The Esperanza and its on-board crew of international activists chased the Nisshin Maru and the Yusshin Maru, two ships of a Japanese whaling fleet, after spotting both ships within the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Both ships were driven off the zone by the Esperanza, though the ship's crew continues to keep the Nisshin Maru within sight.

The Nisshin Maru is the Japanese government's whale factory ship. And after appeals to the Japanese Prime Minister failed to deter them from rolling out the ship, Greenpeace took steps to stop the ship from whaling. The activists, however, used non-violent ways to hinder the whaling ships from their mission, making sure both whale and whaler were unharmed.

The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary provides shelter to over 1,000 whales, including the world's remaining 50 fin whales. January 14, 2008 also marks the tenth year of protecting the Antarctican continent and its waters from exploitation of its oil reserves and natural inhabitants.