This image taken by the Sea Shepherd Australia Ltd / Animal Amnesty shows a tiger shark caught off Moses Rock in Western Australia. Photo: AFP / Sea Shepherd Australia Ltd / Animal Amnest
Environmental activist group Sea Shepherd claims its efforts saved more than 750 whales as they returned to land after their longest-yet anti-whaling campaign in the Southern Ocean, their annual high-seas showdown with Japanese whalers.
Sea Shepherd’s ships Bob Barker and Steve Irwin docked in Wellington and Hobart on Saturday after 94 days at sea, formally ending the group’s 10th annual harassment campaign of the Japanese harpoon fleet.
There were three high-seas confrontations during the campaign, described by Sea Shepherd as “ambushes” from the Japanese.
“Although the whale poachers have not yet released the number of whales they have killed this season, we are confident that they have not even reached one quarter of their bogus self-allocated quota, and estimate that our efforts have saved over 750 whales,” Bob Barker captain Peter Hammarstedt said.
The group did not give details and Japan’s fisheries agency was not available for comment.
