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Eva's first boat action
December 16th - Day 18
Yesterday's actions were very successful at shutting down one of the whale hunting ships (called "catchers"). Another catcher (the Yushin) did kill a whale, but overall the whalers had a pretty bad day.
Today, though, the whalers made kills left and right. We are in an area with large fields of pack ice surrounding open stretches of water. A catcher can put some ice between itself and the Sunrise, and then start whaling when it hits an open area - knowing we will have to push though the ice before we can get in the way.
So we switched tactics and closed on their factory ship, the Nisshin Maru. Our boat crews were standing by, and when we saw that one of their catchers had harpooned a whale, our boat drivers and crews ran to launch the boats as soon as we cleared the ice.
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So we switched tactics and closed on their factory ship, the Nisshin Maru. Our boat crews were standing by, and when we saw that one of their catchers had harpooned a whale, our boat drivers and crews ran to launch the boats as soon as we cleared the ice.
The Mermaid was first in the water and away towards the factory ship. On board, was Eva - a deckhand from Greece. She had been in protests before, but this was her first boat action. With her were Olivier (as driver) and Jo (crew) - who have years of experience in boat operations and sea actions at sea.
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Eva's first hand account of her first boat action:
We had very short notice. It was go, go! So I ran to the Mermaid. After it was lowered into the water I unhooked us from the ship and we picked up Jo. Then we raced towards the Nisshin Maru as fast as we could go.
We got there just as the first whale was pulled up, and soon received a call from the Sunrise saying another catcher was on the way with another whale. So we decided to try stop them from transferring the whale. To delay them and keep them from killing any more for as long as we could.
We were behind and to the starboard [right] of the whaler's factory ship. I was spotting chunks of ice for Olivier. I turned to my right and I saw the catcher. Then I saw the whale tied up along side - it was dead, but it was still bleeding.
We blocked them from getting close to the factory ship by putting our boat in their way. The catcher bumped into our boat as it tried to move forward, but not very hard. Then the Nisshin turned the big water cannons on us.
It was like, whoosh, I couldn't hardly breath there was so much water. Also, it was very cold water pumped from the sea. I thought, "Oh my god, I will become like one of the icebergs." But you get used to it because you are really focused in your purpose.
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click to enlarge
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They were hosing right onto our driver, Olivier. Jo and I got in front of him to protect him a little from the spray. I couldn't see anything then. I don't know how Olivier was keeping us in place.
We blocked the catcher for a little while longer then they got the whale up the ramp.
I was very sad. But I will not give up. I will not give up because I am not alone. Tell all the people we need their help, though. We need everyone to tell the government of the Japanese to stop the whaling. It is the only way it will stop.
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Click here to help the crew end whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
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