According to the crew of the Esperanza, they’ve managed to
cast out that Japanese whaling fleet out of the Antarctic after a 24 hour chase
in the seas.
On Saturday the Esperanza found six of the Japanese whalers.
The ship spent 10 days tracking down the vessels.
The Nisshin Maru, was followed by the Esperanza beyond the
60 degrees latitude boundary, the limit settled for the southern whale hunting,
Telegraph.co.uk reports.
Greenpeace plans to stop the whalers from killing almost
1,000 minke and fin whales in the name of science. The volunteers plan to get
between the whales and the whalers’ harpoon gins by placing themselves on
boats.
Greenpeace Japan
campaigner Sakyo Noda said: "We came here to stop the fleet from whaling
and we have done that. Now they are out of the hunting grounds they should stay
out."
According to Esperanza spokeswoman Karli Thomas, the other
five ships were inoperable without the main ship Nisshin Maru.
She said: "We've certainly shut down the whole
operation for the time being at least," dompost.co.nz informs.
When they were spotted on Saturday, the six vessels decided
to separate and flee, put the Greenpeace decided to pursue the Nisshin Maru,
which is about four kilometer ahead of Esperanza.
Greenpeace said that due to the fact that the demand for the
whale meat is so low, almost 4,000 tones of meat which remained from other
hunts were stockpiled.
It was believed that the Nisshin Maru had to re-fuel from
the Oriental Bluebird, another tanker.
Thomas said that the Oriental Bluebird is supplying a fleet
that is not wanted in Antarctica.
She said: “In
addition, we have seen the Oriental Bluebird re-fuelling the whaling fleet
within 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.”
Japan
sent its whaling fleet to Antarctica in
November in order to kill the whales for scientific purposes, but under
international pressure last month it had to abandon the plan to kill 50
humpback whales.
The Japan Whaling Association sent a call to the Greenpeace
in order to stay away from the fleet.
Association president Keiichi Nakajima said: “Past
activities of Greenpeace have been responsible for vessel collisions that risk
the lives and safety of our researchers and crew and are illegal under
international maritime law.”