Sea Shepherd ships head for Antarctic to take on Japanese whalers+

HOLBART, Australia, Dec. 2 Kyodo -
Two vessels of the anti-whaling Sea Shepherd Conservation Society left
Australia on Thursday to protest and disrupt Japanese whaling activities in
Antarctic waters, ahead of the start of the new hunting season.
Sea Shepherd's flagship vessel Steve Irwin, accompanied by the Bob Barker, left
from a wharf in Hobart, the capital of Tasmania. They are expected to arrive in
the Antarctic Ocean in around three weeks.
The two vessels will joined in coming days by the Gojira, a 35-meter vessel,
fast-speed interceptor vessel that replaces the Ady Gill, a trimaran that was
damaged beyond repair last January in a collision with a vessel of the Japanese
whaling fleet.
Sea Shepherd's founder and captain, Paul Watson, told reporters this season's
campaign, dubbed Operation No Compromise, includes the activist organization's
strongest-ever team, which will be better prepared than during the previous six
campaigns.
''We are more prepared in that our ships have been completely overhauled, all
the engines have been completely refitted, vessels are in top shape, the crew
are all ready for it, we have the best equipment, the best resources, and so we
are very, very confident this will be the best year ever,''
He called it encouraging that Sea Shepherd had over 1,500 applicants, from
which they were able to select from a vast field of volunteers when choosing
their 90 members hailing from 19 countries.
Both Watson and Australian Greens Party leader Bob Brown voiced hope that
vessels registered in Australia, as the Gojira is, will be protected by the
Australian government in the event of an incident at sea.
Brown urged the government to send a navy or coast guard vessel to monitor this
season's whaling.
Watson welcomed that suggestion, saying, ''The Australian navy has every right
to be down there,'' especially as New Zealand had indicated it would send a
naval vessel and Japan had said it would send armed coast guards.
One of the Sea Shepherd crew members involved in the campaign, Surfers for
Cetaceans director Howie Cooke, urged Japanese to switch from whale hunting to
whale watching as an industry, as Australia did 30 years ago.
Watson supported the idea, saying he met last week with former Australian
whalers who told him there is much more money to be made in whale-watching
tourism than in commercial whaling.
''This gives me a lot of hope, as stubborn as Australia was, they have now
become one of the most passionate countries in the world defending whales. I
think that Japan can do the same,'' he said.
Japan argues that whaling is cultural tradition that has been practiced by the
Japanese for centuries, so they have an inherent right to continue it.
Watson, however, pointed out how Spain's Catalonia has banned bullfighting and
the English have stopped fox hunting, both practices that were previously
considered to be a part of their culture.
''Things change and people move on,'' the activist said, recalling how Emperor
Meiji abolished the role of samurai in the late 19th century.
''There's nothing more traditional in Japan than the samurai but he abolished
it so that Japan could move into the 20th century,'' he said, adding it would
be a far easier decision to abolish whaling than the samurai.
The Japanese whaling fleet may leave for Antarctic waters as early as Friday
and arrive there by early January to hunt until around the first week of March,
Watson predicted.
==Kyodo