[Green-Activist] Paul Watson -" the death star returns to the land of the rising sun "

[Anne Goddard]

~The Death Star Returns to the Land of the Rising Sun~  by Paul Wats
Posted by: "Joey Racano" joeylittleshell at yahoo.com   joeylittleshell
Sat Feb 24, 2007 9:20 pm (PST)
The Death Star Returns to the Land of the Rising Sun
by Paul Watson

No More Whales Will Die This Season.

Finally, the burnt out hulk of the whale killing floating factory called the 
Nisshin Maru is limping out of the Antarctic treaty zone, the stench of 
rotten whale meat lingering in its wake. The whale killing fleet is now 
slowly heading north to Japan . There will be no stopping in New Zealand for 
repairs. A stop there will result in legal issues that could tie the ship up 
for years and the whale meat onboard would be confiscated.

The whaling fleet has a long way to go to reach Tokyo and the crew will be 
mourning the loss of one crewmember and remembering the opposition by Sea 
Shepherd that left their decks reeking of rotten butter and awash with the 
blood of the whales caused by Sea Shepherd crew sealing the bloody deck 
flensing outlet drains. It is a ship that reeks of death, burnt flesh, gore 
and blood, and it looks and smells like the Death Star that it is.

The image of the Nisshin Maru retreating from the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary 
is joyous news for all people who love whales. This ship is the single 
greatest whale killing machine of all time and the only thing more pleasing 
to us would be to see its total destruction. Fortunately this did not 
happen, because the sinking of the ship would have been an ecological 
disaster.

Whaling is now officially ended for the 2006/2007 season and the unofficial 
final whale body count appears to be less than 500 whales of their 960 
targeted Piked whales. It is not known how many of the targeted Fin whales 
were killed.

The Nisshin Maru is severely damaged. The main engine was started but 
electrical systems are barely functioning. The whale processing equipment is 
ruined. The winches used to haul up the whales are inoperable. The cargo of 
whale meat onboard has been partially if not completely spoiled by loss of 
refrigeration and intense heat. In addition the whale meat has been 
contaminated by chemicals used to fight the blaze and spilt during the fire.

The disaster has highlighted the fact that the Nisshin Maru is an 
environmental disaster waiting to happen. This year, Antarctica 's wildlife 
was spared the tragedy of an oil and chemical spill that would have occurred 
if the 8,000 ton ship had sunk with hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil 
and an unknown amount of chemicals like ammonia and chlorine.

This is the second serious fire on the Nisshin Maru in 10 years. The vessels 
are not ice-class. Japan has put their pride before any concern for the 
protection of Antarctic eco-systems and wildlife. Their lust to kill whales 
has become obsessive and is blinding their common sense.

"What Japan has just demonstrated over the last 10 days," said Captain Paul 
Watson , "is a total contempt for international concerns for the 
environmental protection of Antarctic wildlife. This whaling fleet is an 
ecological time bomb and the potential for disaster is a real and ever 
present danger when they are down in the Whale Sanctuary illegally 
slaughtering endangered whales."

The whaling fleet spotting vessel the Kaiko Maru is also heading home marked 
with the scars of their deliberate collision with the Sea Shepherd ship 
Robert Hunter . The Japanese crew on both the Nisshin Maru and the Kaiko 
Maru saw first hand the dedicated courage of our international volunteers in 
action during the confrontations. They were days they will not soon forget.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is already preparing to return to the 
coast of Antarctica in December 2007 to once again intervene against illegal 
Japanese whaling activities.

"We have discovered weaknesses with the Japanese ships that can be exploited 
given the right equipment. We learn more about these ruthless killing 
machines every year." Said Farley Mowat Captain Alex Cornelissen . "Next 
year if they return to kill Humpbacks and Fins, we will have to take a more 
aggressive stand to stop these poachers."

The targeting of 50 Humpbacks and 50 Fin whales for the 2007/2008 season is 
a line in the sand where the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is prepared 
to take a stand.

"We cannot abide, tolerate or ignore such a blatant slaughter of the highly 
endangered Humpbacks." Said Captain Paul Watson . "The Humpback is the 
symbol of our organization and a part of our logo and we will defend this 
species as aggressively as we can. Our position on the Humpbacks and the 
Fins is zero tolerance"

The 2006/2007 campaign is now officially over. The efforts of the Sea 
Shepherd Conservation Society have highlighted the on-going illegal 
activities of the Japanese whaling fleet. Our message was that the Japanese 
whalers were killing highly endangered whales in an international whale 
sanctuary in violation of the global moratorium on commercial whaling. Japan 
is engaged in numerous international crimes and they must be opposed and 
they must be shut down.

This year, call it fate, call it karma, or call it the will of God but 
whatever it is, the results have been wonderful for the whales and all of us 
at Sea Shepherd are extremely satisfied with the ignoble retreat of the 
ruthless killers of the gentle giants as their disgraced and damaged ships 
limping shamefully home stinking with the corpses of their innocent victims.

Our message to the Japanese whalers. "We hope your damages are so severe you 
will not be back next year but if you are, we will be there waiting for you 
and we will not be as polite as we were this year." Said Captain Paul Watson 
.

The Sea Shepherd ships Robert Hunter and Farley Mowat are now docked in 
Melbourne . Preparations have already begun to outfit a campaign to 
intervene against the possibility of a return of the whaling fleet in 
December.


Captain Paul Watson
Founder and President of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (1977-
Co-Founder - The Greenpeace Foundation (1972)
Co-Founder - Greenpeace International (1979)
Director of the Sierra Club USA (2003-2006)
Director - The Farley Mowat Institute
Director - www.harpseals.org

"Sail forth - steer for the deep waters only,
Reckless O soul, exploring, I with thee and thou with me,
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all."
- Walt Whitman


www.Seashepherd.org
Tel: 360-370-5650
Fax: 360-370-5651

Address: P.O. Box 2616
Friday Harbor , Wa 98250 USA

famous2

www.stopthewaiver.com 


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