Activists trying to combat Japanese whaling have gone high-tech.
The longstanding battle against whaling has mostly been a game of wait, watch, chase and hope for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. But activists are now hoping they'll be able to chase down whaling vessels before they ever make their first kill – with the help of drone aircraft.
Two of Sea Shepherd's ships are outfitted with long-range drones fitted with cameras and detection equipment, which help the ships scan hundreds more miles of ocean for whaling vessels, thanks to a donation from Bayshore Recycling Corp. of Woodbridge, New Jersey.
“We can cover hundreds of miles with these drones and they have proven to be valuable assets,” Capt. Paul Watson said on board the ship Steve Irwin.
And the technology has already proved successful for the group, which said it located the Japanese ship Nisshin Maru near the west coast of Australia on Saturday thanks to a drone.
"The Sea Shepherd crew have found the Japanese whaling fleet before a single whale has been killed," the group reported.
But three ships then held off the Steve Irwin and allowed the whaling ship to escape, according to the group.
Normally, that would mean the Japanese ship could head off into a new area and begin whaling again, forcing activists to start all over again to try to find it.
"This time, however, the Japanese tactic of tailing the Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker will not work because the drones, one on the Steve Irwin and the other on the Bob Barker, can track and follow the Nisshin Maru and can relay the positions back to the Sea Shepherd ships," the group said on its website.
Monday night the group posted on Facebook that its other ships located the Nisshin Maru and they were locked in on it.
"The chase is on," the post on Facebook said. "Three Sea Shepherd ships and seven ships for the whaling fleet all bound for the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary on opposite missions. Sea Shepherd sails for life and the Japanese whalers sail for death."
Last winter, Japan cut short its planned December-to-April hunt by two months after anti-whaling activists from Sea Shepherd repeatedly interfered with the whaling vessels.
The group's efforts have been documented on the Discovery Channel's"Whale Wars." It has also been highly criticized by the Japanese government, which says it continues research whaling with the aim of establishing that whale stocks are sufficient to resume a full commercial hunt in the future, according to Japanese media reports.
Sea Shepherd contends that the research hunts are a sham, with meat from the hunts being sold to consumers and served in restaurants.
The group claims it saved 800 whales by its actions during last season's hunt. Japanese whalers killed 171 minke whales and two fin whales during the Antarctic hunt, according to International Whaling Commission figures.
The drones are a part of the group's anti-whaling campaign this season named "Operation Divine Wind," the same name Japan gave to kamikaze attacks on U.S. ships in World War II. Sea Shepherd says it will have more than 100 volunteers in Antarctic waters to take action against Japanese whalers.
While they will still be chasing down different vessels as part of a cat-and-mouse game, the group hopes that its new technological weapon will help give it a significant head start.
"Thanks to these drones, we now have an advantage we have never had before – eyes in the sky," Watson said.
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I don't see those tiny electric drones as being game changers. The drones can only stay up for maybe 10-30 minutes. They really need larger IC engine powered drones that can stay up for hours. Even then weather IMC and a whole host of other mechanical/electrical/radio problems can keep things from working... only one drone per ship. Not even close to being enough. I see the drones as being one part of a campaign. My guess is that they won't last two weeks... good idea, poorly implemented.
A lot of the sea shepard thing is about getting media coverage. They try out a lot of different gimics, most of which are, as you said, poorly implemented.
hey were mammals,with a population of over 7 billion,we could use some thinning out
A world-based manufacturing giant has donated drone detecting equipment and several 50 cal. machine guns to the whalers.
100 dalla pound in new yok
THIS ARTICLE DID NOT STATE HOW THE DRONES TAKE OFF AND LAND WHICH IS MY NUMBER ONE QUESTION. WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE AND "HOW?" HELLO, REMEMBER JOURNALISM SCHOOL? THE DRONES NEED, MY GUESS IS SEVERAL HUNDRED FEET TO LAND. DO THEY LAND ON WATER AND ARE THEN PICKED UP BY SMALL CRAFT AND DELIVERED TO SEA SHEPPARD? DO THEY LAND ON DECK OF SEA SHEPPARD. THAT DECK IS VERY SHORT FROM WATCHING TV COVERAGE. ANY ONE OUT THERE KNOW? AND ONE LAST THING... HOW MUCH DOES CNN PAY THOSE WHO SEND THEIR PHOTOS INTO CNN FOR BROADCAST WORLD WIDE? CNN IS MAKING MONEY ON THE PHOTOS, SHOULD NOT THE PHOTOGRAPHER EARN FROM THEIR EFFORTS. "HELLO" "ARE YOU THERE?"
Stop shouting.
shut up!
Hand launched drones require no take-off space except standing room; with a reasonably able pilot they can be made to stall over the deck on return and thus need little landing room. Here's an old example of a hand launch
Both the Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker anti-whaling ships have been hit and sunk by a fleet of anti-drone ships that used to just go fishing. Not that whales are fish.
Why don't they just spay and neuter a bunch of cats? Maybe adopt some puppies. Go to places that still eat dogs and horses and fight those guys.
While it is sad that people eat them, they are not endangered like many of the whales that are hunted. It's a little more pressing..
These people are pirates, pure and simple. They put the lives of hard working and relatively poor working sailors at risk on the high seas. These exploits are broadcast, and provide proof for all the world. Now they should be charged, and sent to jail for a very long time. I should treat them no different from the Somali pirates, who at least have the excuse that their country is poor. .
MILLIONS TO BE ASSASSINATED FOR THE SAKE OF $$$ LIABILITIES(mk-ultra, chip implants, electroshocks etc. performed on them) AND NEW WORLD ORDER(multiculturalism = terrorism) POLITICAL AGENDA KNOWN AS "YOU ARE NEXT...YOU ARE NEXT"(liabilities are 2 expensive for the government and it is cheaper to get read of you instead !!! NOW YOU KNOW WHAT US CONGRESS IS SOOO BUSY WITH WHEN PLAYING IN FRONT OF CAMERAS WHERE CLAIMING ONLY HOW SOMETHING HAVE TO BE DONE WHILE KNOWINGLY OMITTING AND IGNORING FACTS OF GENOCIDE AS SEEN ON THIS WELL KNOWN COMPLAIN )!!!
http://myshortbiography.blogspot.com/
LEARN TRUTH ABOUT UNITED NATIONS, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AS WELL AS NEW WORLD ORDER(MULTICULTURALISM = TERRORISM) GOVERNMENTS !!! NOT THERE TO PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS, BUT TO DENY YOUR RIGHT TO EXISTENCE !!!
ABDUCTIONS / BRAIN CHIP IMPLANTS / BLACKLISTING / FORCEFUL UNEMPLOYMENT / MK-ULTRA BRAINWASHING AGAINST WHITE(under "NAZI" lie) CIVILIAN POPULATION TODAY IN 2011/2012 ACROSS THE EUROPE AND NORTHERN AMERICA !!!
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WHY TO ACCEPT LIABILITIES FOR CRIMES COMMITTED WHEN WE CAN SIMPLY ASSASSINATE OUR VICTIMS(YOU) THANKS TO HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS AND FREE PRESS/MEDIA(most severe censorship of genocide ever !!!)!!
This news is related to WHITES AREN’T WELCOME IN AMERICA ANY LONGER !!! OUT OF AMERICA WITH WHITES NOW !!!
OR
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EXILING WHITES WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE AND IMPORTING NON WHITES IMMIGRATION REQUIREMENTS COMPLETELY FREE.
You're crazy. And that has nothing to do with whales.
Keep that tinfoil hat on tight.
Somalia is poor, but at least not so deeply in debt. A debt so huge, it brings economies down.
"Tin foil hat". That almost sounds neato.
Lmao.
I bet the helicopter pilot who sacrificed his time, money and expertise for the sea shepherds just loved hearing they have something now that they never had before: eyes in the sky. They not only didn't acknowledge him but they negated everything he's done for them.And here I was thinking he was one of their most valuable assets...silly me.
And I'm all for saving whales, but the sea shepherds are a comedy of errors , from capsizing their small boats, getting lost, getting hit by another vessel, and running out of FUEL,they are bound to kill someone, most likely from their own crew. They seem to have no respect for the deadly, unforgiving environment theyre in
Dear CNN:
Congratulations.
Your boards are the biggest joke in blogdom.
Your “report abuse” button is apparently disabled, because nothing is ever done about the vitriolic and disgusting garbage that is posted here.
These boards are now know as a safe haven for schoolchildren trolls who like potty humor.
Please post a thread about feces and fetish s*e*x, because that is all that is ever posted anymore anyway.
Perhaps this way, they will post on that thread, and leave the serious posters here alone.
The contempt that CNN shows its readers and posters by not moderating this blog is reprehensible.
DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!