SYDNEY: Sea Shepherd campaigners left for their tenth annual campaign to prevent Japan’s slaughter of whales in the Southern Ocean yesterday, with three vessels departing Australia for Antarctic waters.
The Bob Barker, which was once a Norwegian whaling ship, steamed out of Hobart on the mission which aims to harass the Japanese fleet as they harpoon the giant animals and prevent them from taking their full quota.
Captain Peter Hammarstedt said “the Japanese whaling fleet intends to kill 1,035 whales of which 50 are endangered fin whales and 50 are endangered humpback whales, the very same whales that frequent the shores here off Australia.”
Sea Shepherd Australia said its two other boats the Steve Irwin and Sam Simon left Melbourne yesterday for the annual campaign it took over from the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in late 2012. AFP
