Sea Shepherd "Godzilla"
It sounds like like a joke, and indeed it has many elements of farce, but nevertheless when the TV reality-show pirates of Animal Planet’s Whale Wars, the Sea Shepherds, meet the Japanese whalers this season in the Southern Ocean, matters could get serious. The Sea Shepherds have a new toy boat as their flagship, the 115′ high speed ocean trimaran dubbed the “Godzilla” or “Gojira,” by the press. For the first time, the Japanese whalers will be carrying armed coast guard personnel, in an apparent response to the boarding of one of their ships by a knife wielding Sea Shepherd, Paul Bethune, in last season’s made-for reality-TV confrontation.
Coast guard protects Japanese whaling ships
Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully is appealing for restraint from both sides as they shape up for what have in recent years become increasingly violent battles over Japan’s Southern Ocean whaling programme.
McCully said the presence of coastguard personnel and the obvious “robust” tactics planned by the Sea Shepherd fleet, believed to number three ships, made for a potentially lethal mix.
“I’ve made it very clear I’m apprehensive about the situation in the Southern Ocean. We’ve now got reports that there are armed coast guard personnel on the Japanese whaling vessels.
“Here you have a pretty explosive cocktail. You’ve got some Japanese whalers going down there feeling somewhat angry about the developments last year when there was accusations being made about the conduct of other parties. You’ve got protesters going down there saying they’re going to take a very robust approach.
“Anyone who looks at what happened last year has got to be fearful that there will be loss of human life under those circumstances, and again I take the opportunity of appealing to both parties to adhere to the law of the sea and to make sure they show the regard they’re obliged to show for the safety of other human beings in the region.’
Sea Shepherd unleashes Godzilla in battle against Japanese whalers
The director of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Jeff Hansen, hailed the $4m (£2.57m) craft today and promised it wouldn’t suffer the same fate as its predecessor, which lost its bow in a confrontation with whalers.
‘This vessel can outrun any Japanese vessel which means that we will have the element of surprise,’ he said.
‘We can find the factory ship and the factory ship is the one we’re after. If we can find the factory ship we can shut down whaling.’
Contrary to their claims the Sea Shepherds do effectively nothing to protect endangered whales by their use of vigilante violence. While we do not support the continued Japanese whaling, the fact remains that minke whales being hunted by the Japanese are not endangered, while the Sea Shepherd violence violates the Law of the Sea and risks the lives of sailors on both sides of the conflict.