Paul Watson: Chasing the whalers - part 6

Paul Watson

ABOARD FARLEY MOWAT, SOUTHERN OCEAN - The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society crew has been forced to end its month-long chase of the Japanese whaling fleet.

We are disappointed to have to leave, but we have overstretched our fuel and now have just enough to reach the nearest port.

The Japanese whaling fleet illegally – and with impunity – refuelled from a tanker inside the Antarctic Treaty Zone. We don't have that luxury of operating in violation of the Antarctic Treaty (and would not do so regardless).

Farley Mowat has been at sea since last December 6. We have spent 40 days at sea and during that time we have chased the Japanese fleet from 175 Degrees East to 65 Degrees East, a distance of over 4000 kilometres.

We cannot match their speed, so it has been a case of catching up and forcing them to run, then catching up with them again. They run every time they see us and overall we have been able to keep them from killing whales for over 15 days in total.

The last position of the Japanese whaling fleet was 64-25S 63-20E, the weather foggy with light snow, heading at a speed of 13 knots on a SW course of 270 degrees.

It will take Farley Mowat 10 days to reach the nearest port.

I have learned a great deal about how to stop the Japanese whalers. This year we intimidated them. We knew we could not outrun them; we were limited to chasing them.

Next year it is our plan to return with a ship that can match the speed of their factory ship Nisshin Maru. If we can keep up with the outlaw whalers, we should be able to prevent them from killing whales every day.

Sea Shepherd has accomplished as much as possible with the resources available to the organisation for the 2005 and 2006 season. The ship has plenty of food and water for the crew of 43 for the next 10 days.

We wish the Greenpeace crew the best of luck in their efforts to protest the illegal whaling activities of the Japanese fleet. They have done an excellent job in exposing the crimes of the whalers to the public.

Sea Shepherd is committed to shutting down the 17 year Jarpa II program under which Japanese the whalers plan to slaughter over 18,000 minke whales and thousands of endangered fin and humpback whales.

* Paul Watson is founder and president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.