Sea Shepherd's having a wonderful holiday as the entire Japanese whaling fleet remains in port in Shimoseki, Japan. Five ships, the Nisshin Maru, the harpoon ships and a security ship. This means that the earliest the whalers can reach the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary will be the last week in January. Two years ago we caught them on New Year's Day. This is the first year on record they have not been in the Southern Ocean in December. Hopefully it will also be the first year on record that they will not be in the Southern Ocean in January.

As far as our Navy is concerned, the Sam Simon is on stand-by in Hobart, Tasmania, the Bob Barker is on stand-by in W ellington, New Zealand, and the Steve Irwin is moving South into the Southern Ocean escorted by the Brigitte Bardot.

We have a feeling something is wrong with the Nisshin Maru as they keep go out and then coming back to port. If that’s the case let's hope they don't get it fixed!
If they do, we are prepared to protect the whales. We are stronger than ever before and will do everything in our power (without hurting anyone) to stop them and live up to the name of this campaign…Operation Zero Tolerance.

In the meantime, we are asking concerned nations to come monitor the situation should we have to take on the whalers.

For further information:

SBS World News - Customs must monitor whaling

The Courier-Mail - Customs vessel must monitor hunt