Sea Shepherd anti-whaling ship damaged while chasing Japanese vessel
(Read article summary)Though the Sea Shepherd conservation group is down a ship, a rogue wave did succeed in putting a spotlight on Japan’s annual whaling season and the activist effort to put an end to it.
It’s that time of year again: whaling season. And for the past 25 years, whaling season has been accompanied by anti-whaling season.
The latest? A boat – part of the whaling fleet’s nemesis, the Sea Shepherd marine conservation group – was chasing the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean when a large wave hit the “Brigitte Bardot,” disabling it. Anti-whaling activists: 0, rogue wave: 1
The ship is being towed to safety today after being stranded off the coast of Australia. Though the conservation group is down a ship, the rogue wave did succeed in putting a spotlight on Japan’s annual whaling season and the activist effort to put an end to it.
There has been a ban on commercial whaling for 25 years, but each fall, Japan's whaling fleet sails south to the Antarctic and returns the following spring with whales killed on what it says is a scientific research program that catches and kills about 1,000 whales each year. The fleet left Japan earlier this month with plans to catch 900 whales, mostly the non-endangered minke whales.
Page 1 of 4
