Having confronted the fleet close to the icy edge of Antarctica,
the Esperanza pursued the whaling factory processing ship Nisshin
Maru over the 60 degrees latitude mark – the boundary of the whale
hunting grounds, and both ships were followed by the whale catcher
vessel Yushin Maru.
“Greenpeace came here to stop the fleet from whaling and we have
done that,” said Sakyo Noda of Greenpeace Japan. “Now that they are
out of the whale hunting grounds, they should stay out.”
It is suspected that the whaling fleet is planning to re-fuel
soon and offload whale meat that has already been processed onto
the Panamanian-registered tanker Oriental Bluebird, a ship not
licensed to be part of the whaling fleet.
There are already around 4,000 tons of whale meat stockpiled in
Japan from previous expeditions – clearly showing there is no
appetite or demand for it.
“They are re-supplying a fleet that is not welcome in Antarctica
and trafficking whale meat that is not wanted in Japan,” said
expedition leader Karli Thomas. “In addition, we have seen the
Oriental Bluebird re-fueling the whaling fleet within the Antarctic
waters in the past, which is a major threat to the pristine
environment. The tanker is not registered as part of the whaling
fleet, so should not be here.”
VVPR info: Steve Smith, (202) 465-5352 (cell) or [email protected]
Photo and video are available upon request.
