(Sydney Morning Herald)
Whaling ship found
Andrew Darby
January 26, 2011
JAPAN'S whalers face a new threat to their Antarctic season after Sea Shepherd activists located the key factory ship, Nisshin Maru, last night.
The group said Nisshin Maru and two harpoon ships were found in an ice bay in the Ross Sea and sailed eastward into thick ice, under pursuit from the Steve Irwin.
"This whaling fleet belongs to us now - lock, stock and smoking harpoon gun," the Sea Shepherd's leader, Paul Watson, claimed.
''There is a whale presently being butchered on the deck. Sea Shepherd's objective now is to make sure that whale is the last one taken this season.''
A spokesman for Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research did not respond to a request for comment.
The Sea Shepherd group's second ship, Bob Barker, was approaching from about 300 nautical miles away. Its third vessel, Gojira, has been in Hobart undergoing engine repairs.
For much of the past fortnight, Sea Shepherd vessels have been escorting a refuelling ship away from the whalers. They remained hopeful the season was cut short.
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