| | Protesters ram Japanese whaling ship
A government-affiliated Japanese whaling crew was moving a whale from the harpoon ship to the factory ship on Friday when they saw the Steve Irwin approaching.
The Steve Irwin had been harassing the whalers for the past week, and is well known for causing disruptions in whaling. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, led by Paul Watson, owns the Steve Irwin along with two other boats. Their mission is to use any means possible, short of deliberately hurting humans, to stop whaling around the world. Since 1979, Watson and his group have sunk ten whaling ships, and so the recent campaign against Japanese research whaling is nothing new.
The International Whaling Commission is struggling to come to an agreement with countries that refuse to halt the practice. Recently, Japan flatly refused to stop their research whaling in the Antarctic in exchange for limited commercial whaling in territorial waters. Opponents of Japanese whaling point to the harvest numbers as proof that 'research' whaling is just a cover for collecting whale meat. Whale meat is sold in supermarkets throughout Japan and was very popular during the postwar years, although it is not a staple of cuisine today. Japan's 'research' fleet plans on harvesting 935 Minke whales and 50 Fin whales in the Antarctic this season.
The first confrontation on Friday occurred when the Steve Irwin attempted to come between the Yushin Maru 2 and the Nisshin Maru. The goal was to prevent the crews from transferring a dead Minke whale to the factory ship, where it would be butchered and stored. The Yushin Maru 2 narrowly missed being clipped from behind.
The second confrontation occurred during the actual harvest of a whale. The Yushin Maru 3 was pulling a Minke whale out of the water when Watson's ship turned to the right and rammed the ship. The bow of the Steve Irwin became stuck to the Japanese ship for less than a minute while high-pressured hoses were directed at it.
This video is from Institute for Cetacean Research, broadcast Feb 5, 2009.
Download video via RawReplay.com
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