It appears that the Japanese Whaling Fleet is now involved in a situation in which they are not even willing to help themselves. The Sea Shepherd vessel Sam Simon has successfully blockaded the whaling fleet's supply vessel, the Sun Laurel. There is a chance that the Sun Laurel will lead the Sam Simon right to the Nisshin Maru, which will need to be refueled at some point. The Sea Shepherd vessel Brigitte Bardot is returning to action after returning to Australia to refuel and resupply. This allowed the Yushin Maru #3 to rejoin the fleet. The Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin has been tailed by the Yushin Maru, which is running dangerously low on fuel. The whalers attempted to swap the Yushin Maru and the Yushin Maru #3 so the Yushin Maru could refuel, but the Steve Irwin turned on them and chased them for 150 miles. During that time, the Yushin Maru was unable to reach it's top speed. The Yushin Maru is unable to recover the ground lost between itself and the Nisshan Maru and now finds itself in an emergency situation. The Nisshin Maru is still believed to be on the run from another Sea Shepherd vessel, the Bob Barker. The Yushin Maru #3 has left it's sister ship to pursue the Steve Irwin. This means that the Yushin Maru has been abandoned by the rest of the whaling fleet. Rather than ensure the safety of the crew of the Yushin Maru, the entire whaling fleet has abandoned them. The Southern Ocean is an incredibly hostile environment, but it seems the whalers don't really care for it as they have left one of their own in a terrible, terrible situation. The desperation of these whalers is more evident now more than ever. With the Sun Laurel being pressured to enter Australia Antarctic Territory by the Japanese Government, the coming few days could prove to be very interesting.
The whaling fleet is running low on fuel, the Sam Simon is right on the tail of the Sun Laurel and will probably try to prevent any form of fueling from occurring in the Southern Ocean. The Brigitte Bardot is speeding back to the Southern Ocean. The Bob Barker is pursuing the Nisshin Maru with the assistance of airborne drones. The Steve Irwin continues to occupy the Yushin Maru #3. There has been no sign of the Shonan Maru #2 since it nearly caused an international crisis by entering Australian waters. The Yushin Maru #2 is believed to be on the run with the Nisshin Maru. It is debatable at this point if the whalers have been able to kill a single whale. The Whale Wars continue to rage on in the Southern Ocean. Sea Shepherd's Operation Zero Tolerance continues to be their greatest campaign to date. One can only hope the end result is a massive profit loss again for the whalers.
