to protest against the recent Icelandic resumption of whaling and the Atlantic Canada seal hunt. Repairing the hull, however, may keep it in Melbourne until next winter, when the Japanese whaling fleet is expected to return to Antarctic waters.

The Farley Mowat, launched in 1958 as a Norwegian anti-submarine patrol vessel, is to be retired after 10 years as the Sea Shepherd flagship.