In the Media

Check out selected media coverage that Operation No Compromise has received around the world.

Feb 16, 2011 -- CNN - USA

Japan suspends annual whale hunt

Japan has suspended its annual Antarctic whale hunt because an anti-whaling group is tailing its ship, a government official said Wednesday.

Hirosh Kawamura, an official at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said the hunt has been "temporarily suspended" since February 10 due to the actions of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

"We have experienced the dangerous attacks from them, it might take the life of crews," he said. "Considering the safety as the first priority, we decided to halt the whaling temporarily." .....more

Feb 16, 2011 -- BBC - United Kingdom

Japan halts whale hunt after chase by protesters

Japan has suspended its annual Antarctic whale hunt following protests from a campaign group.

Activists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a US-based environmental group, have been chasing the Japanese fleet's mother ship.

An official at the country's fisheries agency said whaling had been halted "for now" because of safety concerns.

Commercial whaling was banned in 1986 but Japan uses a regulation permitting hunting for scientific research. ....more

Feb 16, 2011 -- The Japan Times - Japan

Activists win; whale hunt halts in Antarctic

The Japanese whaling fleet has suspended its Antarctic Ocean hunt because of obstruction by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessels, a Fisheries Agency official said Wednesday.

Jiji Press reported government officials are considering having the fleet return home earlier than regular years amid the moves by the marine animal rights group.

"The Nisshin Maru (whaling fleet mother ship) has been chased by Sea Shepherd vessels since Feb. 10 and thus the fleet suspended whaling since then," said Tatsuya Nakaoku of the Whaling Section of the Fisheries Agency's Far Seas Fisheries Division. "We are considering several options (to deal with the current situation), but nothing has been decided." ....more

Feb 16, 2011 -- The Canadian Press - Canada

Japan temporarily suspends Antarctic whaling hunt after activists' harassment

Japan has temporarily suspended its annual Antarctic whaling after repeated harassment by a conservationist group, a government official said Wednesday.

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ships have been chasing the Japanese whaling fleet for weeks in the icy seas off Antarctica, trying to block Japan's annual whale hunt, planned for up to 945 whales.

Japan has halted the hunt since Feb. 10 after persistent "violent" disruptions by the anti-whaling protesters, said fisheries agency official Tatsuya Nakaoku.

So far, the attacks have not caused any injuries or major damage to the vessels, he said, but the protesters are throwing rancid butter in bottles and once the protesters got a rope entangled in the propeller on a harpoon vessel, causing it to slow down. . . more

Feb 15, 2011 -- Sydney Morning Herald - Australia

Whalers flee hunting area chased by activists

The Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru is said to have left its whaling grounds far behind as it tries to shake off a conservationist pursuit, and instead is approaching the Antarctic Peninsula below South America.

Since being located in the north-east corner of the Ross Sea last Thursday, the whaling fleet's key vessel has steamed mainly eastward at speed, closely followed by the Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker.

Today the Sea Shepherd leader, Paul Watson, said the Nisshin Maru was now more than 1000 nautical miles (1830 kilometres) outside Japan's self-declared "research" zone for whaling, and still heading east. ....more

Jan 22, 2011 -- Sydney Morning Herald - Australia

Japan's whaling fleet on the run

IN THE shadows of intent, somewhere between harmless fireworks and deadly force, lies the whaling conflict in the Antarctic.

At one end of this spectrum are the stink bombs thrown against water jets. At the other is the near fatal collision involving the Ady Gil.

Among all this piratical colour and movement, decisive moments of a decades-long struggle can pass little noticed. ....more

Jan 15, 2011 -- Stuff - New Zealand

Southern Whaling Season Hard Work

Japanese whalers face the threat of their worst Antarctic season as conservation activists tighten their hold on the whaling fleet.

A fuel resupply that may be vital to keeping the fleet in the Southern Ocean was being thwarted by the Sea Shepherd activists, who have preoccupied the fleet.

More than a fortnight into a shortened season, few, if any, whales are believed to have been killed. For the activists, the tantalising prospect is rising that for the first time in decades of protest, whaling will be effectively shut down.

''We're doing pretty good at it,'' Sea Shepherd leader Paul Watson said yesterday, ''even though we're not being as proactive as in other seasons.'' ....more

Jan 14, 2011 -- The Age - Australia

Sea Shepherd in Control as Whalers Face Battle to Refuel

Japanese whalers face the threat of their worst Antarctic season as conservation activists tighten their hold on the whaling fleet.

A fuel resupply that may be vital to keeping the fleet in the Southern Ocean was being thwarted by the Sea Shepherd activists, who have preoccupied the fleet.

More than a fortnight into a shortened season, few, if any, whales are believed to have been killed. For the activists, the tantalising prospect is rising that for the first time in decades of protest, whaling will be effectively shut down. ....more

Jan 13, 2011 -- TVNZ - New Zealand

Sea Shepherd Plans to Intercept Supply Ship

The Sea Shepherd anti-whaling group says it has intercepted a Japanese whaling supply ship in the Southern Ocean and plans to stop it delivering its cargo to the fleet's factory ship and harpoon vessels.

The Sea Shepherd ship, Gojira said it was tailing the tanker, the Panamanian registered Sun Laurel carrying fuel and other supplies.

When the Gojira captain Canadian Lockhart MacLean found the Sun Laurel he immediately alerted other Sea Shepherd ships in the area which changed course to intercept the tanker. ....more

Jan 11, 2011 -- Herald Sun - Australia

Gillard Calls for Calm on Whaling

Escalating clashes between Japanese whalers and anti-whaling activists in Antarctic waters have sparked a stern call for calm from Julia Gillard.

Amid claims conservationists hurled illegal "flash bang" grenades in the most recent skirmish, the Prime Minister warned both sides to behave more responsibly.

"This is a remote, inhospitable, dangerous place," Ms Gillard said.

"Everybody has to act responsibly. Any sense that somehow you can act irresponsibly and somehow someone miraculously turns up to save you -- that is not the way the world works." ....more

Jan 10, 2011 -- ABC News - Australia

Anti-whaling Activists Reject Grenade Claims

Whale conservation group Sea Shepherd has rejected claims it threw illegal stun grenades onboard a Japanese whaling ship in the Southern Ocean earlier this month.

The Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research, which organises Japan's so-called scientific whaling program, has released footage showing activists onboard boats belonging to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society throwing objects onto the Yushin Maru 2

The two sides have already clashed twice this year during the annual Antarctic hunt, and the Japanese institute says at least two stun grenades and one smoke bomb were thrown in the most recent incident, with one of the grenades landing on protective nets on its harpoon ship. ....more

Jan 09, 2011 -- The Mercury - Australia

Activists’ Ballooning Success

Anti-whaling campaigners have clashed with the Japanese fleet using a state-of-the art interceptor vessel as they bid to disrupt the annual hunting campaign.

Activists on board the £2.57million Gojira trimaran catapulted glass bottles at the Yushin Maru-2 and threw ropes aimed at its propeller in the second clash already this year.

Two ships belonging to campaign group Sea Shepherd have been pursuing Japanese whaling factory vessel the Nisshin Maru for the last six days after discovering the fleet on December 31. ....more

Jan 06, 2011 -- Wall Street Journal - USA

Godzilla Returns to Fight Japanese Whalers

It’s the return of Godzilla, but not exactly how scriptwriters might have imagined it.

A speedboat belonging to the environmental group Sea Shepherd named after the iconic monster — “Gojira”, in the local language – made waves for Japanese whalers on the high seas Wednesday in what was the second altercation between the seafarers this year, according to Japan’s Fisheries Agency, and one that prompted Japan to contact Australian embassy officials in Tokyo asking Sydney to intervene....more

Jan 06, 2011 -- The Guardian - United Kingdom

Wikileaks: Secret Whale Deal Plotted by US and Japan

Japan and the US proposed to investigate and act against international anti-whaling activists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as part of a political deal to reduce whaling in Antarctic waters.

Four confidential cables from the US embassy in Tokyo and the state department in Washington, released by WikiLeaks, show US and Japanese diplomats secretly negotiating a compromise agreement ahead of a key meeting last year of the International Whaling Commission, the body that regulates international whaling. ....more

Jan 06, 2011 -- Daily Mail - United Kingdom

Straight into battle: High-tech anti-whaling vessel clashes with Japanese fleet in freezing
Southern Ocean

Anti-whaling campaigners have clashed with the Japanese fleet using a state-of-the art interceptor vessel as they bid to disrupt the annual hunting campaign.

Activists on board the £2.57million Gojira trimaran catapulted glass bottles at the Yushin Maru-2 and threw ropes aimed at its propeller in the second clash already this year.

Two ships belonging to campaign group Sea Shepherd have been pursuing Japanese whaling factory vessel the Nisshin Maru for the last six days after discovering the fleet on December 31. ....more

Jan 04, 2011 -- The West Australian - Australia

Rivals Continue Whaling Chase

Anti-whaling activists continued their pursuit of the Japanese fleet yesterday, with both sides showing beefed-up capabilities.

Sea Shepherd has three longdistance ships and the activists hurled bottles of a foul chemical on to the harpoon post of the whale chaser Yushin Maru No 3.

The Japanese chaser ships are heavily netted against projectiles or boarding. ....more

Jan 03, 2011 -- L.A. Times - USA

Wikileaks Releases Documents About Anti-whaling Group Sea Shepherd

Japanese and American officials discussed taking action to weaken a prominent anti-whaling group, with Tokyo insisting that Sea Shepherd's confrontations on the high seas actually hurt efforts to reduce whaling, U.S. diplomatic cables show.

The U.S. representative to the International Whaling Commission, Monica Medina, discussed revoking the U.S.-based conservation group's tax-exempt status during a meeting with senior officials from the Fisheries Agency of Japan in November 2009, according to the documents released by WikiLeaks on Monday. ...more

Jan 01, 2011 -- Fox News - USA

Japanese Whalers, Activists Clash off Antarctica

Japanese whalers shot water cannons at anti-whaling activists on Saturday, the conservationist group's founder claimed, hours after the activists tracked down the hunting fleet in the remote and icy seas off Antarctica.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is chasing the fleet in the hopes of interrupting Japan's annual whale hunt, which kills up to 1,000 whales a year. The two sides have clashed violently in the past, including last year, when a Sea Shepherd boat was sunk after its bow was sheared off in a collision with a whaling ship. ....more

Dec 26, 2010 -- The Huffington Post - USA

'Tis the Season for Sea Shepherd to Defend Whales in Antarctica

Earlier last week I met up with Captain Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherd crew at the bottom of New Zealand's South Island as their flagship vessel, The Steve Irwin, embarked on its annual mission to the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary to defend the great leviathans of the deep against the blatantly illegal annual hunting spree by the Japanese government. Perhaps there is no translation in the Japanese language or maybe they just missed the memo, but a "sanctuary" as defined by Noah Webster is understood by the rest of the world as: (1) a place of refuge and protection (2) a refuge for wildlife where predators are controlled and hunting is illegal. ... .more

Dec 2, 2010 -- Japan Today - Japan

Sea Shepherd Ships head for Atlantic to take on Whalers

Two vessels of the anti-whaling Sea Shepherd Conservation Society left Australia on Thursday to protest and disrupt Japanese whaling activities in Antarctic waters, ahead of the start of the new hunting season.

Sea Shepherd’s flagship vessel Steve Irwin, accompanied by the Bob Barker, left from a wharf in Hobart, the capital of Tasmania. They are expected to arrive in the Antarctic Ocean in around three weeks.

The two vessels will joined in coming days by the Gojira, a 35-meter vessel, high-speed interceptor vessel that replaces the Ady Gill, a trimaran that was damaged beyond repair last January in a collision with a vessel of the Japanese whaling fleet. ....more

Nov 23, 2010 -- Sydney Morning Herald - Australia

Avatar pilot turns sights in whalers

Hollywood actor Michelle Rodriguez says she plans to take direct action against Antarctic whaling because the law is not working.

Rodriguez, star of the movie Avatar and the TV series Lost has tested her sea legs with Sea Shepherd activists in preparation for a campaigning spot in the summer of 2011-12.

Speaking after reaching Hobart aboard the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin, she said there was no single way to bring an end to whaling. ....more

Nov 16, 2010 -- News - Australia

Avatar Michelle Rodriguez star joins Sea Shepherd

Hollywood actress Michelle Rodriguez, star of blockbuster Avatar, is in Fremantle throwing her support behind anti-whaling activist group Sea Shepherd.

Rodriguez said she will be on board Sea Shepherd’s flagship vessel MY Steve Irwin when it sets sail at 4pm today for Hobart where crew plan to replenish supplies before heading to the Southern Ocean in December. ... .more

 November 1, 2010 -- Examiner.com - Los Angeles, USA

Celebrities Support the Sea Shepherd in Commencing "Operation No Compromise"

When it comes to defending animal rights, it seems the common constant always involves activists putting even their lives the line to defend what for many should be protected by Natural Law, and very few advocates risk as much as Captain Paul Watson and his crew. Since the late 70’s the Sea Shepherd has embarked on over 200 voyages covering many of the world's oceans and defending and saving defenseless marine life all along the way. They currently have several campaigns around the world in the defense of dolphins, seals, sharks and whales and for the last 10 years, the Sea Shepherd has maintained a strong, positive presence in the Galapagos Islands to protect their wildlife. . . . more