Sea Shepherd's Steve Irwin departs Brisbane to take on whaling
by Jeni Bone on 2 Oct 2009
Steve Irwin MIAA
The Sea Shepherd marine conservation ship, Steve Irwin is poised to depart from the Port of Brisbane, heading south to Sydney and then on to other Australian ports to promote its venture and raise awareness of its mission.
Coinciding with the Japanese whaling season, the Steve Irwin will head down to the Antarctic to take on the Japanese vessels, this time armed with a heavy duty water cannon. The trip, known as 'Operation Waltzing Matilda' will be covered by Animal Planet in its reality doco series, 'Whale Wars'.
Brisbane Slipways worked on repairs to the ship and prior to its departurs, Denis Maher from Brisbane Slipways presented Sea Shepherd manager, Ben Baldwin with a framed memento of the repair work BSE carried out on the ship over recent months.
MV Steve Irwin is a 59m (195 ft) ship owned by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The vessel was built in 1975 and formerly served as a Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency conservation enforcement patrol boat, the FPV Westra, for 28 years.
On February 6 this year, the MV Steve Irwin collided with the vessel Yushin Maru No. 2 and later with the vessel Yushin Maru No. 3 while they were whaling in the Southern Ocean.
The Japanese-based Institute of Cetacean Research claimed that MV Steve Irwin deliberately turned into the stern side of the vessel Yushin Maru No. 3 to ram her. Video footage of the incident was later released by the institute showing the incident. MV Steve Irwin's operator Paul Watson denied the ramming, saying: 'They weren't rammed, two vessels collided - the Yushin Maru 3 and the Steve Irwin when they shot in front of us to transfer whale.'
More at www.seashepherd.org
Watch the Whale Wars trailer at:
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