These photos were taken by the Sea Shepherd helicopter that was launched from the Sea Shepherd flagship, Steve Irwin. This is the fourth time that the helicopter has located the whaling fleet and once again the chase is on. The latest news update from Sea Shepherd is that two of the harpoon vessels of the whaling fleet, the Yushin Maru and the Yushin Maru #3 have engaged the Bob Barker and were dragging large cables across the bow of the conservation ship. I have no idea if this is still going on or what has happened at the time of this blog. Again, there has been zero response from the Australian Government about the fact that whales have been killed in their sanctuary or that there is legit violence going on in their waters.
At the start of the whaling season, Australia claimed that they would send a plane to document the whaling fleet's activities as well as monitor the situation between the whaling fleet and Sea Shepherd. So far, the Australian Government has sent one plane on one day. I don't see how that one flight is by any means an accurate representation of Australia monitoring anything. If the Australian Government took a serious stance on whaling like they promised they would, then their would not be a plane flying around, their would be a ship down their actually monitoring what is going on. They'd see the harpoon vessels shooting explosive tipped harpoons into the spines of whales in their waters and they'd see the clashes between those poachers and the conservationists who are doing the job of the government because they simply refuse to act. I cant help but wonder how things would be down there if the Australian Government was as dedicated to fighting against whaling as West Australia's Government is in their senseless war against sharks. That kind of dedication would probably see an end to whaling in the Southern Ocean, but until that happens, Japan will continue to rape the protected seas of its inhabitants. Until Australia steps up it's game, Sea Shepherd will continue to do the job of the Australian Government which is something that the Australian Government should be ashamed of. They should be ashamed at their own lack of action and the fact that that lack of action is part of the reason that whaling continues in the Southern Ocean and that volunteer conservationists are risking their lives to do something they shouldn't even have to do.
