The MY

Ship prefix

A ship prefix is a combination of letters, usually abbreviations, used in front of the name of a civilian or naval ship.Prefixes for civilian vessels may either identify the type of propulsion, such as "SS" for steamship, or purpose, such as "RV" for research vessel. Civilian prefixes are often...

 Bob Barker is a ship owned and operated by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, named for former television game show host Bob Barker

Bob Barker

Robert William "Bob" Barker is a former American television game show host. He is best known for hosting CBS's The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007, making it the longest-running daytime game show in North American television history, and for hosting Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975.Born...

, whose donation of $5 million to the society facilitated the purchase of the ship. It first started operating for the group in late 2009 / early 2010 in its campaign against whaling by Japanese fisheries. In October 2010, Sea Shepherd stated that the Bob Barker had completed a massive refit in Hobart, Tasmania.

Overview

Bob Barker is described as a "long range fast ice" vessel of 801 tonnes (788.3 LT) (or 1200 t (1,181 LT) according to some other references). It was built in Norway in 1950 as the whale catcher Pol XIV, but was deleted from the Norwegian ship registry in 2004, and sold to a Cook Islands

Cook Islands

The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...

 registry concern. It was eventually purchased by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and refitted in Africa.

In July 1994, as the K/V Volstad Jr she was involved in a Norwegian Coast Guard

Norwegian Coast Guard

The Norwegian Coast Guard, or Kystvakten in Norwegian, is a military force and part of the Royal Norwegian Navy, but has separate vessels, many of which are purpose-built. All coast guard vessels have the prefix KV. Four of these vessels are capable of embarking one or more helicopters...

 operation in which the Sea Shepherd

Sea Shepherd

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a non-profit, marine conservation organization based in Friday Harbor, Washington in the United States. The group uses direct action tactics to protect sealife...

 vessel the MY Whales Forever was rammed, pursued and fired upon in international waters by the K/V Andenes.

On 19 February 2010, Japanese officials said that the Bob Barkers Togo

Togo

Togo, officially the Togolese Republic , is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately with a population of approximately...

 registry had been withdrawn. On May 24, 2010, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society stated that Bob Barker was now registered under the Dutch flag.

Sea Shepherd operations

After its African refit, Bob Barker departed Mauritius

Mauritius

Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...

 on 18 December 2009 to join up with the MY Steve Irwin and MY Ady Gil, the two other Sea Shepherd vessels. One of its first actions was to take video footage of the collision between the Ady Gil and a Japanese security vessel, after which it took aboard the crew from the stricken Sea Shepherd craft.

On 6 February 2010, while obstructing the slip-way of the Nisshin Maru factory ship, Bob Barker collided with the Yushin Maru No. 3, resulting in a 3 in 4 in (1.02 m) gash in the Bob Barkers hull above the waterline. The Institute of Cetacean Research

Institute of Cetacean Research

The is a Japanese government-sponsored institution. It took over from the Whale Research Institute , which grew out of the Nakabe Scientific Research Centre ....

reported minor damage to a handrail and to the hull of its ship. Both Sea Shepherd and the ICR accused the other of intentionally causing the crash.

On 25 February 2010, Sea Shepherd reported that the Bob Barker, which had been following the whaling fleet after the Steve Irwin broke off pursuit to return to port, was suffering from a fuel valve problem and would be returning to port, ending the organisation's operations for the 2009-2010 whaling season.