MV Steve Irwin
Encyclopedia
The MY
Ship prefix
A ship prefix is a combination of letters, usually abbreviations, used in front of the name of a civilian or naval ship.Prefixes for civilian vessels may either identify the type of propulsion, such as "SS" for steamship, or purpose, such as "RV" for research vessel. Civilian prefixes are often...
Steve Irwin is the 59 metres (194 ft) flagship of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and used in their direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
campaigns against whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
and other activities the group opposes. The vessel was built in 1975 and formerly served as a Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency
Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency
The Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency was an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government. The SFPA is responsible for both deterring illegal fishing in Scottish waters, as well as monitoring the compliance of the fisheries industry in Scotland with the relevant Scottish and European Union laws...
conservation
Conservation ethic
Conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and protection. Its primary focus is upon maintaining the health of the natural world: its, fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity. Secondary focus is on materials conservation and energy conservation, which are seen as important to...
enforcement patrol boat, the FPV Westra, for 28 years.
Sea Shepherd had originally christened the vessel the MV Robert Hunter after Canadian Robert Hunter
Robert Hunter (journalist)
Robert Lorne Hunter was a Canadian environmentalist, journalist, author and politician. A member of the Don't Make a Wave Committee in 1969 with Dorothy and Irving Stowe, Marie and Jim Bohlen, and Ben and Dorothy Metcalfe...
, co-founder of Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
, but it was renamed in honor of The Crocodile Hunter
The Crocodile Hunter
The Crocodile Hunter was a wildlife documentary television series that was hosted by Steve Irwin and his wife Terri. The show became a popular franchise due to its unconventional approach and Irwin's approach to wildlife...
star Steve Irwin
Steve Irwin
Stephen Robert "Steve" Irwin , nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian television personality, wildlife expert, and conservationist. Irwin achieved worldwide fame from the television series The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series which he co-hosted...
on December 5, 2007. Irwin had considered joining the vessel on a voyage to Antarctica shortly before his death, and the renaming was endorsed by his widow Terri
Terri Irwin
Theresa Penelope "Terri" Irwin, AM is an Australian-based, American-born naturalist, author, the widow of Australian naturalist Steve Irwin and owner of Australia Zoo at Beerwah, Queensland, Australia...
.
Registration
In January 2007, the ship was struck from the British Ship Register after a JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese request. The boat has been registered in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
as of October 8, 2007.
Career
The FPV Westra was laid up ready for disposal in 2003 when Sea Shepherd purchased her and renamed her the Robert Hunter. The vessel was purchased because in previous campaigns the RV Farley Mowat could not keep up with the Nisshin MaruNisshin Maru
The 23-year-old, 8,030-ton vessel is the primary research vessel of the Japanese whaling fleet. It is a converted stern trawler and is the world's only whale factory ship. It is also the largest member, and flagship of the seven-member whaling fleet, headed by research leader Shigetoshi Nishiwaki,...
due to its greater speed.
2007
In February 2007, the Robert Hunter joined the Farley Mowat in order to prevent the Japanese whalingWhaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
vessel Nisshin Maru from hunting in an action Sea Shepherd called Operation Leviathan. Sea Shepherd members threw bottles of butyric acid
Butyric acid
Butyric acid , also known under the systematic name butanoic acid, is a carboxylic acid with the structural formula CH3CH2CH2-COOH. Salts and esters of butyric acid are known as butyrates or butanoates...
onto the decks of the Nisshin Maru. The Japanese say three members of the whaler were injured in the attack. The Robert Hunter and Farley Mowat obstructed the path of the whaling boat, and the Robert Hunter and Kaiko Maru collided with each other. One Japanese official accused the Sea Shepherd organisation of behaving "like pirates". The Robert Hunter sustained a 3-foot gash in the hull above the waterline at the stern of the ship. Three days after the collision, an unrelated fire broke out in the engine room of the whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru and killed one crew member.
The Steve Irwin has also participated in "Operation Migaloo" (named after Migaloo, the albino humpback whale
Humpback Whale
The humpback whale is a species of baleen whale. One of the larger rorqual species, adults range in length from and weigh approximately . The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with unusually long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. It is an acrobatic animal, often breaching and slapping the...
) that started in November 2007, and after repairs were completed in Launceston
Launceston, Tasmania
Launceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...
and a brief stop over in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, she was scheduled to depart for the Antarctic on December 1, 2007. Some media have reported that during this operation, Sea Shepherd vowed to ram Japanese vessels involved in the hunting of whales. Sea Shepherd has denied this statement, saying that they are a non-violent organization.
2008
On January 15, 2008, after throwing packages of foul-smelling butyric acid onto the decks and attempting to entangle a hunting boat's propeller, two Sea Shepherd members boarded the Japanese whaling vessel Yushin Maru № 2Yushin Maru No. 2
) is a Japanese registered whaling harpoon ship that undertakes whaling operations in the Southern Ocean.- Sea Shepherd confrontations :On January 15, 2008, two members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, traveling on the MV Steve Irwin, boarded the Yushin Maru № 2 without permission...
. Paul Watson
Paul Watson
Paul Watson is a Canadian animal rights and environmental activist, who founded and is president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a direct action group devoted to marine conservation....
stated that it was his intention to create an international incident through the boarding and expected detainment. They later stated that their intent had been to present a protest note to its captain. Benjamin Potts, a 28-year-old cook from Sydney, Australia
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, and Giles Lane, a 35-year-old engineer from Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, were detained by crew of the Yushin Maru № 2.
Sea Shepherd claimed that the two had been kidnapped and tied to the radar mast for several hours with ropes and zip ties
Cable tie
A cable tie, also known as a zip tie or tie-wrap , is a type of fastener, especially for binding several electronic cables or wires together and to organize cables and wires.-Design and use:...
. Potts and Lane, however, later stated that they were tied for only fifteen minutes to the side of the ship and a couple of minutes to the radio mast before being taken below deck. Glenn Inwood
Glenn Inwood
Glenn Hema Inwood is a New Zealand public relations specialist and the founder of Omeka Public Relations. His duties with the Wellington-based Omeka include acting as the speaker for the Institute of Cetacean Research, the Japanese organisation that lobbies on behalf of the whaling industry...
, a spokesperson for the whalers from the Institute of Cetacean Research
Institute of Cetacean Research
The is a Japanese government-sponsored institution. It took over from the Whale Research Institute , which grew out of the Nakabe Scientific Research Centre ....
(ICR), said that the activists were being held in an unlocked office, but were being guarded. In another statement, they stated that the action of boarding their vehicle was illegal and that the men were being held pending decisions on their future.
On January 16 the ICR issued a statement claiming that the protesters had thrown canisters of acid on board the ship and attempted to damage property. They also denied claims that the men had been assaulted and tied to the ship's mast. Hideki Moronuki further stated that "The ICR (Institute of Cetacean Research) is ready to release the two Conservationists provided that full security can be secured for our research vessel. Sea Shepherd is a very violent organization." In a letter faxed to the Steve Irwin, the ICR stated that part of the handover conditions include that Sea Shepherd "must not take any violent action or video/photo shooting activities against us." The acid in question was, according to Sea Shepherd, butyric acid
Butyric acid
Butyric acid , also known under the systematic name butanoic acid, is a carboxylic acid with the structural formula CH3CH2CH2-COOH. Salts and esters of butyric acid are known as butyrates or butanoates...
, which was used not to damage the ship itself but to render the work-deck unusable due to its foul and long-lasting smell.
On January 17, the Australian customs ship started preparation to transfer the two men held on the whaling vessel. On the morning of January 18, the two men were safely transferred to the . After an investigation by the Australian Federal Police
Australian Federal Police
The Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...
, no criminal action was taken against the conservationists.
Both sides accused the other of terrorism during the incident. The ICR called the butyric acid attack on the Yushin Maru № 2 an "inhumane terrorist attack" and called on the Australian Government to seize the Steve Irwin. Conversely, Steve Irwin 1st Officer Peter Brown stated that “the Institute of Cetacean Research is acting like a terrorist organisation [...] Here they are taking hostages and making demands. Our policy is that we don’t respond to terrorist demands.”
Following the March 3 clashes between Sea Shepherd members aboard the Steve Irwin and Japanese whalers, the Dutch government announced that it was investigating the incident as the vessel sails under the Dutch flag.
2009
On February 6, the MY Steve Irwin collided with the vessel Yushin Maru № 2 and later with the vessel Yushin Maru № 3 while they were whaling in the Southern Ocean. The Japanese-based Institute of Cetacean ResearchInstitute of Cetacean Research
The is a Japanese government-sponsored institution. It took over from the Whale Research Institute , which grew out of the Nakabe Scientific Research Centre ....
claimed that MY Steve Irwin deliberately turned into the stern side of the vessel Yushin Maru № 3 to ram her. Video footage of the incident was later released by the institute showing the incident. MY Steve Irwins operator Paul Watson denied the ramming, saying "They weren't rammed, two vessels collided - the Yushin Maru 3 and the Steve Irwin when they shot in front of us to transfer whale."
For the next year, the ship was drydocked in Brisbane while repairs to the hull and other alterations could be made. Included in these renovations was the installation of the Steve Irwin's own water cannon for use in campaigns. After departing drydock, the Ship toured around Australia, finally arriving in Fremantle to begin final preparations for Operation Waltzing Matilda, which she embarked upon on December 7. After three days, a suspected Japanese-chartered aircraft located the Steve Irwin en route to the Southern Ocean and instructed the to observe the movements of the vessel. Contact with the security ship was made on December 10, with the Steve Irwin launching its helicopter and Delta RHIB to gather information on the vessel. Heavy swells barred the Delta from reaching the vessel, and, upon arrival, a Japanese LRAD was used against the helicopter which forced it to stand down. For the next two weeks, the Shōnan Maru 2 continued to observe the Steve Irwin, despite continued attempts by the ship to lose the tail. Ultimately, the Steve Irwin returned to Australia, where the Shōnan Maru was unable to track it due to a heavy storm, in addition to legal complications. In addition, the Sea Shepherd Crew was assisted by a group called the "Taz Patrol," which tweeted
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
the coordinates of the Yushin Maru № 3 to the Steve Irwin
2010
In January 2010, the Ship continued to hunt for the Japanese fleet. After the loss of the MY Ady Gil in a collision with the Shonan Maru No.2, the Steve Irwin met up with the MY Bob BarkerMY Bob Barker
The MY Bob Barker is a ship owned and operated by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, named for former television game show host Bob Barker, whose donation of $5 million to the society facilitated the purchase of the ship. It first started operating for the group in late 2009 / early 2010 in its...
, with which it exchanged fuel, supplies, and crew. The ship then returned to Fremantle
Fremantle
Freemantle is a suburb of Southampton in England.Fremantle or Freemantle may also refer to:- Places :* Fremantle, the port city to the capital Perth, Western Australia...
to restock, departing on January 30. In the meantime, the Bob Barker had located the factory ship, Nisshin Maru, and was tailing the ship. On February 8, the Steve Irwin joined the Bob Barker in pursuit of the Nisshin Maru. Once the two Sea Shepherd vessels had linked up, the Steve Irwin took up position behind the Nisshin Maru to obstruct the factory ships slipway and also engaged her with water cannon. On February 15, Pete Bethune departed from the Steve Irwin on a jet ski
Jet ski
Jet Ski is the brand name of a personal watercraft manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries. The name is sometimes mistakenly used by those unfamiliar with the personal watercraft industry to refer to any type of personal watercraft; however, the name is a valid trademark registered with the...
, boarding the . He was subsequently detained and later arrested by the Japanese Coast Guard for trespassing. The two ships remained behind the whaler until the Steve Irwin was forced to return to Australia on February 18, arriving in Hobart on March 6.
2011
The Steve Irwin began patrolling the territorial waters of LibyaLibya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
in June 2011 in an effort to spot unauthorized bluefin tuna fishing boats and cut their fishing nets. It was met with attempts by some fishermen to incapacitate it, to which it responded with water hoses and stink bombs. On July 15, 2011 the ship was held by the British Government due to a pending lawsuit by a Maltese fishing company. The ship was released on August 2, 2011 after a bond of £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
520,000 was posted. , the ship was docked in the South Quay of West India Dock, London.