さあ！諸君！捕鯨問題だ！

On January 26th, the Steve Irwin found the Nisshin Maru and gave chase. Unfortunately, the Nisshin Maru smashed its way through dangerously thick ice in desperation to escape Sea Shepherd. The Steve Irwin could not physically pursue after the Nisshin Maru due to these dangerous ice conditions.
The tracker on the Sun Laurel indicated that the tanker was heading back southwest, which meant that the Nisshin Maru would be heading towards it to refuel. Everything looked good for the Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker to intercept the Sun Laurel before the Nisshin Maru could reach it, except for one unpredictable factor…ice!
The two Sea Shepherd ships, each with a harpoon vessel tail, the Steve Irwin picked up a tail again when it found the Nisshin Maru, had time to cover the distance before the Nisshin Maru met up with the Sun Laurel. The problem was ice. Despite the ice charts confirming the path was clear, both the Bob Barker and the Steve Irwin lost a great deal of time working through broad bands of heavy floe ice.
By the time the two ships broke through, still with their harpooner tails, the Nisshin Maru had already refueled. It was our one major failure during this year’s campaign.
On January 30th, the Bob Barker resumed the search for the Nisshin Maru, and engaged in a confrontation with the Yushin Maru No. 3 the next day in an attempt to slow down and lose the tailing vessel. The Steve Irwin headed back towards New Zealand with the Yushin Maru No. 2 on its tail.
http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-110130-1.html