Whale Wars season 5 episode 1

[Music] Japanese government has officially gone [Music] fisheries minister said today that Japan would call its harpoon ships home amid the continuing harassment by anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd he actually said our name in his own press release just fantastic the moment had arrived that it appeared that they were going home and we'd beat him for me personally it was just a very emotional moment it was it was a moment I'll never forget this is pretty much the end of seven years of campaigning down here I think that this is a century that we're going to find whaling will be tossed into the dustbin of history and left for what it is antiquated unnecessary barbaric uncivilized and no place in the modern world so thank you all for for participating thank you for the success [Applause] the bar thank you for cooperation and leaving the Antarctic Treaty zone let this be your last trip because we never give up and we never compromise that's Paul here you can see it from where you are right now you don't have any police or anybody feeling it how many crew do you see around there they look like they're working on the boat okay we'll see where it goes [Music] Japan's whaling fleet has left its homeport for another season in the southern ocean and it's getting there courtesy of extra money given to it from the nation's earthquake recovery fund Japanese fate will have beefed up security after its lost season was cut short by the sea ship and Auntie whaling drew as word of Japan's returned to whaling spreads the Sea Shepherd's are stunned to learn that their war is not over [Music] I was disheartening to hear that they were heading back down south again I was really surprised shocking they have no business being down I didn't want to come back I didn't want to have to come back but unfortunately we don't really have a choice I think that the Japanese whaling fleet is more motivated by revenge now and they're acting out of desperation than anything this last season was a total humiliation for them so we expect that they're going to be quite angry with a vast amount of money for Japanese available I really don't know exactly what they're going to do different a4s just make sure everything's already in the wake of the shocking announcement out of Japan the Sea Shepherd's the banding campaigns around the world we're gonna get ready to go now let's give it to you ah yeah got completely off dog the Sea Shepherd's have little time to prepare for a campaign that normally takes four months to plan buddy up about please we've been trying in a G campaign we had very little preparation time we're in a real struggle right now to get the [ __ ] ready deck bridge you can single up on the lines over last year we were cautiously optimistic that whaling in the Southern Oceans had ended for pure hololens don't you want us to punch in yeah this year they decide to return with security beef got bigger than ever there's every reason to believe that the Japanese whaling fleet will be more aggressive than ever before this year is going to be exceptionally difficult we're up against much more challenging odds against opposition's that are heavily financed and I think they're more concerned with trying to stop us but we've always been the David to their glass world is a vampire [Music] after winning their seven-year war with the Japanese whaling fleet captain Paul Watson and his crew of passionate volunteers have learned that their enemy's retreat was only temporary now they will return to the deathless trees of Antarctica to battle once more the Sea Shepherd's believe the Whalers are violating an international ban on commercial whaling the Whalers say they're legally killing whales for scientific research both claim to have the law on their side said I think we should probably head south for about 30 40 miles yeah so that'll look like you know that anybody's tracking us a little story so this year the Sea Shepherd's will face the most daunting challenge of their lives the Japanese government is funneled more than 29 million dollars from the tsunami relief funds to the winner for one reason security that's more than 10 times with the Sea Shepherd's fleet will spend during the entire campaign and nobody knows how the whaling people use the money to defend themselves they could have armed security personnel on board as well as Japanese Coast Guard officers they may or may not have a helicopter they could try to board us they can try to damage us how far are they going to push this we don't know we've seen the Japanese whaling city in a very aggressive state it worries me because are they gonna raise that bar again you know how do we match this yeah we would like to intercept the Japanese fleet before they kill a single whale if we can do that then maybe we have a chance of them not killing the single arrow that is our goal captain Watson's thought Japan had stopped waiting for good so after the devastating announcement he decided to gamble the success of the entire campaign on a hunch but if he's right sea Shepherd could shut down the withers before they kill a single whale in the past the whaling fleet has traveled down the eastern coast of Australia unroot to the southern ocean but this year Watson thinks the whaling fleet may be traveling Southwest towards the islands of Indonesia to change things up there they would pass through a channel of deep water called the Lombok stranding at its narrowest point the Strait is only eight miles across so Watson thinks to intercept the fleet as they emerge from the channel right here heading north is a big risk if the hunch is wrong the Sea Shepherd's could end up with two of their vessels out of the game while the fleet hunts whales over a thousand miles away so then we can start moving in Austin the downside of being far north is that if we miss them there's this huge area that they could disappear into and leaping left with no clue in what direction to follow them the plan is for the Steve Irwin to head south out of Port so anyone watching thinks they're heading straight to Antarctica but then they'll turn north towards Indonesia the fast interceptor vessel the Brigitte Bardot will raise further ahead to begin searching for the whaling fleet south of Indonesia formerly known as the Gojira the Brigitte Bardot was killed to be fast in Manila Bay and once held the record for circumnavigating the globe see if you gotta copy that John Renick Oh was the first mate on the boat last year this year he's been promoted to captain John Oh has been piloting boats around South Africa for years but this will be his first time navigating the deadly seas of Antarctica the role of the Brigitte Bardot is to scout for the fleet's once we found it then tail it until the Steve Owen on the Bob Barker's caught up okay here we go bringing it back at 1300 rpm that certainly is a dangerous campaign and the Japanese whalers get aggressive and that's why I've run is to be focused and stay safe we've seen that the whaling fleets becoming more aggressive in the event that this vessel is compromised something like that it can go down fairly quickly the Japanese whaling fleet they become less predictable than they have in the past years and the reality is situation is that there's the potential for people lose their lives if the BART on when the Erwin missed their chance to catch the whaling fleet south of Indonesia the Bob Barker will be the Sea Shepherd's safety net the icebreaker vessel steams south towards the whaling grounds I want to go sort of in this direction plus the Steve and the Bridget are coming down about here Alex Cornelissen returns for another campaign as the captain of the Barker so as soon as we enter the open spot I set a course of 180 because we're operating more to focus on the London South like the rest of the Sea Shepherd's he has no idea how the whaling fleet will use their massive new security budget I don't know what they're gonna do with their money but they can possibly send down a whole fleet of extra vessels to motorists they're certainly shown not to have any respect for you right down there if to be extremely cautious and careful this year zealand government australian government US government and the dutch government have warned the Whalers and Sea Shepherd's to be careful down there quite frankly I don't I don't see this violet slowing down at all I think it might ask earlier this year so we gotta be ready for that it's gonna be the hardest campaign we've had 1,500 miles to the north the Bardot moves into position below the Lombok straight engines on 100% feels good the crew begins searching for any signs of the Whalers the cavity that could be escorting them we're kind of looking for needle in a haystack but we can catch them before they get to the killing fields that would be just an amazing year with 29 million dollars worth of security the Sea Shepherd's have no idea what's headed their way this year in the past the whaling fleet has utilized a single security ship and three harpoon ships which kill the ones and then transfer them to the massive floating factory that is the epicenter of the entire operation this is the Nisshin Maru and finding the mothership is the only way to shut down whaling during the last two campaigns once the Sea Shepherd's have gotten behind the factory ship and prevented the transfer of whales they have completely shut down on the blip on the radar is the right size traveling at the right speed to be the Whalers mother ship our main target is the Nisshin Maru is a factory ship if we had to find the Nisshin now so far north that means we'll possibly have a hundred percent victory and they won't be able to kill any whales so the pressure is definitely on when all of a sudden you get a big target coming up out of nowhere and you're just wondering if we found the fleet it's the beginning of the campaign but if we were to strike lucky straightaway that would be awesome [Music] such a big target that it has been several hours since the brigitte bardot moved into position south of the long box train in indonesia a mysterious ship appears on the radar at this distance the target appears to be the same size as the Whalers factory ship thrust is up okay so they move in for a closer look but if the Bardot comes into contact with the whaling security vessel their chances of finding the Nisshin Maru Opie's flip we had a targets about 20 miles away just being watching a very closely it's sort of been changing speed and core slightly just seeing the Shabbat gets your heart racing a little bit - container ship it's a cargo vessel sorry definitely a container just going to investigate right close enough to get a visual contact and we can see it's a container ship everyone's a little bit disappointed but at this stage is still very early in the campaign so we just have to remain positive and hopefully find them in the next week or so 1,500 miles south the Bob Barker enters the Antarctic whaling rounds this area was once teeming with whales but today the crew has to search for a glimpse of the animals they are here to protect incredible how they can claim there's plenty of whales out there we haven't seen one at some point used to be partners in thousands but where we've seen zero [Music] the Japanese whaling fleets self-imposed crime allows them to kill 1035 whales including 50 humpbacks this year hunted to the brink of extinction it is believed that the world's humpback population once fell to only 10 to 20% of its original size while the barker lies in way from the whaling grounds and the Bardot scouts ahead to the north the Steve Irwin moves into position a child without as they wait for word from the Bardo the deck crew scrambles to finish critical repairs they get inspected to to rate sure there's nothing wrapped around any of those props yeah in the rush to intercept the fleet earthy the crew had to forgo vital service on the ship's rudder any unseen damage could be disastrous in the broody conditions of Antarctica so the crew will attempt to inspect it here in the Indian Ocean nice day for a swim returning to the crew his second mate Peter Brown Peter has been a lightning rod for controversy in past years and was forced to leave in the middle of a campaign to do it near me of name I got fired for first mate on now second thing a matter of fact this was my cabin in the old days but when the line is crossed I'm as good in the fight as anybody and I'm quite frankly willing to die to stop them killing whales Pablo will join dive master James on the risky mission together they'll attempt to inspect and repair the rudder which may have been damaged in the ice last year it's a bit of a risk with the ship moving like this we could get a left on the head or wear underneath veteran small-boat driver Chad Halstead is responsible for safely getting the divers into position underneath the massive ship this year's a big difference than previous campaigns we've been short of time so we haven't been able to do as much work getting the ship prepared in courts to get to the critical area James and Pablo will have to get into position underneath the massive shark repellent the ocean swells bounce the 900 ton ship above them so rather than checking for damage all they can do is cling to the rudder to avoid being crushed actually diving on a propeller like that that sea is like one of the most dangerous things you can do it because of the action of the boat this stuff it's really easy to get hit by something the divers are oh please respond to the stern it's the crew scrambles the divers are in danger of disappearing from sight in the strong current the stern swung up and came down right on top of them they're waiting for assistance so many that we got hit unbelievable get the other boat ready to go in [Music] during a dangerous dive to inspect Steve Irwin's brother James and Pablo have just surfaced and given the emergency signal get the other boat ready to go in yeah just look that we're not forget it ready to go what happened they just ripped it off is the divers trip farther from the show chad is finally able to start the deltas engine he rushes to rescue his crewmates when you hear divers are in trouble you at the surface can't necessarily do so much especially if you can't see them you know 100 things run through your mind is everybody okay Pablo and James managed to escape injury but their exhausting struggle left them unable to inspect the rudder it was pretty rough underneath I didn't expect it to be that bad we were battling with the ship moving around and there was quite a strong current as well so we would be more spread away now the Irwin's crew will have to continue on campaign with no idea what unseen damage might live alone 50 miles north captain Rena Cole and the Brigitte Bardot continue sweeping south with the Wambach Strait looking for any sign of the factory ship if we do come across the Japanese whaling fleet we want to try keep our today right on what so ideally we want to come across the mission by itself we're always going after the mission that's the main ship once you got that ship you shut down the whaling season effectively does the target moving due south appears on the radar it might be the factory ship or it could be part of the twenty nine million dollar security force the Whalers were given steve-o in this video hitting due south we can't seem to make a visual on we don't want to get too close just stay about twelve fifteen miles away and keep them on your radar all copy what makes it interesting is the fact that they're heading due south and that's really not a regular shipping route it's very promising the Steve Irwin's new first mates it calls captain Watson to ask how the Bardot should proceed so would you like them to go close enough to get a Razoo or daddy to tell us carry on doing search pattern okay thanks Paul I suspect that the whaling fleet is not too far from us usually the helicopter can spot the ships without the ship seen the helicopter and it can certainly cover the distance a lot faster captain Watson orders the helicopter into the air he wants to identify the target before exposing the Bardot's position to the whaling yeah the whaling fleet surprise announcement to return to Antarctica cause some major personnel problems for the sea ships veteran helicopter pilot Chris Aultman was unable to come on campaign Paul managed to replace him at the last minute with Gary Dux Gary's been flying for 37 years but here he's a rookie chris is a real rock star on it with the opposite to myself there's very few guys that have this experience that's a very very short list of pilots Chris only had one day to Train Gary before the Steve Irwin Steve teleport I had a few tips that I've learned over the years trying to paint him the picture of what it might be to do three months at sea on the Steve Irwin he'll have a steep learning curve because there's no way you could prepare anybody from this job the pressure is on Gary to identify the target before it disappears the fast expensive he can be an ocean unfortunately for him the wind and swells are picking up quickly the weather can change pretty quickly the seas can literally in rough enough in minutes so are you happy with this amount of pitching at the moment and then we could go the other way Chris fishing I think it's only sensible to think about the dangers but obviously if I make a decision that I can't fly people are going to be disappointed Wow biggis is rising with that I'm signing our getting some big swells yeah the guptas is taking up Roger that gary will have to make his first takeoff with a steady 60-knot way with the strong wind and deep swells gary is having trouble generating enough lift for safety seas were on the rough side and if the boats moving around too much conserved potentially lethal situation having trouble kind of a bumpy ride I think we've been spoiled to have Chris year-after-year come down with us and make it look really easy but it's obviously not the failed helicopter lunch raises major questions for the Sea Shepherd's about their new pilot and now captain Watson has no choice but to send the bard out after the target that is now just 30 miles away from here is Jesus speed the same speed they are interested it's difficult really to say what it is until we can get real vision the Bardot approaches the unknown target with caution they're hoping it is the whaling fleet but if it's any vessel besides the factory ship their plan could be exposed usually Rosen pretty certa raise the spotting of the harpoon ship means the captain Watson's instinct was right his risky plan to intercept the fleet north of the whaling grounds could be about to pay off but the harpoon ship has also seen the Bardot I don't think we were expecting to run into these guys so soon whether it's a matter of luck whether it's bad luck for us now I don't know if they know we're here the whole fling Jones were here so can change the game the plan has been exposed and now the clock is ticking with the you should Mauro on their tail the factory ship is likely changing course and the Sea Shepherd's have little time to track it down before it disappears entirely we're going to crank it up to full speed right now see if they can keep up for this we just made visual contact for the ocean that has come to a dead stop the Bardot has just approached the ship hoping it was the Whalers factory vessel they found a harpoon ship instead talking that we've been calling and stop down I wanna it's definitely one of the oceans I think our cover is definitely blow enough I can see them they can fissure see us captain Watson's plan to intercept the factory's ship north of the whaling grounds has been exposed to the Whalers in the harpoon ship has likely radioed the Bardot's position to the Nisshin Maru the mothership may have already changed course as to what the next to be decided right now I've been paralleling our horse industry probably heading sponsor estimates the you desperately need to speed up and get out of revolution I got him yeah but it stopped dead in the water with our cover blown I think it's gonna make it a little harder to track down the mission that's for sure just spoke to the bottle one of the oceans has picked them up so every out of this sector here ask them to turn to not not east and speed away beyond radar range well I was worried that the user would spot the Bardot and the trick is to try and get around the harpoon boats to get to the Nisshin Maru it's exciting when you find a target on the radar but if it's though you shouldn't do yeah it's good it's good to know but we still want to get as far away as possible because if they can find us they can preemptively move before we can get to the mushroom really harpoon ship turns and follows the Bardot home even though they've been exposed the Bardot's crew will continue pushing on towards Indonesia searching for the Nisshin Maru if the factory ship is nearby they may be able to catch up with their speed advantage be nice to know that we can still thing remain invisible you know and get away with this make it incredibly difficult for us to find the Nisshin with Ellucian on our tail as well if they don't find the factory ship soon it could disappear into the vast expanse of the Southern Ocean we've jacked up to 11 dots that cats up they're gonna probably try and guides us as the harpoon ship picks up speed the crew suspects that they're moving in to protect their mothership which could be close by I don't know what the oceans are carrying so the key for everybody is to keep a comment regardless of what we do what they do to us if we don't people are going to get hurt looks like the ocean is moving in on us if they engage us we will do what we have to to defend the ship sensing because any ground the food guy as the brigitte bardot pushes north captain renico decides to use his speed advantage to outrun the harpoon ship that's closing in then they can continue searching for the factory ship which they suspect is close by the oceans tireless and in relay our position to the factory ship we've altered course to north running at full speed as fast as we can it looks like they running as fast as they can but we're gaining on them we're hoping to fall off there right all right we'll be free too we had to change course and in north and then west now looks like we've actually lost the ocean still heading west at speed making sure we do get some real distance between us in the ocean that lady back there somewhere we're expecting some kind of direction from the steamer near future as to focus what to do next so it effectively puts us back in the game on screen very promising right now Japanese fries always travel stick why not saw the fact that you've got four targets within close proximity in this area it's a very good chance that it's the Japanese whaling fleets getting darts for Southern Ocean can you say that again please give me the position of this target you see and you said it's heading due south goddamn holy crap I bought you so the bodice found one big target and fake smaller ones that's possibly it that's it so they'll head straight for the big targets yeah the partner should head right straight to them once around them they can't do second thing is we had asked a bob to wait further west do you want them to start moving up or do you want to wait till daddy's got a visual on them thanks for I don't know what the Japanese have authorized them to do all I know is that you have to not be intimidated by the opposition on the Bob Barker Catholic O'Neal's informs his crew of the developments up north there at about 35 degrees south right now they still don't have a visual but helicopter is going up in the next 20 minutes and they should have a visual pretty soon so the Steve will be on the tail when shortly as well and we're going to get instruction in what to do so I to go up north all will stay here away so it's battle stations for us to the Steve Irwin has reached a patch of calm seas so Gary will give launching the helicopter another shot with the chopper speed he'll be able to reach the four targets before the Bardo if you spot the nation without me maybe so they know what definitely nervous but at the moment there's nothing we can do everybody is prepared and ready so it all depends on Gary Gary heads towards the targets if one of the vessels is the Nisshin Maru then captain Watson's new strategy to catch the Whalers before they reach Antarctica they'll have worked and the Sea Shepherd's may have a chance to shut down the hunt before a single whale is given hope we can get them here either they will impressively try to renew this or they will give up and go home we've never been sent down this far in this one we're taking a major in that aspect Whale Wars new episode next Friday at 9:00 only on Animal Planet [Music] yari is now flying directly to the targets that gave us just need to keep speeding up and keep going the Steve Irwin has just sent pilot Gary Dukes into the air to identify four targets less than fifty miles away if one of them is the Nisshin Maru the Sea Shepherd's have a chance at the most successful campaign today our goal is always zero quota but he will that we can save under that quotas a victory for us courtesy helicopter helicopter bridge do you copy [Music] helicopter breach go ahead itself with me reasonable fine faithful what's a missing recently size vessel 10 hours that's where the venetian should be that's the nation without that deck you guys ready over whatever they do we're going to block their operations if we can get them here then we can shut them down they won't kill any whales at all but verbal confirmation of the Nisshin Maru the Bardot speeds ahead to the radar they plan to get behind the factory ship and shut down the hunt for the entire season I'm not willing to stop until these guys don't wanna stop whaling but with 29 million dollars worth of security and four other ships close by they know that the task ahead of them well I don't care if they send the biggest damn battleship down there it's not going to deter us from what we're doing all i care about are the lives of those whales safe this season on Whale Wars you can buy a lot of muscle with thirty million dollars we're severely outgunned and out man we're going up against vessels that can cut us in half not only do we face the threat posed by our adversary ion but we're also running a campaign in the harshest environments on this planet and we're down here alone to track the phone too there's an opportunity here aboard this vessel we have three occupants on the shoulder under estimating us there's only one way to stop us and that would be to sink us take a deeper dive into Whale Wars at animalplanet.com watch deleted scenes meet the crew and much more just visit animalplanet.com/swampwars

Channel: Brady Russell

Views: 587,225

Rating: 4.6160221 out of 5

Keywords: sea shepherd, whale wars

Id: qmg9HJPvFfg

Length: 42min 49sec (2569 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 20 2013