Operation Waltzing Matilda: Sea Shepherd vs. Japanese Whaling in the Antarctic Seas
The newest season of Whale Wars is underway and it already looks to be quite the volatile one.
The Sea Shepherd crew has embarked on their 6th Whale Defense Campaign, this time through southern arctic waters. The campaign—appropriately named “Operation Waltzing Matilda”—launched from Australia on December 7th. The ship, named Steve Irwin after the late “Crocodile Hunter”, even had a few surprise visitors come to see it disembark: Terri, Bindi and Bob Irwin.
Picking up a trail from one of the Japanese ships, the Sea Shepherd crew began their hunt. Ady Gil (formerly known as Earthrace)—their New Zealand-based allies—would be sailing from Tasmania and joining them days later. On December 14th, the battle officially began with the blasting of water cannons between the Steve Irwin and Japan’s Shonan Maru #2.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons (screenshot animal planet channel)
Their dealing with the Shonan Maru #2 does not end there. The Shonan Maru #2 is not a Japanese whaling ship but rather a security ship to ensure the whalers do not have to deal with much interference from the Sea Shepherd crew. In an effort to keep the Steve Irwin from pursuing the whaling vessel, Shonan Maru #2 was following and harassing them for nearly 10 days (at least), making a few big mistakes on their part.
During the chase, Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd crew led his ship into French Antarctic territorial waters in an attempt to lose the Japanese security ship. Watson was granted permission by the French Base at Dumont D’urville to enter the territory. The Japanese vessel, however, pursued Steve Irwin through the French territorial waters without permission. In other words, Japan never bothered to contact the French for permission to enter their territory and as such, chased the Sea Shepherd crew illegally.
Steve Irwin’s helicopter took off to film the Shonan Maru #2 pursuing them illegally. In response to the filming, the Japanese crew activated their LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device) at the helicopter. LRAD is a military class weapon and according to helicopter pilot, Chris Aultman, an extremely irresponsible thing to do.
“That device can cause nausea and disorientation and the use of it against an aircraft is extremely dangerous,” he said.
The fight does not end there. The Japanese have accused the Sea Shepherd crew of using lasers, acid attacks and trailing ropes to entangle the whaling ship’s rudder and propeller. One thing that should be noted is the whalers are from the Japanese government-sponsored Institute of Cetacean Research. Commercial whaling is supposed to be illegal but whaling for scientific research is perfectly fine. However, the ICR has never made public any of their “research” done through whaling.
In response to these accusations, the crew claimed that the lasers were used to get the Japanese to back off to a safe distance—they were dangerously close to crashing more than once. As for the “acid”, the crew uses butyric acid—a nasty smelling liquid that comes from spoiled butter—as a form of stink bomb to annoy the Japanese with.
Australian Greens leader, Bob Brown, said he is revolted that Japan’s fleet was allowed to refuel in Australia en route to killing whales. Not only that, but he would like to have surveillance planes or boats sent out to officially record the dispute.
If you’re wondering where the Ady Gil has fit into the battle so far, they’ve been helping create diversions for the Steve Irwin crew. In particular, they have been attempting to intercept and slow down the Shonan Maru #2 in order to allow the Steve Irwin a chance to slip away and continue their attack on the whaling ship.
More Whale Wars news will be provided as it happens. Check out the official Sea Shepherd site to find out more about the crew and their mission.
By Heidi Marshall
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Tags: anti-whaling, anti-whaling activists, Japanese Whaling, Operation Waltzing Matilda, Sea Shepherd, Steve Irwin, Whale Defense Campaign, Whale Wars
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