Whale Oil Beef Hooked.
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 7:55 am
IN A stunt that may upset Tokyo, Sea Shepherd whaling activists have bought a $2 million Japanese government ship to turn against its whalers.
The 56-metre ship was purchased through a third-party US company from its berth next to the whaling fleet in Japan, the activists said.
Renamed New Atlantis and registered in Tuvalu, it was delivered by a Japanese crew to north Queensland, where they thought it was to be converted into a pleasure craft.
Throughout the sale, the Japanese government was unaware that it was doing business with Sea Shepherd, skipper Locky MacLean said on Monday.
Advertisement Following a refit, the ship was reflagged to Australia and it is due in Hobart on Tuesday for unveiling ahead of the summer's Antarctic conflict, where the hardline activists will make their strongest bid yet to disrupt the whaling season.
Its New Atlantis disguise has been dropped and the vessel named Sam Simon, after the American founding producer of The Simpsons, an animal welfare advocate, who donated its purchase price.
Built as Seifu Maru in 1993 by IHI shipyard in Tokyo, the ice-strengthened vessel was operated by Japan Meteorological Agency's Maizuru observatory before being laid up in 2010 alongside the whaling fleet in Shimonoseki.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/japan ... z2EjBvMPkz
