drone
droneについては以前、Lbow-Shoulderくんが説明をしていましたが、今度はアメリカ空軍ならぬSea Shepherdがこの無人偵察機を使用しているというお話。「調査捕鯨」のたびに毎回お騒がせのWatson船長、今度はこの新しいおもちゃでどんな作戦を練るのでしょうか。クジラを食べないくせにやけに太っている船長の健康も気になります。（ゼミ生 カメ女）
Sea Shepherd says it has spotted Japan's whaling fleet
SYDNEY (Kyodo) -- The U.S.-based antiwhaling group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society says it spotted the Japanese whaling fleet heading to the South Seas on Saturday with the use of two drones, setting in motion a potential chase between the Japanese whalers and the antiwhaling activists in Japan's whaling operation in the Antarctic Ocean.
According to a statement posted on the Internet, Sea Shepherd said one of the two drones located and photographed the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru about 1,000 miles north of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary on Saturday.
Japan's Fisheries Agency said the Japanese whaling fleet -- three whaling vessels escorted by a Fisheries Agency guard ship -- plans to kill some 900 minke whales and fin whales this season for what the Japanese government describes as scientific research purposes.
Sea Shepherd has deployed its own vessels from Australia to locate the whereabouts of the Japanese whaling vessels after their departure from Japan on Dec. 6.
"This is going to be a long hard pursuit from here to the coast of Antarctica," Capt. Paul Watson, head of Sea Shepherd, was quoted as saying from aboard the Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin.
"But thanks to these drones, we now have an advantage we have never had before -- eyes in the sky," he said.
