Global General

New vessel launched to chase illegal Japanese whalers

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-11-29 14:54

CANBERRA - Australian Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on Monday launched its new interceptor vessel Gojira, to fight against illegal Japanese whaling.

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Gojira was named after the widely-feared monster of Japanese film known in English as Godzilla.

According to the non-for-profit organization's director Jeff Hansen, the Gojira will be a game-charger in this year's fight against illegal Japanese whaling, as it can out-run harpoon vessels.

"This vessel can out-run any Japanese vessel, so it means we'll have the element of surprise and we can find the factory ship," Hansen told Australia Associated Press on Monday.

"The factory ship is the one we're after and if we can find it, we can shut down whaling.

"We save 10 to 12 whales a day by blocking the slipway on the factory ship so really this vessel is going to play a huge part in shutting down the Japanese whaling fleet for the entire summer."

The Gojira is Sea Shepherd's first Australian registered vessel, it will set off from Fremantle in Western Australian on Monday to join the Steve Irwin and Bob Barker in Hobart of Tasmania, before leaving on Dec 2 to defend the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary.

Gojira's captain Locky MacLean said having the fast, new vessel to join the Sea Shepherd, it was expected the trip would be able to stop all whales from being slaughtered this year.