Greenpeace abandons chase of Japanese whaling fleet

Two Greenpeace ships that have been harassing Japan’s whaling fleet in Antarctic waters for more than three weeks have abandoned their chase and are returning to South Africa, the organisation said today.

“We’re shifting the campaign focus from the high seas to the supermarket shelves. We’re asking consumers to be aware of who funds the whale hunters, and to let them know that whaling is bad for business,” Greenpeace Chief Executive Steve Shallhorn said in a statement.

The Arctic Sunrise and the Esperanza have been dogging the Japanese whalers in Antarctic waters since late last year – frustrating, but not halting their hunt for 850 minke whales and 10 fin whales as part of Japan’s scientific research programme.

The research is permitted under the rules of the International Whaling Commission, but Australia and other anti-whaling countries say it is really commercial whaling in disguise. The whale meat is sold in Japan.

Greenpeace spokeswoman Carolin Wenzel said it was logistically impossible for the ships to remain in Antarctic waters for the whole of the whale hunting season because of a lack of fuel and other necessities.

The ships had abandoned the whaling fleet and were headed to Cape Town, South Africa, she said.

“We’d always said that we can’t be there for the whole season,” she said.

In a statement released today, the organisation called on its supporters to “use their consumer power to send a strong message to the fishing companies that finance the whaling industry”.

Greenpeace is specifically targeting Nissui, which is a major shareholder of Kyodo Senpaku, the company which owns the whaling fleet operating in Antarctica. Subsidiaries of Nissui include the US seafood giant Gorton’s and the New Zealand-based Sealord Group.

Kyodo Senpaku declined to comment while Nissui representative Takehiko Shimizu said that the company holds approximately one-third of Kyodo Senpaku shares, but emphasised that Nissui was not directly involved in the conduct of any operations in the Antarctic and had no other comment.

The month-long stand-off between Greenpeace and the whalers has been plagued with controversy.

Earlier this month, the Arctic Sunrise collided with whaling factory ship the Nisshin Maru, damaging both vessels, but causing no injuries. Both sides blamed one another for the crash.

Last week, Canadian Greenpeace activist Texas Joe Constantine was thrown out of a small inflatable boat that had been manoeuvring between a harpooner and a minke whale and spent several minutes in the icy waters before being hauled back on board.