Operation Relentless
Southern Ocean Whales Are Safe for Now - Whaling is Over for 2014
Sea Shepherd is proud to announce that the Japanese whaling fleet has left the waters of the Antarctic Treaty Zone (ATZ), ending whale
poaching in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary for this year.
Since first locating the whale poachers on January 5, the Sea Shepherd Fleet has actively pursued the Japanese whalers, locating the Nisshin Maru on a record four separate occasions over the three-month period. The whaling fleet’s operations were hampered by Sea Shepherd’s continual pursuit, which included twice exposing the whalers in the process of butchering protected Minke Whales, poached from the waters of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
This is the latest that the Sea Shepherd Fleet has remained in the Southern Ocean to intervene against the illegal operations of the whalers.
Captain Peter Hammarstedt of The Bob Barker said, “The late departure of the whaling fleet is a testament to the fact that they have been delivered a disastrous season by the hand of Sea Shepherd, willing to push into the second week of March despite deteriorating weather conditions rather than face our fleet. Before we started this campaign, we made a promise to our clients, the whales, and to all of our supporters around the world to drive these poachers out of the whales’ waters. We have kept that promise. We are relentless.”
For the tenth year, Sea Shepherd is ready to stop the Japanese whaling fleet from poaching whales in Antarctica.
We’re returning to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary with a fleet of ships, six small boats, one helicopter and more than 100 international crewmembers. The Whales’ Navy is ready for action!
Throughout our nine previous direct-action campaigns, Sea Shepherd has saved the lives of more than 4,500 whales. We have a great track record of success to build upon. For the last three seasons, we sent the whalers home early with just a small fraction of their self-imposed kill quota.
With your help, we will once again try to finally bring peace to the whales of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
