Saturday, January 15, 2011

Olive Branches...and Flies On Roadkill

This week the Japanese whaling fleet's elusive supply ship was finally located. Sea Shepherd’s interceptor Gojira found the refueling ship, the Panamanian-registered Korean-owned Sun Laurel.
SS advised the tanker that refueling vessels in the Sthn Ocean below 60 degrees latitude is unlawful, especially with heavy fuel, and is a violation of the Antarctic Treaty. The captain agreed to head north towards the 60 degree south line, Steve Irwin and Gojira hovering like flies around a carcass.
The tanker captain confirmed he had made no transfers to any of the whalers. This means that as long as SS continues to prevent this, the whalers won't be able to extend their killing season beyond the first week in February.
The entire Japanese whaling fleet has been fleeing from SS for two weeks, with no evidence that any whales have been killed so far. SS is committed to spending the remainder of the whaling season in the Sthrn Ocean, but the season could be cut very short if the whaling ships are unable to refuel.
All that's needed to shut down the nasty Nippons by 100%, is a third large vessel to keep the third harpooner occupied: SS does not have one, but Greenpeace has a ship in Taiwan. A GP ship in the Sthrn Ocean could shut the door on the killing of whales completely.
SS has formally requested GP's help in achieving the total shutdown of the Japanese whaling. SS would provide GP with the whaling fleet’s coordinates, and a GP ship could be on site in as little as two weeks. GP would not have to support SS’s tactics or even communicate with them at all other than to receive the whalers' positions: they just need to simply show up.
GP raises substantial funds to defend whales in the Sthrn Ocean, but they haven't sent a ship to confront the Japs in those waters since 2006. SS believes GP has a moral obligation to end whaling in the Sthrn Ocean in the most effective and efficient manner possible.
Hopefully GP will see the whales' protection comes before any grievances it has with SS. Here's an opportunity to bring about positive results - perhaps even the end of Japanese whaling.
The lives of hundreds of whales can be spared by the support of one additional ship to distract the whalers from their victims.
How about it, Greenpeace?

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