The whale hunt was last disrupted by activists from two Greenpeace ships on December 21 & 22, 2005. After this, the Nisshin Maru factory ship and the other whaling vessels took off at full speed, chased by the Greenpeace ships, Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise. The Sea Shepherd vessel, the Farley Mowat, intercepted the Nisshin Maru on the December 25, 2005, with the Japanese factory ship threatening to ram the Sea Shepherd ship.

The Japanese Whaling Fleet refueled inside the Antarctic Treaty area watched by Greenpeace activists on board the Esperanza. The whaling fleet then sailed south to recommence the whale hunt and slaughter. For 24 hours Greenpeace lost track of the fleet, but contact has been made again, with 10 whale carcasses seen strung from the side of the fleet's factory ship.

The research by the Japanese whaling fleet has been widely discredited, with scientific whaling being used to cover the commercial slaughter of whales for consumption on the Japanese restaurant market. Japan has increased its quota of whales to be slaughtered this year to 935 minke and 10 of the endangered fin whale.

Norway's government, following a unanimous recommendation by the Storting (Norwegian parliament), increased the kill quota to 1,052 minke whales in 2006, up from a record-high quota of 796 in 2005, in defiance of the International Whaling Commission moratorium established in 1986. Iceland resumed whale hunting under the 'scientific research' loophole in 2003 and killed 39 minkes last year and is expected to hunt a similar number in 2006.

Sources: | Melbourne IMC | Everybody goes back to work - Andrew, onboard the Esperanza, 5 Jan 2006 | Update from the Farley Mowat in Antarctic Waters - Sea Shepherd 4 Jan 2006 | Japan whaling resumes - The Australian, 5 Jan 2006 | Japan resumes whale research (PDF) - ICR website, 5 Jan 2006 | Whalers, Greenpeace resume battle - Sydney Morning Herald, 5 January 2006

More Information: | Greenpeace | Sea Shepherd Whale Defense Campaign 2005 Blog | Ask Gorton's to help stop whaling. - The company invented the McDonald's Filet-O-Fish burger. | Sea Shepard - What you can do!

Photo - Minke whale is transferer onto the Nisshin Maru factory ship of the Japanese whaling fleet. © Greenpeace / Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert