japanese whaling report

This is a blog excerpt written by Shane, the Green Peace expedition leader onboard the Arctic Sunrise
(Green Peace's latest vessel after the French sank the old one.) describing the events over the new years period.
I take my hat off to these folk. Go get em lads.

7w

http://weblog.greenpeace.org/oceandefenders/

The day ended with the whaling fleet sitting in a circle, like an old wagon circle in a Western movie. As we patrolled around them, discarded pieces of whale carcass floated by on the water, reminding exactly what had taken place that day.

The next day our objective was to stop the hunt before it even started, putting ourselves in between the whale and the harpoon. Our inflatable boats are both fast and manoeuvrable, making them ideal for this job. The first crews launched, the Esperanza going in one direction after a hunting boat, the Arctic Sunrise going after another. On the bridge of the Sunrise, we watched and waited, wondering whether our plan would work. And soon it was -- the hunters could not get a clear line of sight on the whales. As the boat sped around, whales were escaping, slipping away amongst the icebergs.

As our helicopter buzzed overhead filming the chase, the pilot reported that a pod of five minke whales we had been defending had just escaped. Pure elation. That is the only way to describe the feeling as we battled on behalf of these beautiful and defenceless creatures.

The next emotion is much harder to describe. I jumped as the grenade harpoon tipped exploded in the whale. The harpooner has spied his chance, firing past our inflatable as a whale came up for air, not missing his target. A terrible silence. Lost for words, we could only stand and watch as the hunter began to reel in its prey. Looking across at the boat crew, they sat dejected in the inflatable, their failure tearing at them.

Soon the crew of the hunter vessel were bustling about, preparing to return to the factory ship with their catch. We followed them back, preparing to start again, as determined as ever. As they headed out again, it was my turn to get in the inflatable.

Standing on deck, feeling just like a penguin in my survival suit and several other protective layers (including three layers of gloves!), we prepared to launch. Soon we were bumping across the water, chasing fast after the hunting boat, dodging the lumps of floating ice. The hunter crashed through the water, men standing on the deck and in the crows nest peering through binoculars, looking for whales.

As we sped along next to them, I sat looking at the vessel. A crewman walked out on to deck, and saw me looking up at him. He turned and offered a friendly wave. I waved back. Such contrast to what was about to come.

The whalers soon had a whale in their sights, and immediately we moved in, right in front of the harpoon. There we three of us in the boat --Regine from Germany driving, Paul from Canada and myself the spotters -- looking for the whale, looking for ice, watching where the harpoon was aimed, and screaming directions to Regine over the roar of the engine. The whales appeared, the hunter shipped jagged towards them, we wheeled around, blocking the shot. The harpooner would step down as the whale disappeared again, then coming back to his post as another target appeared. The chase went on, a crazy, weaving battle of the wills, until we turned the wrong way, the harpooner got a clear sight and fired. That same sound. A feeling of emptiness, the quiet as our boat idled. The dead whale floated to the surface, blood pouring from its wound.

We returned to the Sunrise for a crew change. As we came back on deck, we were met with a quiet and knowing look a look of admiration for our efforts, and a look of sadness, the same look I had given the earlier crew. There is not much to say at such a time.

Over at the Esperanza, their efforts we proving to be more effective. We had installed a portable fire pump in one of their inflatables, which sent a spray of water directly in to the air, providing a screen that the harpooner could not see through to shoot whales. It took six and a half hours for that catcher to kill a single whale, much longer than usual. We may not have stopped them entirely, but we certainly slowed them down.

At the end of the day, the fleet got in to formation and steamed off. Suddenly they were running from us, trying to flee from the exposure and harassment we were bringing to bear on them. And so it has continued. For nine days now, the fleet has tried to sail away from us, stopping only briefly on Christmas eve to catch five more whales. Right now, the fleet is scattered, and no whales are being killed.

What are their plans? We don't know. All we know is that soon, they surely must start trying to hunt whales again. And all they know is that as soon as they do, we will be there trying to stop them.

I will write again soon to let you know what the next moves are, but in the meantime, the latest updates are at http://oceans.greenpeace.org/

regards Shane