Whale War between Japanese hunters and Sea Shepherd to escalate

News item: Japan requests that Australia prevent the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship Steve Irwin from leaving port this December to harass its whalers in the Antarctic.

Reaction: Isn’t a similar request made every year, to no avail? Japan may not like it, but Capt. Paul Watson and his ragtag band of whale-loving vegans will remain a proverbial thorn in Japan’s side as long as it has funding and, thanks to the popularity of Animal Planet’s “Whale Wars,” there appears to be no shortage for next season’s campaign.

And that Southern Ocean campaign, which will launch Dec. 1, figures to resemble something out of this world, thanks to a swift new boat that looks like a space vessel, can travel at 40 knots and plow through waves and deflect harpoons.

The boat is named Earthrace and its New Zealand owner/skipper, Pete Bethune, told the Sydney Morning Herald he was lending his support because he can’t stand the thought of whales being slaughtered in “my backyard.”

When I talked to Watson recently he said he had something special up his sleeve and was planning a seasonlong, rather than partial campaign against Japan, which annually targets about 1,000 minke whales in what it claims is a research effort.

With the extra boat (Sea Shepherd plans on using three vessels for the campaign) the group does not have to worry about leaving the whalers on their own while returning to Australia for a lengthy refueling process. Of course, the escalation might be dangerous because Japan is weary of what it refers to as acts of piracy against its fleet. Read Article