Sea Shepherd Ship Escapes from South Africa

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, June 16, 2006 (ENS) - The vessel Farley Mowat, the flagship of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, managed to escape South African detention Thursday night under the cover of darkness.

The Canadian registered marine wildlife conservation ship slipped out of Cape Town Harbor after months of unsuccessful efforts to get the South African Marine Safety Association (SAMSA) to lift a politically motivated detention order imposed on the ship when it returned from pursuing the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctic waters last January.

The Farley Mowat, under the command of Dutch Captain Alex Cornelissen, is preparing to return to the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary in December to once again intervene against illegal Japanese whaling operations.

From left: Captain Alex Cornelissen, Mimi MacPherson, and Captain Paul Watson aboard the Farley Mowat, Melbourne, 2005. (Photo courtesy SSCS)

South African officials appear not to be chasing the Sea Shepherd vessel, which got 12 hours of lead time before its absence was discovered.

Sea Shepherd Captain Paul Watson says Japan is using their economic muscle to instigate harassment of the Sea Shepherd ship. "Japan has influence in Cape Town," said Watson. "We have experienced that influence and we have been very disappointed that South African harbor authorities have seen fit to harass people who simply want to save the whales."

Watson says the Sea Shepherd crew discovered that Japan illegally transships whale meat in and out of Cape Town.

"When they put you in the sleazy part of the dock, you get to learn about everything sleazy that's going on," Watson told ENS. "Finally we realized we were never going to get out of there," he said.

The South African authorities insisted upon commercial certificates for the Farley Mowat which is registered as a yacht.

According to SAMSA bureaucrat Saleem Modak, Sea Shepherd’s interfering with the illegal slaughter of whales is a commercial activity.

Since the Farley Mowat is not registered as a commercial ship, the production of commercial certificates presented a catch-22 situation that could not be resolved, Watson said.

"We may have burned our bridges with South Africa," said Captain Cornelissen, "but this country has disappointed us by siding with the whalers over the whales."

"We could not allow them to detain us as the Japanese prepare their harpoons for another season of relentless cruel slaughter," Cornelissen said. "We can’t waste any further time dealing with bought and paid for bureaucrats – we have whales to save."

"We have operated the Farley Mowat since 1996 and we have never received the level of harassment that we experienced after intervening against illegal Japanese whaling," Watson said.

The Sea Shepherd vessel Farley Mowat in the foreground, prepares to head off the Japanese whaler Nisshin Maru in the Southern Ocean. December 2005. (Photo courtesy SSCS)

At the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting that began today in St. Kitts and Nevis, a small island nation in the Caribbean, Japan will attempt to legalize their whaling activities with the help of new member nations they have brought into the IWC with foreign aid funding to vote for the whalers.

During the first day's voting, however, the Japanese have failed to take majority control. They are being outvoted on all the motions as several of their cooperating nations failed to attend the meeting.

Watson says the Sea Shepherd will return to the Southern Ocean in December to again confront the Japanese whaling fleet.

"We will return with two ships, one which is faster than the Farley Mowat so we can catch the whaling fleet this year," he said. The Farley Mowat is an old vessel. Watson is in the process of purchasing the second ship and will captain one of them on the anti-whaling venture.

He says the entire campaign, including purchase and outfitting of the new vessel is estimated to cost about US$3 million.