Anti-whaling Ship Running Out of Fuel
Environmental group Greenpeace said on Saturday its anti-whaling ship, which has been harassing Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean, had saved an estimated 100 whales but was running low on fuel and would return to port.
"In a dramatic 4,300-nautical mile chase, the Esperanza spent 14 days
chasing the whaling fleet's factory ship, the Nisshin Maru," Greenpeace
said in a statement.
"Without the factory ship, the remaining
hunter vessels have been unable to operate -- bringing the entire
whaling programme to a halt," it said.
Japan's six-ship whaling
fleet has been trying to avoid anti-whaling protest ships in the
Southern Ocean after protesters stopped whaling operations when two
activists boarded a whaling ship and another group stopped a whaling
ship from refuelling.
The militant Sea Shepherd Conservation
Society, which boarded the Japanese ship, has threatened to find the
whalers and again stop them hunting. Greenpeace, which prevented the
factory ship from refuelling, has been trailing the fleet.
Japanese whaling officials have said they plan to try to exhaust the
fuel supplies of the anti-whaling ships before they resume whaling.
