Anti-whaling group buys ex-Japanese research ship
Vessel built in Tokyo will be used to harass Japanese whalers hunting in Antarctic
Activists aiming to halt Japan's whaling fleet revealed a new weapon for their latest Antarctic campaign yesterday, a US$2 million ship they say was once owned by the government in Tokyo.
Lockhart MacLean, captain of the renamed Sam Simon, said the militant Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was able to buy the vessel after a US company, New Atlantis, purchased it when it was advertised for sale.
MacLean said the ship was originally built as a scientific observation ship and run by Japan's meteorological agency until 2010. It was ideal, he said for chasing the harpoonists through the freezing and remote waters of Antarctica, where they annually hunt for whales during the southern hemisphere summer.
Japan says the hunt does not breach an international moratorium on commercial whaling because it is done in the name of "scientific research", but the meat is later sold openly in shops and restaurants.
MacLean, speaking from Hobart in Tasmania, where the boat launched on Tuesday, said of the Sam Simon: "It's interesting that whereas we feel that Japan is not doing any significant research down in Antarctica, we actually own a real Japanese research ship. I guess it's ironic in that sense."
Sea Shepherd has said that this year's campaign against the whalers, its ninth, is its biggest ever, but until now it had kept the identity and location of the Sam Simon a secret.
