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Sea Shepherd News
News Releases
01/09/2007
Sea Shepherd Launches Operation Leviathan with New Ship Robert HunterSea Shepherd Conservation Society’s Operation Leviathan is underway to
stop the Japanese whaling fleets’ illegal slaughter of over a thousand
whales.
With its newly acquired ship named the M/Y Robert Hunter Sea Shepherd is
on its way down to the Antarctic.
The organization’s flagship M/Y Farley Mowat is expected to arrive in the
whaling area during the second week in January where the flagship will
rendezvous with the organization's faster ship Robert Hunter. The two
ships with over 60 international volunteer crewmembers, a helicopter, and
numerous smaller vessels will confront the Japanese whalers on the high
seas.
The volunteers represent thirteen nations with crewmembers from Australia,
Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Hungary, Great Britain,
Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States.
The latest Sea Shepherd vessel is named after Canadian Robert Hunter, who
along with Captain Paul Watson was a co-founder of the Greenpeace
Foundation. Bob Hunter died in May 2005 and at his funeral Captain Watson
pledged to name a ship in his honor. Robert Hunter’s daughter Emily Hunter
has joined the ship’s crew for the campaign to defend whales in
Antarctica.
“Bob and I were in the very first inflatable that blocked the harpoons of
the whalers in 1975,” said President and Founder of Sea Shepherd Captain
Captain Paul Watson. “He was my shipmate from 1971 onward with
Greenpeace and later joined me on many Sea Shepherd campaigns. With this
ship, he continues to be by my side in spirit and together we continue to
defend life in the oceans.”
The Japanese whaling fleet is determined to illegally slaughter more than
1,000 whales in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary. Japan has doubled its
illegal quota of piked (Minke) whales to just over a thousand, and will be
targeting endangered fin whales, and for the first time since the early
eighties, 50 endangered humpback whales. "Sea Shepherd is the only
organization in the world willing to go to the Antarctic to intercept the
Japanese whaling fleet and shut them down," said Paul Watson. "This is an
international effort to uphold international law against a pirate whaling
operation."
Thousands of Australian supporters have joined the Society in our fight to
save the whales. Among them, advertising guru John Singleton and
Bluetongue Brewery are supporting the campaign through the launch of their
website
http://www.whalesafebeer.com The Farley Mowat flew the flag of Fremantle, Western Australia, when the
ship departed. The flag had been given to the ship by Fremantle Mayor
Peter Tagliaferri with the request that we fly it in the Southern Oceans.
Visit our Operation Leviathan Campaign pages to learn more about our
mission!
http://www.seashepherd.org/leviathan/P.O. Box 2616, Friday Harbor, WA 98250 (USA) Tel: 360-370-5650 Fax:
360-370-5651
Copyright © 2006 Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. All rights reserved.
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Quelle:
http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_070109_1p.html.
