The MV Steve Irwin was the flagship of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and was used in their direct action campaigns against whaling and against illegal fisheries activities. The vessel was built in 1975 and formerly served as a Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency conservation enforcement patrol boat, the FPV Westra, for 28 years.
Sea Shepherd had originally christened the vessel the MV Robert Hunter after Canadian Robert Hunter, co-founder of Greenpeace, but it was renamed in honor of The Crocodile Hunter star Steve Irwin, who had died just over a year earlier, 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.
The ship and her crew, and their efforts for conservation, were the subject of the Animal Planet show Whale Wars.
The MV Steve Irwin is now moored at Thales Marine in the City of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia and is now in the ownership of the not for profit Ship4Good.
Registration
In January 2007, the ship was struck from the British Ship Register after a Japanese request. The ship has been registered in the Netherlands as of October 8, 2007.
Career
The FPV Westra was laid up ready for disposal in 2003 when Sea Shepherd purchased her in November 2006 and renamed her Robert Hunter.
2007
In February 2007, Robert Hunter joined Farley Mowat in order to prevent the Japanese whaling vessel Nisshin Maru from hunting in an action Sea Shepherd called Operation Leviathan. Sea Shepherd members threw bottles of foul-smelling butyric acid onto the decks of the Nisshin Maru. The Japanese say three members of the whaler were injured in the attack. Robert Hunter and Farley Mowat obstructed the path of the whaling ship, and Robert Hunter and Kaiko Maru collided with each other. One Japanese official accused the Sea Shepherd organisation of behaving "like pirates". Robert Hunter sustained a 3-foot gash in the hull above the waterline at the stern of the ship.
Steve Irwin has also participated in "Operation Migaloo" (named after Migaloo, the albino humpback whale) that started in November 2007, and after repairs were completed in Launceston and a brief stop over in Melbourne, she was scheduled to depart for the Antarctic on December 1, 2007.
2008
On January 15, 2008, after throwing packages of butyric acid onto the decks and attempting to entangle a hunting ship's propeller, two Sea Shepherd members boarded the Japanese whaling vessel Yūshin Maru No. 2. Paul Watson 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, and Giles Lane, a 35-year-old engineer from Leeds, United Kingdom, were detained by crew of Yūshin Maru No. 2.
Sea Shepherd claimed that the two had been kidnapped and tied to the radar mast for several hours with ropes and zip ties. 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, a spokesperson for the whalers from the Institute of Cetacean Research (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 organisation." In a letter faxed to 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, which was used not to damage the ship itself but to render the work-deck unusable due to its foul and long-lasting smell.