earthfirst – Page 156

Lappersfort Callout For Eviction

This morning (Thursday 7th), the police snipped open part of our fence and broke their way in to the forest

On December 31st 09, a judge of the Brugge court ruled that the eviction notice passed against the occupiers of 2002 may still be used to evict the present occupiers of the Lappersfort. On Tuesday last week, a representative robot from Fabricom GTI was quoted in the media saying that they would follow the judicial path, and were planning to sit down and discuss the eviction with the Brugge police. This claim that they will follow the “legal” path isn’t something we’re relying on, and we are expecting an eviction any day now. This morning (Thursday 7th), the police snipped open part of our fence and broke their way in to the forest. Four of them had a little piggy tour, taking photos and being generally mysterious and stupid. One of us heard them sneaking around in the night, which means they must have cut the fence at night then snuck in during the morning. As the police start doing such things here, and the fact that Fabricom Suez already has an eviction notice, can only make us think that the eviction is just around the corner…..

IN THE FOREST, WE NEED MORE HUMANS WILLING TO STAY HERE A WHILE AND DEFEND THE FOREST AGAINST THE POLICE IN CASE OF EVICTION.
OUTSIDE THE FOREST, WE NEED MORE HUMANS WILLING TO SUPPORT FROM OUTSIDE, TO COME TO BRUGGE AND DEMONSTRATE ON THE DAY OF EVICTION, AND TO TAKE SOLIDARITY ACTIONS AGAINST FABRICOM GTI AND GDF SUEZ. FOR A FREESPACE IN THE WOODS AND FOR THE WOODS, AND FOR WILDERNESS EVERYWHERE, LAPPERSFORT WON’T GO OFF WITHOUT A FIGHT…..
PLEASE TRANSLATE AND SEND ON THIS CALLOUT

lappersfort@riseup.net
http://lappersfort.freehostia.com

Struggle resumes in Valsusa (Italy)

9.1.10
Tomorrow the struggle starts again in Valsusa, an Alpian valley in Italy where the High Speed Train railway and all its infrastructure is planned.

9.1.10
Tomorrow the struggle starts again in Valsusa, an Alpian valley in Italy where the High Speed Train railway and all its infrastructure is planned.
I mean, rather than ‘starting again’, the struggle will get more direct as these people have been up against this destructive years for years. People already stopped this project and the authorities started to think other possibilities, including transferring the project to another valley. Now, they are back in Valsusa to try again. However, resistance has not vanished, it keeps strong and once again they’ll try to stop the excavators and the… thousands of cops deploy for protecting them.
There is snow over there but activists remain as positive as ever.
They do send a call to anyone to join them, offering food and shelter.
Police are already taking on strategic places. So are activists. From tomorrow onwards the fight will be direct and will last days.
SERA DURA!! IT’LL BE HARD!
NO PASARÁN! THEY SHALL NO PASS!
NO TO THE HIGH SPEED TRAIN!

www.notav.eu

Coal Machinery Sabotaged in South Lanarkshire, Scotland

Late one night in early January Pennile open cast coal mine was visited by a number of people who sabotaged machines. A total of 13 pieces of machinery were damaged, including one giant earth mover, six giant dumper trucks, four standard sized earth movers and two flood light generators.

Recently Pennile open cast finished mining, but the machines Scottish Coal had working there were supposed to be moving to Mainshill Wood. However as we all know Scottish Coal’s plans have been substantially disrupted by the occupation of the wood by the Mainshill Solidarity Camp.

This action was taken by autonomous people in solidarity with everyone who opposes the destruction of Mainshill Wood and it’s development into another coal mine.

Japanese whale killers ram and destroy Sea Shepherd protest vessel the Ady Gil

6.1.2010
Early this morning the Japanese whale killing ship Shonan Maru2 rammed and destroyed the Sea Shepherd protest vessel the Ady Gil. It was a miracle no Sea Shepherd crew were killed or seriously injured.

From Sea Shepherd CEO Steve Roest.

From Sea Shepherd CEO Steve Roest.
I was woken at 4am GMT to hear that the Japanese whaler and security vessel Shonan Maru2 had deliberately rammed the small Sea Shepherd intercept vessel Ady Gil. The Ady Gil had lost the front 3 metres of her nose completely and it is a miracle nobody was seriously injured or killed.

Captain Watson has made the following statement to the press:

In an unprovoked attack captured on film, the Japanese security ship Shonan Maru #2 deliberately rammed and caused catastrophic damage to the Sea Shepherd vessel Ady Gil.

Six crew crewmembers, four from New Zealand, one from Australia and one from the Netherlands were immediately rescued by the crew of the Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker. None of the crew Ady Gil crew were injured.

The Ady Gil is believed to be sinking and chances of salvage are very grim.

According to eyewitness Captain Chuck Swift on the Bob Barker, the attack happened while the vessels were dead in the water. The Shonan Maru #2 suddenly started up and deliberately rammed the Ady Gil ripping eight feet of the bow of the vessel completely off. According to Captain Swift, the vessel does not look like it will be saved.

“The Japanese whalers have now escalated this conflict very violently.” Said Captain Paul Watson. “If they think that our remaining two ships will retreat from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in the face of their extremism, they will be mistaken. We now have a real whale war on our hands and we have no intention of retreating.”

Captain Paul Watson onboard the Steve Irwin is racing towards the area at 16 knots but still remains some five hundred miles to the north. The Bob Barker will has temporarily stop the pursuit of the Nisshin Maru to rescue the crew of the Ady Gil. The Japanese ships refused to acknowledge the May Day distress of the Ady Gil and used the incident to break away from the scene of the ramming.

The incident took place at 64 Degrees and 03 Minutes South and 143 Degrees and 09 Minutes East

Until this morning the Japanese were completely unaware of the existence of the Bob Barker. This newest addition to the Sea Shepherd fleet left Mauritius off the coast of Africa on December 18th and was able to advance along the ice edge from the West as the Japanese were busy worrying about the advance of the Steve Irwin from the North.

“This is a substantial loss for our organization,” said Captain Watson. “The Ady Gil, the former Earthrace vessel, represents a loss of almost two million dollars. However the loss of a single whale is of more importance to us and we will not lose the Ady Gil in vain. This blow simply strengthens our resolve, it does not weaken our spirit.”

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is requesting that the Australian government send a naval vessel to restore the peace in the waters of the Australian Antarctic Territory. We have 77 crew from 16 nations on three vessels, 6 of them were on the Ady Gil. Of these 21 are Australian citizens. 16 Australians on the Steve Irwin and 5 on the Bob Barker. Sea Shepherd believes that the Australian government has a responsibility to protect the lives of Australian citizens working to defend whales from illegal Japanese whaling activities.

“Australia needs to send a naval vessel down here as soon as possible to protect both the whales and the Australian citizens working to defend these whales.” Said Steve Irwin Chief Cook Laura Dakin of Canberra. “This is Australian Antarctic Territorial waters and I see the Japanese whalers doing whatever they want with impunity down here without a single Australian government vessel anywhere to be found. Peter Garrett, I have one question for you. Where the bloody hell are you?”

http://www.seashepherd.org

—

Sea Shepherd vows to continue campaign after whalers destroy Ady Gil

Yesterday was a hectic day in Commonwealth Bay, near Antarctica, in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. The Ady Gil, while stationary, was puposefully rammed at speed by the Japanese whaling security vessel, the Shonan Maru 2. And the Japanese whaling fleet, and the world discovered Sea Shepherds surprise new conservation ship, the Bob Baker, an ex-Norwegian Antarctic ice-class whaling vessel that was bought in 2009 and secretly refitted in South Africa.

In the Antarctic early morning twilight at 0300 Hours, 6 January, the Bob Baker found the Nisshin Maru and her four harpoon vessels. The Japanese whaling operation had been caught unawares. They had been focussing on the location of the Steve Irwin, paying New Zealander Glenn Inwood’s Omeka Public Relations company to hire charter flights first in Albany, and then in Melbourne and Hobart to locate and follow the Steve Irwin.

The ‘spy flights’ from Albany were able to direct the Shonan Maru 2 to shadow the Steve Irwin when it left Fremantle so that the main whaling fleet could avoid a conflict and do their whale slaughter in peace. The straegy worked for two weeks, until the Steve Irwin returned to Hobart to refuel and reprovision. Leaving Hobart on New Years Eve, the Steve Irwin was able to slip past undercover of a thunderstorm. The spy flights from Melbourne and Hobart organised by Glenn Inwood, estimated to cost about $18,000, could not locate the Steve Irwin due to the low cloud cover.

The Sea Shepherd also had some unexpected assistance departing Hobart from six people on a small motorboat, self identified as ‘Taz Patrol’, who patrolled the perimeter of the Australian Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) locating the Yushin Maru and twittering it’s location to the world (and Sea Shepherd).

So with the whaling fleet located, New Zealand skipper of the Ady Gil, Pete Bethune, drove his powerboat around the Nisshan Maru whaling factory ship, attempting to foul the factory ship’s propellors. Evidently only one bauble of rotten butter reached the deck of the Nisshan Maru, but the green laser photonic disrupters were also used. In return the Nisshan Maru fired up its LRAD acoustic weapon and used its water cannon. Stalemate.

So the Ady Gil retreats with the Nisshan Maru fleeing. Sea Shepherd’s new vessel the Bob Baker prepares to chase the Nisshan Maru and the fleet, while most of the Ady Gil crew sit on the roof with the vessel in a stationary idle. The videos show the Japanese harpoon vessel, the Shonan Maru 2 charging the Ady Gil with water canons blazing. Peter Bethune tells his crew to prepare for a drenching, little realizing the danger he and his crew were facing. While the water cannon sprays the roof of the Ady Gil blinding the crew, the Shonan Maru turns sharply to starboard right at the Ady Gil. In the few moments before impact Peter Bethune guns the Ady Gil, but it is far too late with Shonan Maru 2 slicing 2 metres off the bow of the Ady Gil, forcing the powerboat momentarily underwater and immersing the crew in the icy waters holding on to the roof for their lives.

Even after impact and seperation of the ships, the Shonan Maru 2 continues to pound the bedraggled crew hanging on to the top of the Ady Gil with water canon blasts.

Video: Japanese Whalers film Ady Gil being rammed by Shonan Maru 2

Video: Ady Gil rammed by Shonan Maru 2 filmed by Sea Shepherd from Bob Barker

—

Rammed Vessel Ady Gil Sinks

Sea Shepherd Resumes Pursuit of Illegal Whalers

On January 8, 2010 at 17:20 (GMT) the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel Bob Barker reported the last known position of another Sea Shepherd vessel, the Ady Gil, to the Australian Rescue Coordination Center (ARCC). This report was made because the Ady Gil—which was originally going to be towed to a nearby base—is now sinking and could pose a navigation hazard for the next two to three hours.

Having barely survived a vicious attack by the illegal Japanese whaling vessel Shonan Maru No. 2 on January 6, 2010, the Ady Gil began taking on water. Since that time, Bob Barker crew members have been working around the clock in an attempt to save the ship and remove possible environmental hazards in case the vessel had further complications while being towed.

videos from Mainshill and German treesit against a proposed pipeline

The Mainshill Solidarity Camp presents:

*Off With Their Heads!*

Holding the politicians behind Mainshill Open Cast Coal Mine to account

Featuring: Jim Hood MP, Karen Gillon MSP, Councillor Danny Meikle and Lord Home

The Mainshill Solidarity Camp presents:

*Off With Their Heads!*

Holding the politicians behind Mainshill Open Cast Coal Mine to account

Featuring: Jim Hood MP, Karen Gillon MSP, Councillor Danny Meikle and Lord Home

This short film documents the corruption, conflict of interest and hypocrisy dominating the politics of South Lanarkshire, that result in Scottish Coal receiving approval for coal mine after coal mine in the Douglas Valley. With no regard for community health, local democracy, the environment or climate change, Scottish Coal are allowed to run roughshod over the people of the Douglas Valley. The Mainshill Solidarity Camp occupied the site of Mainshill Wood over six months ago to help local communities fight off Scottish Coal and the landowner Lord Home.

The struggle continues!

Watch it here: http://www.politube.org/show/23788

—

Since the 18.12.09 ROBIN WOOD-Activists squat several trees in the Gählerpark in Hamburg Altona to impende the contruction of a heating pipeline for the planned coal power plant Hamburg Moorburg, which would mean the loss of the trees in the park. The company proposing the pipeline is Vattenfall, a Swedish corporation. With their protest they support two residents who have squattet two trees already at 3rd of december.

(German with English subtitles)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJeo631Pyv4

Letter from Climate Prisoners

This is a letter written by friends who are still imprisoned in Denmark. Also check out the prisoner support website – Cop-enhagen.net

Something is rotten (but not just) in Denmark. As a matter of fact, thousands of people have been considered, without any evidence, a threath to the society. Hundreds have been arrested and some are still under detention, waiting for judgement or under investigation. Among them, us, the undersigned. We want to tell the story from the peculiar viewpoint of those that still see the sky from behind the bars.

A UN meeting of crucial importance has failed because of several contradictions and tensions that have shown up during the COP15. The primary concern of the powerfuls was the governance of the energy supply for neverending growth. This was the case whether they were from the overdeveloped world, like the EU countries or the US, or from the so-called developing countries, like China or Brazil.

At odds, hundreds of delegates and thousands of people in the streets have raised the issue that the rationale of life must be (and actually is) opposed to that of profit. we have strongly affirmed our will to stop anthropic pressure on the biosphere.

A crisis of the energy paradigm is coming soon. The mechanism of the global governance have proven to be overwhelmingly precarious. The powerfuls failed not only in reaching an agreement on their internal equilibrruim but also in keeping the formal control of the discussion.

Climate change is an extreme and ultimate expression of the violence of the capitalistic growth paradigm. People globally are increasingly showing the willingness of taking the power to rebel against that violence. we have seen that in Copenhagen, as well as we have seen that same violence. Hundreds of people have been arrested without any reason or clear evidence, or for participating in peaceful and legitimate demonstrations. Even mild examples of civil disobedience have been considered as a serious threath to the social order.

In response we ask – What order do we threaten and who ordered it? Is it that order in which we do not anymore own our bodies? The order well beyond the terms of any reasonable “social contract” that we would ever sign, where our bodies can be taken, managed, constrained and imprisoned without any serious evidence of crime. Is it that order in which the decision are more and more shielded from any social conflicts? Where the governance less and less belongs to people, not even through the parliament? As a matter of fact, non-democratic organisms like the WTO, the NB, the G-whatever rule beyond any control.

We are forced to notice that the theater of democracy is a broken one as soon as, one approaches the core of the power. That is why we reclaim the power to the people. We reclaim the power over our own lives. Above all, we reclaim the power to counterpose the rationale of life and of the commons to the rationale of profit. It may have been declared illegal, but still we consider it fully legitimate.

Since no real space is left in the broken theater, we reclaimed our collective power – Actually we expected it – to speak about the climate and energy issues. Issues that, for us, involve critical nodes of global justice, survival of man and energy independence. We did marching with our bodies.

We prefer to enter the space where the power is locked dancing and singing. We would have liked to do this at the Bella center, to disrupt the session in accord with hundreds of delegates. But we were, as always, violently hampered by the police. They arrested our bodies in an attempt to arrest our ideas. we risked our bodies, trying to protect them just by staying close to each other. We value our bodies: We need them to make love, to stay together and to enjoy life. They hold our brains, with beautiful bright ideas and views. They hold our hearts filled with passion and joy. Nevertheless, we risked them. we risked our bodies getting locked in prisons. In fact, what would be the worth of thinking and feeling if the bodies did not move? Doing nothing, letting-it-happen, would be the worst form of complicity with the business that wanted to hack the UN meeting. At the COP15 we moved, and we will keep moving.

Exactly like love, civil disobedience can not just be told. We must make it, with our bodies. Otherwise, we would not really think about what we love, and we would not really love what we think about. It’s as simple as that. It’s a matter of love, justice and dignity.

How the COP15 has ended proves that we were right. Many of us are paying what is mandatory for an obsessive, pervasive and total repression: To find a guilty at the cost of inventing it (along with the crime perhaps).

We are detained with evidently absurd accusations about either violences that actually did not take place or conspiracies and organizing of law-breaking actions.

We do not feel guilty for having shown, together with thousands, the reclamation of the independence of our lives from profit’s rule. If the laws oppose this, it was legitimate to peacefully – but still conflictually – break them.

We are just temporarily docked, ready to sail again with a wind stronger than ever. It’s a matter of love, justice and dignity.

Luca Tornatore – from the Italian social centres network “see you in Copenhagen”.
Natasha Verco – Climate Justice Action
Stine Gry Jonassen – Climate Justice Action
Tannie Nyboe – Climate Justice Action
Johannes Paul Schul Meyer
Arvip Peschel
Christian Becker
Kharlanchuck Dzmitry
Cristoph Lang
Anthony Arrabal

Lappersfort Eviction Notice Confirmed By Judge

On December 31st 09, the Brugge court gave a verdict concerning the 3 previous occupiers who signed a contract with the owner, GDF Suez, and also concerning the eviction notice for the present occupiers of the Lappersfort.

According to the judge, Suez can not hold the 3 previous occupiers responsible for the new occupation, and therefore their claim against them has been dismissed.

According to the judge, Suez can not hold the 3 previous occupiers responsible for the new occupation, and therefore their claim against them has been dismissed.
However, the judge has declared that the eviction notice issued in 2002, during the first occupation of the Lappersfort, is still valid and may be used to evict the current occupiers. This, despite the fact that the first eviction notice was issued to 13 people identified by the court, and who were threatened after the first eviction with a €50,000 fine if they re-entered the forest or were involved in any other actions against Fabricom / Suez. None of these 13 people have anything to do with the current occupation and therefore an eviction notice based on a verdict passed against them should not be able to be used against us, the present occupiers. Suez had, before this trial, apparently already approached a bailiff with the eviction notice from 2002, but the bailiff refused to enforce it, as it was doubtful whether they could still legally use it. The judge’s verdict on the 31st has given them blatant right to enforce this notice, claiming that the right to private property is one of the pillars of our society and therefore must be upheld by the law enforcers blablabla.
As it stands, Suez now have a notice allowing them to evict the Lappersfort, which they will have to present to a bailiff who will then have to activate the remote-control pig circus. We are on eviction alert every day, and are well prepared, after 16 months of occupation. We’re not sure how long the process will take from here, and we now need more humans inside the forest, aswell as others supporting from the outside. If Suez wants to destroy the Lappersfort, now is the time to come together to make their job as difficult as possible.

Love respect and solidarity to our friends in Titnore Woods (england), Desdelsboscs (spain), Mainshill (scotland), Tasmania (australia), also under eviction threat; to the people of the Brazilian Amazon fighting against the GDF Suez Jirau dam project, and to all other humans defending wilderness and nature across the planet….

lappersfort
– e-mail: lappersfort@riseup.net

Climate Protestors in Court Following Defacing of Canadian Flag

Three climate activists are this morning due in Westminster Magistrate’s Court charged with criminal damage against the Canadian High Commission in London following an action to stop the Tar Sands..

On December 15th, while the International Climate Summit was taking place in Copenhagen, the protesters scaled the entrance to the Canadian High Commission in Grosvenor Square. They cut loose the Canadian flag, before defacing it with crude oil while unfurling a banner reading “Shut Down the Tar Sands”.

The action was a response to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s obstruction of the summit in Copenhagen in order to protect Canada’s Tar Sands Industry [1]. Tar Sands are the dirtiest fuel known to man, both in terms of its impact on the climate and the devastation inflicted on the
local communities [2].

There is an enormous open cast mine in the Alberta Tar Sands region of Canada, where an area the total size of England will be exploited. This is the largest industrial development in the world and is devastating for the indigenous communities that live there, not only destroying the land
itself but increasing levels of cancer, poisoning much of their traditional food sources and leaving the water unsafe to drink [3]. This violates the indigenous treaty rights legally bound to this region.

Jake Colman, 20, Bradley Day, 22, and Daniel Whitely, 19, are all participants in the Camp for Climate Action [4], an action group that occupied Trafalgar Square for the two-week duration of the Climate Summit.

Bradley Day, a waiter from Oxford, speaking after the action:

“This is just the beginning of a UK-based direct action campaign to stop Canadian Tar Sands. These murderous ventures are being funded from within the UK, with the Royal Bank of Scotland, now 84%-owned by the public investing billions, and British Petroleum currently preparing to move in
to Tar Sands. [5] We won’t stand by and let these greed driven corporations cause catastrophic environmental and human destruction.”

Clayton Thomas-Muller, an Indigenous activist with the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), spoke during the Copenhagen summit:
“The Canadian government continues to ignore its own laws, which state they must consult with Indigenous Peoples who have been trying to convey concerns about Tar Sands development. Tar Sands are killing our communities and trampling over our rights. Furthermore, the environmental destruction wreaked by the Tar Sands is directly threatening thousands of lives now and is driving our climate into chaos. The world has woken up to the fact that Canada is now Public Climate Enemy Number One. It’s time Canada did its global duty and shut down the Tar Sands,”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] At the failed Copenhagen Climate Summit, Canada proposed an inadequate target for reducing greenhouse emissions by only 3% by 2020 ignoring world scientists’ recommendations to commit to over 40% reductions below 1990 levels in order to avoid dangerous runaway climate change. Canada already failed to meet its commitments to the Kyoto Treaty and refuses to sign the UN’s Declaration of Rights for Indigenous Peoples whilst continuing development of Tar Sands oil extraction.

[2] Tar Sands fuel is a way of extracting oil who’s energy intensive process has not only completely destroyed areas of the Boreal forests the size of England, burns enough natural gas to power 6 hundred thousand homes a year, produces lakes of toxic waste 66km wide -which filters into
all local life and drinking water- but would itself be enough to push our climate into chaos.

http://tarsandsinfocus.wordpress.com/about/

[3] http://tarsandsinfocus.wordpress.com/about/

[4] http://climatecamp.org.uk

[5] This is the start of a fast growing UK campaign against Tar Sands. Although we do not receive oil directly from Canadian Tar Sands, Corporations such as RBS which is now 84% owned by the British Tax Payer invests billions and British Petroleum have plans to move in to the ‘Sun Rise’ site in the coming months. Action on these issues and these corporations are soon to become a focus of UK activism as we begin to stand up to International injustices such as Tar Sands in Canada.

Stop the Tar Sands

Environmental Activists killed by Mining Companies in Latin America

On 26th December, Dora Alicia Recinos Sorto became the third victim of a wave of violence against environmental campaigners in the Cabañas Region of El Salvador, where community members are protesting against the re-opening of a Gold Mine by Canadian Company Pacific Rim.

Dora Alicia was a member of the Cabañas Environmental Committee, and had been active in opposing the mine. She was eight months pregnant when she was shot dead, and her two year old son was also wounded in the attack.

Her murder comes six days after the fatal shooting of Ramiro Rivera Gomez, Vice President of the Cabañas Environmental Committee, who had survived being shot eight times in August this year. In June, another environmental campaigner, Gustavo Marcelo Rivera Moreno, had been tortured and killed. Many other members of the community have received death threats, including youth workers and journalists for the local community radio station Radio Victoria, and the local priest Father Luis Quintanilla narrowly escaped an attempted kidnapping.

In Mexico, Mariano Abarca Roblero campaigned against the environmentally destructive open-pit Barium mine Blackfire, a World Bank project. He was shot to death on the evening of November 27, 2009, in front of his house in Chicomuselo, Chiapas. More details.

Whalers and Whale Defenders Clash for the First Time This Season

The first clash between whalers and whale defenders took place on December 14th when the Steve Irwin and the Shonan Maru #2 exchanged shots with their water cannons.

The Shonan Maru #2 has been following the Steve Irwin from Fremantle since December 9th. At 1400 Hours (Melbourne time) the Steve Irwin went around an iceberg, did a figure eight out of view of the Shonan Maru #2 and re-emerged within a quarter of a mile of the Japanese whaler’s portside quarter catching the whalers completely by surprise.

A pursuit began and the Shonan Maru #2 turned on two water cannons. The crew of the Steve Irwin immediately responded by placing their water cannon in readiness. The Shonan Maru #2 and the Steve Irwin were engaged in a high speed pursuit for two hours before Captain Watson decided to break off the pursuit to resume course to the coast of Antarctica.

The Japanese whalers are spending a great deal of money, first locating the Steve Irwin by air and then directing the Shonan Maru #2 to the coordinates of the Sea Shepherd vessel. By staying on the tail of the Steve Irwin, the harpoon vessel is able to keep the rest of the fleet aware of the Sea Shepherd position. Captain Paul Watson needs to lose the tail of the Shonan Maru #2 in order to locate the whaling fleet. He is counting on heavier ice conditions to assist in this effort.

“We will use the icebergs and the ice floes to our advantage.” Said Captain Paul Watson. “I’ve observed today that I am a more experienced ice navigator than the Japanese captain chasing us. We need to get him to follow us into the ice fields and let the ice work for us.”

The Steve Irwin crew were left wet, but in good spirits after the confrontation.

—-

Sea Shepherd Evades Pursuit by Japanese Whaling Fleet Security Vessel

The Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin has successfully left the Australian Economic Zone (EEZ) without any sign of the Japanese whaling fleet security ship Shonan Maru No. 2.

The Steve Irwin departed from Hobart at 1800 Hours on December 31st and took advantage of gale force winds and heavy swells to slip past the waiting Japanese vessel.

“It’s a big ocean down here they have no idea where we are,” said Captain Paul Watson. “I’m now confident that we can proceed with our search for the Japanese whaling fleet without further interference from the Shonan Maru No. 2.”

The Sea Shepherd vessel Ady Gil is patrolling the Southern Ocean in advance of the Steve Irwin in search of the fleet.

The Shonan Maru No. 2 was waiting for the Steve Irwin when it left Fremantle on December 7th. The Japanese had chartered an aircraft out of Albany to locate the conservation vessel. They then relayed the Steve Irwin’s position to the Shonan Maru No. 2 to enable the Japanese security vessel to intercept the Steve Irwin.

The Steve Irwin was unable to lose the pursuit of the Shonan Maru No. 2 for more than two weeks. Only by returning to Tasmania was the tail lost because Japanese whaling ships are prohibited from entering Australian territorial waters.

“Thanks to the stormy weather, there was no possibility of a chartered flight locating the Steve Irwin and we were able to pass back into international waters without any sign of the Shonan Maru No. 2,” said Captain Watson. “They will be hard pressed to locate us now and without them on our tail, I am confident that we will be able to track down the whale poachers in the Australian Antarctic Territory.”
“It was awesome seeing them run like cowards when we turned on them,” said Third Mate Vincent Hayes from Williamstown in Victoria.