This is a collection of photos from the first part of Operation Musashi, a campaign in which the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's ship the Steve Irwin and its crew braved the stormy waters of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. The campaign is focused on enforcing the laws and regulations which are in place to protect the whales in the area. An illegal Japanese whaling fleet has been operating in this area for some years. Where governments and states fail to enforce the law to protect these magnificent and gentle giants of the oceans, Sea Shepherd will come to their aid. For more information see http://www.seashepherd.org
These photos are posted here with kind permission from the photographers Eric Cheng and Adam Lau. All are copyrighted.
Sea Shepherd crew beneath the Jolly Roger flag on the ship's bow
Sea Shepherd's helicopter
Welding work is being carried out at a Brisbane dock the night before departure
Helicopter takes off while the deck crew launches the gemini boat
Crew members on the bridge looking over navigation charts
The Japanese harpoon whaling vessel the Yushin Maru No. 2 crosses the bow
Delta boat braces rough seas during a deployment to pursue the Yushin Maru No. 2
Crew bracing as ship plunges into the trough of massive waves in rough seas
The M/V Steve Irwin in a big storm in the Southern Ocean
Crew members line the bow of the ship as she approaches the Kaiko Maru
Crew member coils an prop fouler (used to disable ship's propellers)
The ship is completely enclosed by ice as it tries to navigate to open waters
Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) on the bow of the M/V Steve Irwin
A penguin on an iceberg in Antarctica
A minke whale surfaces at the edge of the sea ice in Antarctica
A leopard seal sits on an iceberg in Antarctica
Radar image shows the ship is blocked in by a dense field of icebergs
The M/V Steve Irwin navigates between two large tabletop icebergs in Antarctica
Steve Irwin encounters Japanese whaling spotter vessel, the Kyoshin Maru No. 2
A Cape Petrel rests on one of the MY Steve Irwin's starboard life rafts
