Posted on 01/07/2010 6:52:08 PM PST by myknowledge
The Sea Shepherd's anti-whaling speedboat Ady Gill has sunk after it was sliced in two by a Japanese whaling vessel during a clash in the Southern Ocean on Wednesday.
Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson told ABC News Breakfast the Ady Gill went down shortly before 3:30am AEDT while it was being towed to a French research base by the group's Bob Barker boat.
"I think they were towing for about six or seven hours," he said.
"Even the act of towing was taking more water on. The Japanese vessel had cut the vessel completely in half and made it unseaworthy."
Six Sea Shepherd crew members were almost thrown overboard and one crew member suffered broken ribs when the Japanese whaling security ship, the Shonan Maru 2, ploughed through the bow of the high-tech Ady Gill on Wednesday.
Both the Japanese whalers and the Sea Shepherd crew blame each other for the incident, which happened in Antarctic waters.
But Mr Watson has defended his crew and says the risk of dying on the high seas is worth it if it allows the group to save whales.
"My crew are well aware of the risks that we have to take to protect whales down here. I think those risks are worth taking," he said.
"I can tell you now that if the oceans die, civilisations collapse and we all die.
"People die everyday to protect oil wells and real estate and we call them heroes and pin medals on them. I think protecting the diversity of oceans... is a far more noble cause."
'Harassment and attack'
But Glenn Inwood from Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research says Mr Watson has a dangerous attitude.
"Paul Watson has said before that he's willing to give any Japanese vessel what he calls a steel enema by ramming his ship into the stern of any Japanese vessel," Mr Inwood said.
"He also proudly displays the number of vessels he's sunk on the side of the Steve Irwin.
"You can understand why the Japanese have put security vessels down there.
"To say Japan has broken maritime laws can't be justified in this instance when you're under constant harassment and constant attack from these ships."
Mr Inwood says Japan's whaling program is internationally recognised as legal.
"The International Whaling Commission (IWC) have sanctioned it. The New Zealand government recognises its legality, and many members of the IWC do as well," he said.
"Sea Shepherd is trying to prevent Japan from conducting what is a legal operation under the rules of the IWC."
Yesterday Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard asked the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) to investigate the incident and said the findings would be made public.
She says the Government reserves the right to take international legal action if diplomacy with Japanese officials fails, and has warned that evidence has already been collected to launch such action.
New Zealand is also investigating the incident because the Ady Gil was registered there.
'An act of war'
Mr Watson says an insurance payout on the Ady Gill is unlikely because the incident was a deliberate act.
"It's a $1.5 million loss for our organisation," he said.
"I think the Japanese deliberately took that vessel out; they saw it as a threat and they were under orders to take it out.
"It would be an act of war so there wouldn't be any insurance on it."
Mr Watson says two Japanese harpoon ships were nearby but did not offer any help after the incident.
"They were responsible, they destroyed the vessel ... I think they should have offered some sort of assistance but they refused to acknowledge any distress signal," he said.
Mr Watson says they were able to remove all the fuel from the speedboat to prevent any pollution.
Mr Watson is urging the Federal Government to take a tougher action against Japanese whalers.
"In the six years that we've been doing this, we've never caused an injury to anyone, we've never broken a law... and now they have sunk one of our vessels," he said.
"[Federal Environment Minister] Peter Garrett has become the master of restraint. He made a campaign promise to end whaling; now let's see him [do something]."
Mr Watson says the Government should send a boat to Antarctic waters, where the Sea Shepherd's other boats - the Steve Irwin and Bob Barker - are continuing to pursue Japanese whalers.
Mr Watson says the boats are chasing the Japanese fleet and the whalers have not killed a whale in two days.
Diplomatic approach
Meanwhile, New Zealand officials have met with representatives from the Japanese embassy in Wellington to discuss the situation.
The ABC understands that at the Wellington meeting, Japan said it regarded the incident as "regrettable" but a "low-key event".
This morning a spokesman for the New Zealand Foreign Minister, Murray McCully, said contrary to media reports, Japan had not lodged a stern complaint with the New Zealand Government.
He said Japanese officials agreed with New Zealand that their citizens needed to have better regard for people on the high seas.
The spokesman said legal action over the collision had not been discussed, because it still had not been established who was at fault.
Maritime New Zealand has launched an investigation.
Some say that Bingo, smoking cigars or watching cartoons on Saturday morning is "sick".
Thank you for your pronouncement, Mr. Arbiter of All That is Well and Good.
So I gather that you don't ever eat any marine critters.
Neither do I.
I'm a strict vegetarian. I only eat critters that eat vegetables, herbs and grasses.
Well, you had better start, or those of us that do will outlive you.
What do you do for B12 - Take pills?
I wish that were true.
This nation is full of cannibals - led by the current U.S. Congress and occupant of the White House.
A cannibalistic carnivore...yeah, that's something to brag about.
Apparently, your ‘brain’ has gone far too long without sufficient oxygen...that’s what all that red meat does for your arteries.
Okay, I’ll call them “offspring.” The point is the same. Animals are bred by humans. They have more offspring because humans have bred them to be that way - more fertile than their wild counterparts.
Whales are NOT bred by humans. They live in the wild. Killing more of them will NOT result in them having more offspring.
Killing animals does NOT make them more fertile. There is NO connection.
Typical liberal. If you can't dispute the truth, attack the messenger.
Uh, I hunt large mammals every year that live in the wild and are not bred by humans.
The more we hunt them, the more there are.
Okay, then I guess your anecdotal evidence trumps all research known to zoology. Tell it to the fisheries along the East Coast that have collapsed due to overfishing.
Typical dimwitted lughead thinking...oh, a vegetarian/animal lover HAS to be a liberal!
Wrong!!!
The tradition argument for their right to slaughter whales rings hollow as they don't go out in ancient wooden boats with hand thrown harpoons. They use the latest technoogy to make the kills. What the F are they studying that they need to know. I give Greenpeace a pass on harassing the Japs on this.
So for the sake of the hedonist market, you cheer the Chinese looking for bear parts and rhinoceros horns for aphrodisiacs, Koreans looking for dog meat, ivory lovers killing elephants for their tusks. You might as well as support the hedonists who seek children for their pleasure. After all their is a market for it.
The more we hunt them, the more there are.
You make a good argument for abortion with your impeccable logic.
Nice apples and oranges argument. You compare child sex trade to whaling? nice logic.
Pray for America’s Freedom
Vegetarians have a larger carbon footprint than meat eaters. Kinda selfish way of life.
Pray for America’s Freedom
There are between 5000-12000 Blue Whales and historically estimated at 20,000 not that you could get a count in the ocean. That’s hardly endangered.
Pray for America’s FReedom
Yes...how very selfish to not participate in the slaughter and consumption of other creatures.sarc/
Why is it that so many carnivores feel the need to attack vegetarians for their life choice? Guilt, the only reason that makes sense.
Very rarely will you find that a vegetarian has attacked the choices of carnivores until provoked.
I certainly don't, I stated the disgust I felt over whale hunting and was immediately attacked because, "you must not know where hamburger comes from, do you not eat cows, deer, ducks, elk, etc., etc."
It was only after being accused of being a hypocrite, a liberal whale-hugger, an emotional responder, and other various stupid and jejune things, did I even reply simply, that no, I do not eat mammals, fish or poultry.
That's when so many meat-eating neanderthals pounced on me like a wild hyena for the crime of vegetarianism.
Now, if I were to follow suit with the same vein of attack that I as a vegetarian faced...I guess I would have said something like...No, I do not partake of the decaying flesh of another living being. A being that has their blood drained from their flesh in more than likely a cruel and torturous manner. A once living being that has it's carcass sawed apart, so some human can throw it's flesh onto a Barbecue grill, char it over with carcinogens and then gnat that artery clogging, heart attack waying flesh from the bones of the hacked apart once breathing, living anilmal. Not unlike a back alley stray dog latching on to piece of rotting flesh, that's a carnivore!
Yep...I guess I could have said something like that...but, then again, what is the point? I would have just been stating the obvious!
Where is B12 mentioned in this slanderous accusation?!?
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