Nisshin Maru
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. Three days after the collision, an unrelated fire broke out in the engine room of the whaling factory ship "Nisshin Maru" and killed one crew member.