Title=THE ANTARCTIC WHALING FLEET &ship01=NISSHIN MARU &details01=Built: 1987 Tonnage: 8,030 gross tons Length: 129.580m (overall) Breadth: 19.4m (moulded) Draft: 7.216m Crew: 151 Owner: Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha, Ltd. Registry: Japan&facts01=The Nisshin Maru is the factory ship of the Japanese whaling fleet. When it's functioning, the dead whales are dragged up the stern ramp for processing, and the meat then stored in the ship's hold. Unwanted parts and blood are dumped over the side. The Nisshin Maru has had two major fires in the last 10 years (one in 1998, and in 2007). The considerably larger Nisshin Maru side-swiped our ship, Arctic Sunrise in 1999 Lloyd's List reported it was at fault, and which we feel was intentional, and again rammed the Arctic Sunrise in January 2006 (also clearly an intentional act). Trivia: This is the fourth Nisshin Maru, but it is not called the Nisshin Maru No.4. In Japanese, the character for the number four is phonetically similar to the character for death. For this reason, the number four is considered unlucky (somewhat like 13 in many western cultures), and is not used when naming ships. &Copy01=Greenpeace/Noda Masaya &shipOB=ORIENTAL BLUEBIRD &detailsOB=Built: 1979 Gross tonnage: 8,725 Length: 143.290m (overall) Breadth: 20.41m (moulded) Draft: 8.42m Owner: Bluebird Transporte Operator: New Shipping Kaisha Flag: Panama &factsOB=The Oriental Bluebird was originally the Japanese flagged Hiyo Maru, but In 1992, it was renamed and re-flagged to Panama, a well-known flag of convenience. The Oriental Bluebird serves as the whaling fleet's re-fueling, re-supply and cargo vessel. Its combination of tanker and cargo capacities makes it an unusual ship. On 8 January 2006, we documented the Nisshin Maru transferring boxes labeled "kujira" [whale] to the Oriental Bluebird. Activists from our ship, Arctic Sunrise, painted, "Whale meat from Sanctuary" on the Bluebird. &CopyOB=Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace &shipKK=KAIKO MARU &detailsKK=Type:Whale spotting vessel Built: 1974 Gross Tonnes: 860 Length: 61.9m Breadth: 11m Draft: 4.51m &factsKK=On 12th February 2007, the Esperanza received a distress call from the Kaiko Maru, after it was involved in a collision. There seems to have been some confusion in the media between this ship and the Nisshin Maru, with photographs of the Kaiko Maru later being shown on some websites. Both the Kaiko Maru and the Kyoshin Maru No2 are whale-counting ships although they also do some non-lethal research like photo-identification and biopsies. They work well away from the whale catchers to avoid whaling activities interfering with the validity of their whale counts. These ships are not whale catchers. They do not have harpoons and are not as fast and manoeuvrable as the catchers. ©KK=Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace &shipYM3=YUSHIN MARU NO.3 &detailsYM3=Type: Harpoon ship Built: 2007 (?) Owner: Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha, Ltd. Registry: Japan &factsYM3=Recently built replacement for the Old Kyo Maru. The catcher Boats, are fast, highly manoeuvrable, and armed with guns which fire grenade-tipped harpoons. They also have an open crow's nest from which three crew members watch for whales. Their role is to hunt down the whales, kill them, then bring them back to the Nisshin Maru. Also known as hunters, catcher ships or "sampling" ships. The whalers, but no one else, calls them sighting, sampling vessels (ssvs). ©YM3= &shipYM1=YUSHIN MARU NO.1 &detailsYM1=Type: Harpoon ship Built: 1998 Gross Tonnes: 1,025 Length: 69.6m Breadth: 10.4m Crew: 19 Owner: Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha, Ltd. Registry: Japan &factsYM1=The Catcher Boats, are fast, highly manoeuvrable, and armed with guns which fire grenade-tipped harpoons. They also have an open crow's nest from which three crew members watch for whales. Their role is to hunt down the whales, kill them, then bring them back to the Nisshin Maru. Also known as hunters, catcher ships or "sampling" ships. The whalers, but no one else, calls them sighting, sampling vessels (ssvs). ©KM=Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace ©YM1=Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace &shipYM2=YUSHIN MARU NO.2 &detailsYM2=Type: Harpoon ship Built: 2002 Gross Tonnes: 1,059 Length: 69.6m Draft: 4.7m Crew: 19 Owner: Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha, Ltd. Registry: Japan &factsYM2=The Catcher Boats, are fast, highly manoeuvrable, and armed with guns which fire grenade-tipped harpoons. They also have an open crow's nest from which three crew members watch for whales. Their role is to hunt down the whales, kill them, then bring them back to the Nisshin Maru. Also known as hunters, catcher ships or "sampling" ships. The whalers, but no one else, calls them sighting, sampling vessels (ssvs). ©KM=Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace ©YM2=Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace &shipKS=KYOSHIN MARU NO.2 &detailsKS=Type:Whale spotting vessel Built: 1987 Gross Tonnes: 368 Length: 69.5m Breadth: 10.8m Draft: 4.9m Owner: Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha, Ltd. Registry: Japan &factsKS=These vessels are whale-counting ships although they also do some non-lethal research like photo-identification and biopsies. They work well away from the whale catchers to avoid whaling activities interfering with the validity of their whale counts. These ships are not whale catchers. They do not have harpoons and are not as fast and manoeuvrable as the catchers. ©KS=Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace