Greenpeace protesters spent Christmas riding out a force 10 gale in the icy Southern Ocean and consoling themselves with the thought that the foul weather was preventing Japanese whalers from adding to their kill, the group's team leader said yesterday.
The Japanese whalers and two Greenpeace ships, the Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise, have been playing cat and mouse in Antarctic waters for almost a week but were now simply intent on riding out the storm, campaign leader Shane Rattenbury said.
rough day
PHOTO: AP/GREENPEACE
"We're having a rough day. We're in the middle of a force 10 storm with wind gusts of 55 knots," Rattenbury said by satellite phone from onboard Arctic Sunrise.
"You could say it's a good Christmas in the sense that there's no whaling going on today -- it's a bit of a Christmas present for the whales," Rattenbury added.
Rattenbury said feelings were mixed among the crews of the two Greenpeace ships.
"Obviously people are missing their family and friends but there's also a sense that we're doing something out here that's making a difference and saving the whales," he said.
"We had a few Christmas beers last night and now we're quietly riding out the storm."
Earlier, another protest ship, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's Farley Mowat, reported it almost collided with one of the Japanese vessels.
When conditions have permitted in the past week, protesters have placed their inflatable boats between the harpoons and the whales, prompting the Japanese to spray them with fire hoses.
moratorium
The International Whaling Commission imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986 but Japan says its whale hunts are carried out for scientific research.
Critics, such as the Australian government, claim the program is a cover for the commercial killing of whales for consumption in Japan, where whalemeat is a popular food.
Despite international protests, Japan has this year more than doubled its planned catch of minke whales to 935 and added 10 endangered fin whales, with plans to eventually lift the number to 50, along with 50 rare humpback whales.
Australia has declared a whale sanctuary in a large swathe of the Southern Ocean that it considers to be its Antarctic territory but the refuge is not recognized by Japan.
MINERAL DEPOSITS: The Pacific nation is looking for new foreign partners after its agreement with Canada’s Metals Co was terminated ‘mutually’ at the end of last year Pacific nation Kiribati says it is exploring a deep-sea mining partnership with China, dangling access to a vast patch of Pacific Ocean harboring coveted metals and minerals. Beijing has been ramping up efforts to court Pacific nations sitting on lucrative seafloor deposits of cobalt, nickel and copper — recently inking a cooperation deal with Cook Islands. Kiribati opened discussions with Chinese Ambassador Zhou Limin (周立民) after a longstanding agreement with leading deep-sea mining outfit The Metals Co fell through. “The talk provides an exciting opportunity to explore potential collaboration for the sustainable exploration of the deep-ocean resources in Kiribati,” the government said
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said. He is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said. Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993. Bar, meant to
RSS