All commercial whaling has been banned since 1986 by the
International Whaling Commission (IWC) but there is a loophole that
permits “scientific research”. Using this loophole, Japan has since then
killed more than 22,000 whales in the name of science.
This “scientific research” means harpooning endangered whales,
quickly chopping them into small lumps for meat packets and putting them
in freezers.
Sea Shepherd is a no-profit conservation organisation that goes down
to Antarctica to uphold the law in the international whale sanctuary. It
does this by trying to stop the operations of the illegal whalers by
blocking the slipway of the Nisshin Maru (the floating whale
slaughterhouse).
By blocking the slipway the Sea Shepherd vessels thwart the efforts
of the three harpoon ships that illegally kill whales, since the meat
cannot be processed.
I was born close to the ocean in southern Sweden and have always had a
passion for nature and wildlife. As a child I loved to save ocean
animals such as starfish and mussels that were washed up along the local
beaches. When I received the opportunity to be a crew member on one of
the Sea Shepherd vessels, the Bob Barker, I didn’t hesitate: I took
leave from my job as a learning and support teacher at two inner-city
Sydney schools and signed up.
It was an unforgettable experience.
I was in my bunk bed, sleeping to the sound of the roaring engine,
sliding from one side of the bed to the other due to the high swell,
when I was woken up by the action station alarm.
We were under attack by the three harpoon ships. They were dragging
steel cable across the bow of our ship (86 times) to try and foul our
propeller, and throwing projectiles at us and were about to turn their
water cannon on us, aiming at our crew.
We sent out our small boat crew in the dark, attempting to cut the
cables, but the illegal whalers became more aggressive when they saw us
defending our ship and after nine hours of attack they rammed us.
Luckily, they rammed us above the waterline and we only got a big dent
in our ship whereas while ramming they hit our anchor and holed the side
of their ship (we saw them welding the hole shut the next day).
I spent 95 days in the Southern Ocean witnessing these very determined “researchers” constantly breaking international law.
They had set a quota of killing 1035 endangered humpback, minke and
fin whales but thanks to Sea Shepherd’s effort the illegal whalers only
managed to kill 251 whales.
On March 31 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that
Japan’s whaling program was not scientific research but in fact a
commercial operation and ordered Japan to end its Antarctic whaling
program.
Japan has said it would respect the ICJ ruling and not send a whaling
fleet to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary for the 2014-2015 season.
It’s a victory for the whales. Let’s hope that there will no longer be
any whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
