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12. Greenpeace and the View from the Dal’nii Vostok

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Red Leviathan
This chapter is in the book Red Leviathan
It was with particular displeasure and concern that, early on a Saturday morning, June 28, 1975, the Kremlin got news that one of its Pacific fac-tory fleets, the Dal’nii Vostok, had been harassed by Westerners in small inflatable boats— or zodiacs— about fifty miles off the coast of California. The zodiacs had even maneuvered in between the catcher boats and sperm whales, trying to keep the Soviet harpooners from firing. The men in the zodiacs had also been equipped with cameras.The zodiacs and the film belonged to Greenpeace, the upstart Vancouver- based environmentalist organization that had gained a mea-sure of fame in the early 1970s by attempting to block US nuclear tests at Amchitka Island, Alaska. That campaign had failed, and Greenpeace had entered a moment of crisis, torn between anti– Vietnam War activists who wanted to keep a focus on the peace, and others— mostly “freaks” and hippies— drawn much more to the green. Casting about Vancouver in 1973 with grandiose but still vague ideas about saving the world from nuclear Armageddon and ecological ruin, Bob Hunter, one of Greenpeace’s intel-lectual leaders, met Paul Spong, a New Zealand neurobiologist who had studied captive killer whales at the Vancouver Aquarium. Spong, like Yuri Rytkheu in the Soviet Union, knew Farley Mowat and his work protecting whales, and he was moving toward similar— if more mystical— activism.1 One day in early 1974, while Spong played his flute to his favorite captive orca, Skana, Hunter joined them poolside. When Hunter put his hands into the tank to touch Skana, the whale grasped his head with its mouth and held it for a few terrifying, exhilarating moments. Indescribable, irre-Greenpeace and the View from the Dal’nii Vostok12
© 2022 University of Chicago Press

It was with particular displeasure and concern that, early on a Saturday morning, June 28, 1975, the Kremlin got news that one of its Pacific fac-tory fleets, the Dal’nii Vostok, had been harassed by Westerners in small inflatable boats— or zodiacs— about fifty miles off the coast of California. The zodiacs had even maneuvered in between the catcher boats and sperm whales, trying to keep the Soviet harpooners from firing. The men in the zodiacs had also been equipped with cameras.The zodiacs and the film belonged to Greenpeace, the upstart Vancouver- based environmentalist organization that had gained a mea-sure of fame in the early 1970s by attempting to block US nuclear tests at Amchitka Island, Alaska. That campaign had failed, and Greenpeace had entered a moment of crisis, torn between anti– Vietnam War activists who wanted to keep a focus on the peace, and others— mostly “freaks” and hippies— drawn much more to the green. Casting about Vancouver in 1973 with grandiose but still vague ideas about saving the world from nuclear Armageddon and ecological ruin, Bob Hunter, one of Greenpeace’s intel-lectual leaders, met Paul Spong, a New Zealand neurobiologist who had studied captive killer whales at the Vancouver Aquarium. Spong, like Yuri Rytkheu in the Soviet Union, knew Farley Mowat and his work protecting whales, and he was moving toward similar— if more mystical— activism.1 One day in early 1974, while Spong played his flute to his favorite captive orca, Skana, Hunter joined them poolside. When Hunter put his hands into the tank to touch Skana, the whale grasped his head with its mouth and held it for a few terrifying, exhilarating moments. Indescribable, irre-Greenpeace and the View from the Dal’nii Vostok12
© 2022 University of Chicago Press

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Preface ix
  4. 1. Russia’s Whale Problem 1
  5. 2. The Whales of Distant Seas 8
  6. 3. A Revolution in Whaling 23
  7. 4. North Pacific Numbers 39
  8. 5. War and Glory in the Antarctic 57
  9. 6. Aleksei Solyanik and the End of Area V 74
  10. 7. The Kollektiv and the Long Ruble 98
  11. 8. The Cetacean Genocide 113
  12. 9. Scientists Locate Their Prey 134
  13. 10. Whales in the Home 151
  14. 11. A Whale Is Not a Fish: Back to the North Pacific 178
  15. 12. Greenpeace and the View from the Dal’nii Vostok 190
  16. Conclusion 213
  17. Acknowledgments 219
  18. Abbreviations 223
  19. Notes 225
  20. Index 259
Readers are also interested in:
https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226628998-013

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Preface ix
  4. 1. Russia’s Whale Problem 1
  5. 2. The Whales of Distant Seas 8
  6. 3. A Revolution in Whaling 23
  7. 4. North Pacific Numbers 39
  8. 5. War and Glory in the Antarctic 57
  9. 6. Aleksei Solyanik and the End of Area V 74
  10. 7. The Kollektiv and the Long Ruble 98
  11. 8. The Cetacean Genocide 113
  12. 9. Scientists Locate Their Prey 134
  13. 10. Whales in the Home 151
  14. 11. A Whale Is Not a Fish: Back to the North Pacific 178
  15. 12. Greenpeace and the View from the Dal’nii Vostok 190
  16. Conclusion 213
  17. Acknowledgments 219
  18. Abbreviations 223
  19. Notes 225
  20. Index 259
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