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Japan halts whale hunt after Sea Shepherd clashes

Sea Shepherd is claiming victory after Japan temporarily suspended its annual whale hunt in the Southern Ocean.

On Wednesday the anti-whaling group claimed two of its boats, the Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker, were rammed by a Japanese ship in Australian Antarctic waters.

It said the attacks happened after they were ordered to leave the area by one of the boats in the Japanese whaling fleet.

It also claimed armed Japanese coastguards threw “concussion grenades” at activists on the ships.

Japan’s fisheries agency has denied those reports, but confirmed that one of its factory ships, the Nisshin Maru, rammed two boats belonging to Sea Shepherd.

However, it said the clashes happened after activists came too close to a Japanese vessel which was refuelling.

Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research has announced it has stopped work for the time being because it is too difficult to refuel.

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FIAPO Donation Event to keep dolphinariums out of India!

Fins and Fluke event: We have partnered with FIAPO to help raise donations for their crucial campaign to ban the use of captive dolphins in India. Donations go directly towards sustaining the campaign, including campaign materials, travel costs and staff time.

Please join our event and help raise funds. Any amount can help and even if you can’t donate, please share this around! Thank you!

melissathompsonesaia: This is Izumi Ishii San - a former dolphin hunter who, in 1996 did a complete 180 and went from dolphin hunting to anti-hunting and began to use his boat for dolphin watching tours.  He cares very much for dolphins and is a beautiful and hopeful example of what’s possible.   Unfortunately, this transformation has been very difficult - the Futo fishery union is very unsupportive, in fact, cold to him. They do not cooperate with Mr. Ishii since he changed his position from hunter to anti-hunting. Since then, he has been standing alone, but his dolphin watching business has struggled greatly, and so he is in financial trouble.  He has a loan that has to be paid by February 9th.  He has collected some of the money owed, but he is still short 150,000 Japanese Yen, which is about $1800 US dollars.  He has been struggling for quite some time, with a commitment to never going back to hunting.  It has certainly been the harder route.  If he cannot pay off his loan by the due date, he has to give up on the boat and also give up on the dolphin watching business. I am heading back to Japan in August and I plan to visit Mr. Ishii. I truly hope he is able to keep his business through the help of all of the dolphin warriors out there all over the world.  If Mr. Ishii’s business fails, it will give the other hunters more reasons to keep hunting.  And if he is successful, then the opposite can be true!  Let’s support him!!! Please visit the Facebook event page and donate - even $10 will help him! Donation information is included on the event page. https://www.facebook.com/events/105931426243948/ Anything helps, please share!
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melissathompsonesaia:

This is Izumi Ishii San - a former dolphin hunter who, in 1996 did a complete 180 and went from dolphin hunting to anti-hunting and began to use his boat for dolphin watching tours.  He cares very much for dolphins and is a beautiful and hopeful example of what’s possible.  

Unfortunately, this transformation has been very difficult - the Futo fishery union is very unsupportive, in fact, cold to him. They do not cooperate with Mr. Ishii since he changed his position from hunter to anti-hunting. Since then, he has been standing alone, but his dolphin watching business has struggled greatly, and so he is in financial trouble. 

He has a loan that has to be paid by February 9th.  He has collected some of the money owed, but he is still short 150,000 Japanese Yen, which is about $1800 US dollars.  He has been struggling for quite some time, with a commitment to never going back to hunting.  It has certainly been the harder route.  If he cannot pay off his loan by the due date, he has to give up on the boat and also give up on the dolphin watching business.

I am heading back to Japan in August and I plan to visit Mr. Ishii. I truly hope he is able to keep his business through the help of all of the dolphin warriors out there all over the world.  If Mr. Ishii’s business fails, it will give the other hunters more reasons to keep hunting.  And if he is successful, then the opposite can be true!  Let’s support him!!!

Please visit the Facebook event page and donate - even $10 will help him! Donation information is included on the event page.

https://www.facebook.com/events/105931426243948/

Anything helps, please share!

The Factory Ship Has Been Located

sea-shepherd:

Jan. 30, 2013 – MELBOURNE, Australia — Last night at 2330 hours, lead by Sea Shepherd Australia, Sea Shepherd’s ship the SSS Bob Barker found the Nisshin Maru and proceeded to pursue the factory ship. The Japanese security ship Shonan Maru No. 2 responded to the Nisshin Maru and approached the Bob Barker following at a distance of 2 miles.

The day before, Sea Shepherd Australia’s vessel the SSS Brigitte Bardot found the harpoon vessel Yushin Maru No. 3. The Yushin Maru No. 3 was heading west and then headed due south to throw the Brigitte Bardot off the track of the Nisshin Maru. However, the Brigitte Bardot decided to pursue the Yushin Maru No. 3 to force it to put as much distance between it and the Nisshin Maru as possible. The Yushin Maru No. 3 is now 400 miles from the Nisshin Maru.

The whaling fleet has not yet killed a single whale. All four Sea Shepherd ships were guarding the approaches to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and interception was made before the fleet could enter the killing area.

Co-Campaign Leader and Sea Shepherd Australia Director, Jeff Hansen, stated, “We have visual confirmation from the crew of the Brigitte Bardot that the harpoon mount on the Yushin Maru 3 is tarped up and has not been loaded, meaning that the fleet hasn’t begun firing their harpoons.”
The Japanese whaling fleet is now scattered and being chased by the Sea Shepherd fleet.

Co-Campaign Leader Bob Brown stated, “The first 24 hours of contact with the whale poachers have been a victory for Sea Shepherd and a complete loss for the Japanese whaling fleet. I am delighted to report that not a single whale has been harmed so far. Go Sea Shepherd!”

One more day and January will be free of whales killed, marking the first time ever that no whales have been killed in this peak month of whaling.

With its strongest fleet ever of four vessels, Sea Shepherd Australia this year has the power to completely stop the Japanese whale poaching fleet, which continues operations in defiance of a 2008 Australian Federal Court ruling prohibiting their whaling activities in the Southern Ocean.

The Sea Shepherd ships intend to keep the whale poachers on the run and divided. All Sea Shepherd ships have the fuel to remain in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary until the end of the whaling season and Operation Zero Tolerance remains on target.

This is so incredible!!

Sea Shepherd Has Intercepted the Whale Poachers Before a Single Whale is Killed

Sea Shepherd has reported that the Brigitte Bardot intercepted the whaling fleet’s harpoon ship, the Yushin Maru No. 3, while on patrol last night in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

This is great news!

Immediate Action Needed! Save Cook Inlet Belugas - By Fins and Fluke

Please click the link and join our event to help save the Cook Inlet Belugas!

Critical! Opposition to the development of Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska, is needed now, as the last of 284 Cook Inlet Belugas reside there. They are an iconic species, which are genetically distinct and geographically isolated to Cook Inlet. The NRDC, along with Board Member, Robert Redford as their spokesperson, have issued a call to action to keep London-based mining giants, Anglo American and Rio Tinto from developing Pebble Mine. Mining companies are moving forward with lots of money and lobbying power to construct a colossal open-pit, gold and copper mine above Bristol Bay. If this happens, there will be an estimated 10-billion tons of mining waste that will run into Cook Inlet destroying everything in its path — belugas, bears, wolves, salmon, and many more species. We are asking President Obama to direct the EPA to use its authority under the Clean Water Act to stop the mine once and for all.

Immediate Action Needed! Save the Cook Inlet Belugas

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