Sea Shepherd Clashes With Whaling Fleet in Australian Waters

Sea Shepherd Clashes With Whaling Fleet in Australian Waters

0730 GMT December 26th, 2008, Australian Antarctic Territorial Waters --
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship Steve Irwin closed in on one
of the vessels of the Japanese whaling fleet at 0730 Hours GMT (1930
Hours Sydney Time) on December 26th off the coast of the Australian
Antarctic Territory north of the Mawson Peninsula.

The Kaiko Maru emerged from dense fog in front of the Steve Irwin. The
Sea Shepherd crew pursued and delivered 10 bottles of rotten butter and
15 bottles of a methyl cellulose and indelible dye mixture.

"That is one stinky slippery ship," said Sea Shepherd 2nd Officer Peter
Hammarstedt of Sweden.

The Japanese ship was ordered out of the territorial waters of Australia
by Australian citizen Jeff Hansen from Perth, Western Australia. The
message was delivered in Japanese.

As the Steve Irwin came alongside the starboard side of the Kaiko Maru,
the whaler steered hard to starboard and struck the Steve Irwin lightly
crushing part of the aft port helicopter deck guard rails on the Sea
Shepherd ship. There was no serious damage to either ship.

The Sea Shepherd crew's objective was to intimidate the Japanese fleet
and to keep them moving Eastward out of Australian Territorial waters.
The Sea Shepherd crew have been pursuing the fleet eastward for a week.
There is only 90 miles left before the fleet enters the New Zealand
Zone.

"Our objective now is to chase them out of Australia's Economic
Exclusion Zone," said Captain Paul Watson. "I have a chart here and it
clearly states that these waters are Australian EEZ. There is an
Australian Federal Court Order specifically prohibiting these ships from
whaling in these waters. We have informed the whalers they are in
contempt of this Court ruling."

There is no doubt that Japanese whaling in Australian waters has been
severely disrupted. Since Saturday, the Sea Shepherd crew have chased
the Japanese fleet for 400 miles through heavy fog, dense ice and nasty
weather. During that time they have not been able to kill any whales.

"We still have them on the run and we intend to keep them on the run for
as long as our fuel resources allow," said Captain Watson.

END


Sea Shepherd Conservation Society -International Headquarters - U.S.
Phone: +1-360-370-5650 * Email: media [at] seashepherd.org
Contact: Kristine Vasic, Media Relations Director
http://www.seashepherd.org