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| Whale update | |
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| Topic Started: Jan 12 2008, 03:20 PM (47 Views) | |
| agate | Jan 12 2008, 03:20 PM Post #1 |
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SATURDAY 12 JANUARY: WHALERS LOCATED It was 0230 when the Yushin Maru, one of the Japanese whaling fleet's three catcher boats, came into view. Lights gleaming through the white snowy haze the words RESEARCH could be clearly made out on its side. As the Yushin Maru passed by Frank Kamp, the Esperanza's Dutch captain, emerged from the bridge with a broad smile on his face. The catcher ship Yushin Maru was a sign the Japanese whaler was near "I just called them over the VHF radio," he said. "I couldn't resist saying konichiwa (hello in Japanese)." There was no reply. This game of marine chess begun in earnest two days ago. As the Esperanza was moving along the Antarctic coast it came across one of Japan's two spotter boats. These ships are purely for observation and don't carry harpoons - but for the Greenpeace campaigners it was a nightmare scenario. As they are not needed for killing or processing the whales the spotters could potentially have stayed with the Esperanza for days - informing the main fleet of its location so that they could steer clear and carry on whaling. But after some emergency manoeuvring and with the help of a snowstorm the Esperanza escaped from the spotter - and after circling for a day found itself in the midst of the rest of the fleet. It took a trained eye to spot the whalers on the Esperanza's radar. When ships move against the prevailing current they leave a blue trail - which signifies that they are definitely not drifting icebergs. In the early hours of this morning the radar screen lit up. Eventually there were four blobs leaving trails on the screen - three catchers and the processing ship the Nisshin Maru. Greenpeace has found what it has been looking for The challenge then for Greenpeace was to find which of the blobs was the Nisshin Maru. With a similar top speed to the Esperanza neither ship can escape from the other. Fortunately for Greenpeace the radar also calculates the speed of the ships it tracks, so despite some deft manoeuvres from the Japanese the Nisshin Maru was successfully pinpointed and we are following it at present. Greenpeace's discovery of the fleet throws Australian plans to observe the whaling into doubt. The Oceanic Viking left port for what was supposed to be 20 days' filming and photographing the Japanese in action. Now they're as likely to film Greenpeace activists speeding around in inflatables as they are the Japanese whalers at work. Rival conservation group Sea Shepherd also have a ship looking for the whalers and have already called asking for the fleets coordinates. However, Greenpeace considers Sea Shepherd's tactics, which have in the past included ramming ships, to be overly aggressive and have made it clear that there will be no cooperation or sharing of information http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7171409.stm |
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2:02 PM Jul 11