Remember the excitement about Mr Splashy pants a few months ago? As part of the Great Whale trail, we launched a competition for our supporters to name humpback whales being tagged off the Cook Islands and New Caledonia. The project was part of our non-lethal research work into whale migrations and behaviour. Well, there was unprecedented response with votes being rigged - Mr Splashy Pants overwhelmingly won the vote and went viral!

Read about the other whales that were named »

Posted by Dave at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

© Greenpeace/Naomi Toyoda

Japan's factory whaling ship, the Nisshin Maru was "welcomed" into Tokyo earlier today, by Junichi and our team from Greenpeace Japan, along with the word "failed" to accompany the ubiquitous and Orwellian "RESEARCH" painted on its hull.

During its five months at sea, the Nisshin Maruwas responsible for taking 551 minke whales from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary - far less than the 1035 whales planned, but more than a hundred than were killed three years ago. Our ship, the Esperanza, shutdown Japan's entire whaling operation for 15 days, during a 4300-mile chase of the Nisshin Maru across the Southern Ocean. The whalers are blaming the protestors (that'd be us then) for missing their target.

Nisshin Maru Arrives in Tokyo after failed "research" in the Southern Ocean »

Posted by Dave at 8:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

© Greenpeace/Sebastian Araya
From Melissa, at Greenpeace Chile
Last Sunday, more than 1,000 people - mainly children - formed a a human heart round a 35 metre large (inflatable!) whale in the middle Of Santiago, the capital city of Chile. Motivated by the killing of whales in the Southern Ocean during the last few months, the Chilean people have called on the government to create a whale sanctuary in Chilean waters - part of a larger sanctuary that's currently being worked out by South American countries.

Santiago will be hosting the International Whaling Commission meeting in June of this year.

Posted by Dave at 7:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)