ODTV: Heading South | Home | Missing Sea Shepherd Activists Found

Anti-whaling petition, NZ
Thriller tracks whale chase
The Marlborough Express | Wednesday, 7 February 2007

A former Kaikoura man has released an "eco-thriller" on what he calls Japan's "cynical front for commercial whaling".
“Echoes in the Blue” should be available in NZ bookstores from mid-February.
Mr Muller has set up a website to provide more information on whaling including an online petition. He is donating a portion of the book's proceeds to save the whales.
http://www.cgeorgemuller.com

YES, Sea Shepherd ship Robert Hunter has closed in on the Japanese whaling fleet!

Fantastique news for the whales!!!

Fleet is at
66.46S
169.52E

Thanks guys - I believe Sea Shepherd has also posted those coordinates on their website.

Hope you'll join Sea Shepherd soon!
Great news from the Robert Hunter!

stunning photos - just stunning!!

good on Sea Shepherd for being first on the murder scene! -where was Greenpeace--oh that's right - sightseeing.

Hi Gill! This isn't a whale-saving competition. The Southern Ocean is a big place, 20,327,000 square kilometers (7,848,000 mi²). A considerable chunk of that needs to be searched.

It takes a long time to sail south from Auckland. If you check back over our weblog, we only saw our first ice on Monday - and only reached the Antarctic circle a day or so later.

The Sea Shepherd ships, on the other hand, have already been down here for several weeks.

why don't you radio your position to sea shepherd and coordinate with them for a change? at least for the sake of the whales??

Hi Bob. You might want to check out the most recent posting for an update.

Hey Bob, in defence of Greenpeace from the quite common attacks that they do not co-operate or work with Sea Shepherds, I just want to say that it was Paul Watson, one of the co-founders of Greenpeace, who left and decided to no longer work with Greenpeace, and formed the Sea Shepherds instead. I can understand why the politics of it may seem silly in the context of just getting on with it and working to save the whales, but that is exactly what both groups are doing. In their own way. And they both deserve respect for standing up for their methods and following their own values in achieving their mission.

Greenpeace has its own protocol for non-violent direct action, which is not in line with the tactics used by the Sea Shepherds.

National (for me, Australian) and International media reports constantly mix up the two groups and sometimes even label them as one and the same. In order for each group to maintain its independence, standing and reputation, and be true to its supporters - who are funding these ventures based on an understanding of what is and is not okay from each respective organisation's policies and protocols - Greenpeace has made the decision not to work with Sea Shepherds.

Whilst some might think it still doesn't make sense, and I'm sure Greenpeace could actually explain it better, it was actually Paul Watson who decided he didn't want to work with GP anymore, and went off to form another group.

Also, As soon as Greenpeace received a distress call from the Robert Hunter - re: the two activists that went missing before being found - Greenpeace responded immediately and said it would assist and send a helicopter to search as soon as it got in range. So, when any person is in danger, the two groups are obviously going to come togther to maintain and ensure everyone's safety. Which is pretty good if you ask me.

Alice said:
"s soon as Greenpeace received a distress call from the Robert Hunter - re: the two activists that went missing before being found - Greenpeace responded immediately and said it would assist and send a helicopter to search as soon as it got in range. So, when any person is in danger, the two groups are obviously going to come togther to maintain and ensure everyone's safety. Which is pretty good if you ask me."

I hate to tell you.. they HAVE to come to their AID.... it's International Maritime LAW.
I'm not saying it's not good, or that it's not difficult. Trust me i know how hard it can be.. I've sailed south of 60 before.

Dave on Esperanza said...
"The Sea Shepherd ships, on the other hand, have already been down here for several weeks."

Why did you guys leave so late then ? You must have known when the whalers were heading there.

This month is the 1st time I've heard of the Sea Shepherds and i must say i'm impressed.
I gather they have a lot less money to spend than Greenpeace does and yet they are getting more news coverage, have actually found the whalers in such a big section of ocean, and are actually doing something other than protesting... and the whalers , according to australian news, are running away.
Not bad at all.

Either way... it's the whales that matter, so both groups should do what they can.

Give them hell !

Robert - yes, of course we came to their aid - apart from being maritime law, it's quite simply what one does. Our Captain, Frank, said earlier that it would be his "worst nightmare if some of our boats went missing".

We have our tactics and strategies for coming "so late" as you put it - it's not actually a race between Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace, y'know. The ships of both organisations have finite ranges - and the Sea Shepherd ships have - last year our two ships, the Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise arrived earlier in the whale sanctuary, but also left earlier. The whaling fleet have a much larger range, so they stay here for the whole season.

Dave on esperanza said:
"apart from being maritime law, it's quite simply what one does. Our Captain, Frank, said earlier that it would be his "worst nightmare if some of our boats went missing"."

Oh so true. The point i was trying to make is it's not some amazing thing for a vessel.. any vessel... including whalers you are opposed to, to come to the aid of others. It's something you do without any question as long as it doesn't put your own vessel in danger.

I didn't mean to imply you were forced into it by law.
Alice implied like it was something special. As you said.. "it's quite simply what one does".
In my mind it's insulting to imply there is either an ulterior motive or it's done just to be 'nice'.
"there, but for the grace of God, go I"

In regards to later arrival:
I didn't think it was A RACE. My thinking was it would have been better to be on station, or shadowing the whalers, as they entered the sanctuary. To stop them from even getting started.

If I understand you correctly..
The intent of showing up later , was to ensure that a opposition vessel was on station as long as possible. Do the whalers have a refuelling vessel ?.

Big dilemma there. Bring a tanker to fuel any opposition ships for the season, with the risk of a possible fuel spill, or just try maximize the time on station by overlapping.

Fair Winds !
Robert

crewmembers of the "green"

i am the shipswelders/deckhand @ the Sea Shepherd ships. i have been involved by many campagnes in the past.
i am a member fo more then 10 years of SSCS and it's kicking assss!

now that we find as first, the Japanese muder-fleet, and we putting the positions on the internet...what you gonna do with the info. i meen...Greenpace won't given SSCS the positions...and NOW we have them.
it sounds verry hypcriet if you are jusing our info.
..other thing what i wanna ask:

now we have the R.Hunter, how you wanna avoid that the name Sea Shepherd gonna be on the lens from Greenpace? i meen, the people@home can see-and read that Greenpace is not the only organisation that is in Antarctica.
can coast mabye Greenpace members!!

gegards
whalewelder
Netherlands

Hi Marc. Sea Shepherd posted their coordinates on their website, in public view. We have a policy of not publicly publishing our position.

Those positions were now a couple of days ago - we don't know where Sea Shepherd are, or the whaling fleet!

Oh my God, Dave: tell me please what's your point! Sea Shepherd has given you te position of the Japanese, why won't they do that again?
And if you don't want to public your position on internet, you at least could tell it to the Sea Shepherd ships.
Get in contact with them, and deal the Japanese together at sea. I know, and in a way I can understand, you have different ideas, but do not fight it out when the two of you both have the same mission, saving whales!
Let's concentrate on that, please!
It breaks my heart to experience that you are in "war" with Sea Shepherd, while the real unacceptable war (which all wars are...) is between the Japanese and the whales.
Maybe my reaction is a bit hard, but I cannot understand why you make such a big point of this all, go and save the whales!

With kindest regards,
Ellen from Holland.

Dave on the Esperanza: Hi Ellen - Sea Shepherd didn't give us the position - they put it on their website. That was several days ago, so as you can image, those coordinates are no longer relevant. Right now, we don't know where Sea Shepherd are - I can't tell you why they're not broadcasting their position - I'm sure you'd be best to ask them directly. On all our campaigns - including the non-whaling related ones, we do not broadcast our position. That's how we find the people we're looking for...

As far as we're concerned, there's no fight - and definitely no "war" between Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd - I'm not sure where you get that idea from - certainly not from Greenpeace.

Now, can we get back to talking about whales?

Folks, we're spiralling off topic here. How about we continue the conversations about Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd, etc. on the forums?

Dave,
I think you missed the point,but you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned you had only just got there and Sea Shepherd had been there for several weeks. Wouldn't it have been great if Greenpeace had been down there at the same time,looking for the whaling fleet, instead of only just getting there?

Gill, please see my above post - I'm trying to redirect this off-topic comment to the forums.

As I've stated elsewhere, this isn't a race between environmental groups.

Last year, the Greenpeace ships left port earlier - and by now they were already back. It's already been reported that Sea Shepherd are low on fuel.

Look further up the thread to see what I already said - the vessels of both organisations have finite ranges, and cannot stay at sea for the entire whaling season, unlike the whaling fleet.

It's not a question of being late, it's a question of choosing when to be here. It's not an easy decision by any means, but it's one that has to be made.

Now. We can leave it at that?

Thank you Dave,

Lets put this issue to rest, and concentrate on the issue at hand, SAVING THE WHALES!!

I support your mission all the way, and wish you fair winds.

Also thank you for the beautiful pics of the "Isle of the Dead" iceberg. Amazing!! These are the most spectacular ones I have yet seen!!

Enjoy your time here in the Southern seas, the Esperanza are always in my thoughts.

Blessings

Earth Spirit - South Africa