DIVELOG JUNE 406

RETURNING TO THE SOUTHERN OCEAN Captain Paul Watson scored a propaganda victory over Japan after it emerged he had bought his newest anti-whaling vessel from the Japanese government, apparently without its knowledge. - The Guardian December 11th, 2012 :: article by CAPTAIN PAUL WATSON That was an incredible coup back in 2012. We not only purchased the Seifu Maru but we had a Japanese crew deliver the vessel to Cairns where it was turned over to my crew and renamed the Sam Simon . The Japanese government was furious that a Japanese government ship would become an anti whaling ship and they said it would not happen again. But it has indeed happened again. The Guardian reported on December 11th, 2012 that: “To compound Japan's embarrassment, the 184-foot vessel was previously moored in Shimonoseki, home to the country's Antarctic whaling fleet, after being retired by the meteorological agency in 2010.” Twelve years later, the Captain Paul Watson Foundation has purchased the 212-foot Japanese government Fisheries Patrol vessel Arasaki registered in Tokyo. We set up a company in the USA and another company in South Korea and made the purchase thanks

to the generosity of my longtime friend and supporter John Paul DeJoria. We changed the name to New Horizon , put it under the temporary flag of Mongolia, and hired a Japanese crew to deliver the ship to Busan, South Korea and from there the ship departed for Hobart, Tasmania in Australia arriving on May 1st, 2024. And the reason for this purchase is in anticipation of the return of the Japanese whaling fleet to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. We need to be ready to return to the remote and hostile waters off the coast of Antarctica to once again intercept and shut down the illegal whaling activities of the Japanese whaling fleet. And why do we think that Japan will be returning to the Southern Ocean to resume their controversial and unlawful whaling activities? Because they retired the Nisshin Maru their former whaling factory ship and replaced it this year with the newly constructed Kangei Maru and there is only one purpose for a large long-range whale factory ship and that is the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

The newly acquired Captain Paul Watson Foundation ship Bandero

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DIVE LOG Australasia #406 - June ‘24

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