The Sea Shephard that set out from Hobart, Australia a few days ago, is the largest fleet to set out against the Arctic Whalers. They will operate a No Compromise policy when it comes to the Whalers setting out from Japan. It is the largest, and strongest fleet to take part in this operation to date. Including 3 vessels, Bob Barker, Steve Irwin, and the newly acquired trimaran Gojira, this is Japanese for Gorilla. They also have alongside them a helicopter that will keep up to speed on the Japanese whalers. 
 
On the contrary, the Japanese fleet that has set out for the whaling, normally departs on the 19th November, and they have put back their mission to the 2nd December. This has shortened their trip, and their potential to catch whales. They have also decreased their fleet, taking out less harpoon boats, and having converted one of their harpoon boats to a sighting boat.
 
The Japanese Greenpeace have declared that the shortened trip, and the smaller fleet will only allow them to catch up to half of their allowed quota.
 
"This year, the Japanese whaling program will not have enough catchers to kill its usual number of whales and will not have enough onboard freezer space to store the resulting meat," said Greenpeace Japan oceans campaigner Wakao Hanaoka.
 
This is all good news for the whale population of the Pacific Ocean, and the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary. Another piece of good news on this front is that the Japanese are not consuming as much whale meat as they have done in previous years. So much so that last year’s kill has still not been wholly consumed and they are having to discard some of the meat.
 
The fact that the meat has gone to waste is sad for the whales that were killed pointlessly, but what has arisen from this is that the whalers will not have such high demands from the suppliers of the meat, and in turn will have to cut back on their hunting due to lack of demand.For all of us that are lovers of the whale, and the continuing of the almighty being in our oceans, the news has been gratefully received. These views towards whale meat, and its consumption has come about from the negative attitudes towards whaling worldwide, and the Greenpeace companies worldwide that continue to do fantastic work to regenerate our whale populations in the oceans.Long may it continue!
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