Friday, January 10, 2014

Not Taking It Lieing Down...

The Japanese whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru has outpaced a Sea Shepherd pursuit in the Antarctic.
After running for two days out of its whaling grounds with SS on its stern, NM has sped beyond the reach of the group's helicopter and disappeared.
SS Director of ship operations, Peter Hammartsedt: "Steve Irwin's helicopter no longer has the Nisshin Maru in sight. We've never seen it go this fast before."
Instead, each SS ship is being tailed by a Japanese whaling fleet vessel, meaning NM could be informed to avoid the activists. The factory ship also had one hunter vessel, Yushin Maru, with it and is able to resume whaling.
[Nisshin Maru's previously posted top speed is 15.5 knots (28.7kmph). Bob Barker's top speed is 18 knots (33.3kmph), which should easily have been enough to hold on to NM's tail. It would appear as if the whalers may have spent more Japanese public money upgrading the factory ship's engines...]
Now, attempting to shake off the whalers' pursuit, Bob Barker was headed for Australian waters around Macquarie Island, where the tailing Yushin Maru No.3 would be forbidden entry. BB should reach Macquarie by Saturday, when it would also be within reach of any promised aerial monitoring mission by Australia.
A spokesman for Oz Environment Munster Greg Hunt says: "The whalers have not yet been and are not currently in Australia's search and rescue zone. We're ready to commence the monitoring mission."

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