Like the rest of the crew, standing on dry land for the first time since we left Cape Town, I have mixed feelings.
I feel good about our time at sea. We found the whalers and confronted them. For the first time in over a decade we managed to document a hunt - catching the kill on video from the helicopter. Thousands of people have sent faxes to the Prime Minister of Japan protesting the Southern Ocean hunt. And yes, we saved whales.
Still, the whaling fleet is down there right now. Off the coast of Antarctica. Whaling.
Not that we had any illusions about being able to end commercial whaling by ourselves. That will only happen when the government of Japan is compelled to abandon the unsustainable industry of commercial whaling, which is not something one ship full of people can accomplish - no matter how determined. Instead, it will take worldwide pressure, from both people inside and outside Japan.
I do feel good about the small role we were able to play, and lucky to have been a part of this expedition.
Looking forward, there will be a global day of action on January 23rd. Keep an eye on
whales.greenpeace.org and the
whales discussion group to find out what's going on near you.
This year is a big one for the whales. The Japanese government has been spending a lot of money to get developing countries to vote with them at this years meeting of the International Whaling Commission, which will be held in the whalers home port in Japan. Details on just how much money they've been spending will be released at our press conference today on the pier. See the
press release for details.
As for the ship and crew, we have been at dock for only a few hours and already supplies and gear are being brought on board for the next campaign. Join the
Global Whale Action Team, or one of the other action teams, and we'll let you know when it gets going.
whales | whaling | environmental impacts | solutions | greenpeace & the whales
