GOING SOUTH AGAIN

AGS Ocean Protector

Well back to nautical things from NAUTICAL LOG. While most of us have been busy preparing and shopping for Christmas the Japanese Whaling Fleet (JWF) has left Japan for the Southern Ocean and yet another whaling season in 2014. Early in December the MS Nisshin Maru left for the Southern Ocean and now two catcher vessels with a surveillance ship left Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture to join her.

Of course the other side better known as the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) fleet consisting of the MS Bob Barker, MS Steve Irwin, and MS Sam Simon have also departed from their government approved pirate base at Melbourne,Victoria, Australia. This according to Dr. Bob Brown who is the current head of SSCS in Australia.

There are questions as to why the Australian Government is not sending its purpose built ice-strengthened vessel MS Ocean Protector to patrol the Southern Ocean but instead are using that vessel to patrol the tropical waters of Christmas Island for asylum seeker boats.

It will be interesting to see what tactics the SSCS pirates - now operationally directed by the Australian SSCS - use this season now that "Wats-his-name" seems to no longer be in charge of the largely pointless, ineffective operational tactics with the unproven claims of the past decade.

Good Watch.

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