The Australian director of the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd says its new vessel has the potential to stop Japanese whaling.
The fast interceptor vessel, which is registered in Fremantle and cost $4 million, is called Gojira.
It is the first Sea Shepherd vessel to be registered in Australia.
Director Jeff Hansen says Gojira is the fastest and strongest Sea Shepherd vessel ever built.
“This vessel can outrun any Japanese vessel which means that we will have the element of surprise,” he said.
“We can find the factory ship and the factory ship is the one we’re after. If we can find the factory ship we can shut down whaling.”
Mr Hansen says Sea Shepherd is aiming to stop Japanese whalers from reaching their quota of 1,000 whales this summer in the Southern Ocean.
“If there’s any issues down there, we hope [the Australian Government] will step up and defend a vessel that’s named and birthed and has a home port in Australia and has Australian citizens on board.
“We hope the Australian Government will really step up and have the guts to take on the whalers.”
