Saturday, 31 March 2018 

Dead minke whales onboard the Nisshin Maru. (Photo Credit: Sea Shepherd.)

Sea Shepherd Australia's Managing Director Jeff Hansen stated: “The Japanese whale poachers are in contempt of the Australian Federal Court with a million dollar price tag on their heads and found to be illegal by the International Court of Justice. Their new bogus scientific whaling program does not even have the backing from the International Whaling Commission.

"In over a decade of Sea Shepherd’s Antarctic Whale Defence campaigns we have saved the lives of over 6,000 whales. However, with a lowered kill quota and double the hunting area, its time for the Australian Government to step up once more and look at taking Japan to the International Tribunal on the law of the sea," added Mr Hansen. 

"Another 333 whales have been killed in Antarctic waters, while the Australian Government refuses to do anything to halt this illegal slaughter. 

"Our Prime Minister has done nothing but 'express disappointment' over Japan's continued whaling programme. The vast majority of Australians want action to end this abhorrent whale hunt, the Australian Government must not allow this to continue any longer.

"Legal options and the potential to send a vessel to intervene must be looked at in order to stop whaling occurring next summer," said Mr Hansen. 

Write to Malcolm Turnbull and tell him to take action against illegal whaling in the Southern Ocean: https://bit.ly/2zass7Y 

Find out more about our Whale Defence Campaign: www.whaledefence.org