Esperanza leaves Southern Ocean but whaling campaign continues

Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Phil. It is an agonising call to have to make - of course Greenpeace's aim is to save as many whales as possible, but it's also to win the war on whaling - not just one battle. And to repeat the main point from my last post, this war will be won in Japan and not in the Southern Ocean.

Our campaigners made a strategic decision that although Sea Shepherd's motives are undoubtedly sound, in practice their methods will alienate the Japanese public (a majority of whom currently oppose whaling) and prove counter productive - in which case whaling could continue for decades and thousands more whales will die. We feel that the mood in Japan is already changing, as evidenced by the fleet's refusal to whale while Esperanza was in the vicinity - they like to do their dirty work in secret and hate questions being asked at home about the hows and whys of their operation.

There were two main of reasons why the decision not to give the fleet's co-ordinates to Sea Shepherd was taken:

1) public opinion in Japan is the strongest lever we have and is starting to produce results, and we weren't about to let that genuine progress be jeopardised - by sharing co-ordinates we would ultimately have been held responsible in Japan for whatever action Sea Shepherd took.

2) in practice sharing the co-ordinates would have been pointless as the Nisshin Maru was on the move, and Sea Shepherd had to disengage pretty soon after us because of lack of fuel too. The only people who can help SS with co-ordinates are the Oceanic Viking, as they are still with them … so maybe that’s where SS supporters should direct their energy.

"I guess i just don't go along with the common notion that a human life is worth more than any other species life.."

That's not actually what I was saying, Fiona, and not what I believe. My point was that we all want Japan to stop whaling as soon as possible - achieving that would be the biggest single thing any of us could do to protect the maximum number of whales. And the best chance of achieving this would be to make whaling politically unacceptable in Japan - Greenpeace has been working hard in Japan over the past few years to make this happen - and the fact that whaling is now being debated and discussed in Japan shows we are making progress.

Of course no one at Greenpeace wants a single whale to die at the hands of a whaler. But the reality is that the whaling fleet will continue to conduct its annual slaughter in the Southern Ocean until Japanese public opinion demands otherwise - so that has to be the main focus of our campaign.

Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Phil. It is an agonising call to have to make - of course Greenpeace's aim is to save as many whales as possible, but it's also to win the war on whaling - not just one battle. And to repeat the main point from my last post, this war will be won in Japan and not in the Southern Ocean. Our campaigners made a strategic decision that although Sea Shepherd's motives are undoubtedly sound, in practice their methods will alienate the Japanese public (a majority of whom currently oppose whaling) and prove counter productive - in which case whaling could continue for decades and thousands more whales will die. We feel that the mood in Japan is already changing, as evidenced by the fleet's refusal to whale while Esperanza was in the vicinity - they like to do their dirty work in secret and hate questions being asked at home about the hows and whys of their operation. There were two main of reasons why the decision not to give the fleet's co-ordinates to Sea Shepherd was taken: 1) public opinion in Japan is the strongest lever we have and is starting to produce results, and we weren't about to let that genuine progress be jeopardised - by sharing co-ordinates we would ultimately have been held responsible in Japan for whatever action Sea Shepherd took. 2) in practice sharing the co-ordinates would have been pointless as the Nisshin Maru was on the move, and Sea Shepherd had to disengage pretty soon after us because of lack of fuel too. The only people who can help SS with co-ordinates are the Oceanic Viking, as they are still with them … so maybe that’s where SS supporters should direct their energy.

"I guess i just don't go along with the common notion that a human life is worth more than any other species life.." That's not actually what I was saying, Fiona, and not what I believe. My point was that we all want Japan to stop whaling as soon as possible - achieving that would be the biggest single thing any of us could do to protect the maximum number of whales. And the best chance of achieving this would be to make whaling politically unacceptable in Japan - Greenpeace has been working hard in Japan over the past few years to make this happen - and the fact that whaling is now being debated and discussed in Japan shows we are making progress. Of course no one at Greenpeace wants a single whale to die at the hands of a whaler. But the reality is that the whaling fleet will continue to conduct its annual slaughter in the Southern Ocean until Japanese public opinion demands otherwise - so that has to be the main focus of our campaign.