THREE Sea Shepherd Australia ships arrived into Williamstown last week after a historic campaign defending whales in the Southern ocean.
The return of the 110-strong international crew and three ships called Steve Irwin, Sam Simon and Bob Barker marks an end to the most successful campaign in nine years.
The achievement was marked by the Japanese whalers returning home with the lowest kill ever.
All three Sea Shepherd ships were damaged after being struck multiple times by the 8000-tonne Nisshin Maru.
The Sea Shepherd crew have endured attacks from concussion grenades and water cannon.
Sea Shepherd Australia chairman Bob Brown said that after all they had endured during their non-violent defence of whales, they returned home knowing they would be recognised as heroes by Australians and supporters across the globe.
Captain of the Bob Barker said Sea Shepherd’s ninth campaign to Antarctica was named Operation Zero Tolerance because whaling was illegal in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
“(This was) in violation of an Australian Federal Court Ruling prohibiting the killing of threatened, endangered and protected whales and cannot, and will not, be tolerate by Sea Shepherd,” Mr Barker said.
Captain of the Steve Irwin Siddharth Chakravarty said every single crew member could go home proud of the fact that they had returned triumphant from the Southern Ocean having saved the lives of hundreds of whales.
“It has taken us four months and 15 days and more sea miles than it takes to circumnavigate the globe to ensure that Operation Zero Tolerance lived up to its name,” Mr Chakravarty said.
Captain Luis Manuel Pinho of the Sam Simon said his entire crew were happy that months of hard work and hardship translated into a “victory for life, beauty and nature”.
Sea Shepherd Australia is a non-profit conservation organisation whose mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species.
