Conservationists say they have stopped Japanese whalers from killing any humpback whales in their 10th campaign against the slaughter of the animals.
The Sea Shepherd ship the Sam Simon sailed into Williamstown on Saturday after a three-month campaign in Antarctic waters.
Captain Adam Meyerson said Japanese whalers killed between 100 and 200 whales, mainly minke, but humpbacks had been spared. “This is looking to be one of our best campaigns ever,” he said.
The ship, with a crew of 29 men and women of nine nationalities, spent 81 days at sea. Two of Sea Shepherd’s ships, Bob Barker and Steve Irwin, will see out the rest of the whaling season, which ends in mid-March.
Sea Shepherd has been critical of the Abbott government in recent days over crew safety. In a letter to Environment Minister Greg Hunt, the group accused the government of failing to warn it of an ambush by two Japanese harpoon vessels in the Southern Ocean last week.
Sea Shepherd said the government knew an attack was imminent but did nothing. Mr Meyerson said the anti-whalers had not had a response from the minister.
