Ady Gil sinks after whaling skirmish

Australian Broadcasting Corporation ^ | January 8, 2010

[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.

[metalurgist]

Mr Watson says two Japanese harpoon ships were nearby but did not offer any help after the incident.

Since the enviro freaks say that this was an act of war, the Japanese should revive and old war time naval tactic of theirs. Machine gun the survivors that are in the water.

[kingu]

I think one has to check the timing, to be honest. What time did Paul Watson read the LA Times report where Ady Gil was asked about the damage to the speedboat and he stated that if the Ady Gil is unsalvagable, he'd just have to donate enough money to ensure a second speedboat was built.

I'm sure that the cutting of the lines supporting the Ady Gil was done shortly afterward, probably followed by a sad sat phone call from Paul Watson to Ady Gil to tell him the bad news that he's going to have to write another million dollar check. In fact, if you listened in to the call, you might hear the glee of the creator of the EarthRace’s unique profile and design at the opportunity to build a second ship that might not require hundreds of thousands of dollars in yearly maintenance to continue operation, after his year long failure to find a sponsor who'd foot the bill prior to Ady Gil footing the bill for the ship to join the Sea Shepherd pirate fleet.

Just speculation, mind you, though amusing to read Paul Watson being smart enough not to try to claim insurance on the boat, and face insurance fraud charges.

[anglian]

“Go to Alaska in the winter and watch the Eskimos hunt and kill whales.” Different subject altogether. Scientific - A nation issues unilateral ‘scientific permits’; any IWC member can do this. Example: Japan
Aboriginal - IWC grants permits to indigenous groups for subsistence food. Example: Alaskan Inupiat

[ctdonath2]

And for FReepers who think they are God Almighty

What the he11 are you talking about?

[proud_yank]

Go to Alaska in the winter and watch the Eskimos hunt and kill whales

I'm about two miles offshore in the Arctic Ocean now and its frozen solid. They do their whale hauls in the late summer/early fall :)

[myknowledge]

The blame falls squarely on the Ady Gil eco-terrorist pirate crew for intentionally jeopardizing themselves in the middle of a cold Southern Ocean.

[ColdWater]

Does MBA mean "Me Big Airhead"?, because EVERY post you have made on this topic has been about as distraught and emotional as a thirteen year old ditzy cheerleader. BTW, it's Masters (degree) IN Business Administration. If you're going to try and scold folks, at least get your terminology correct, PUTZ!

I have no idea what you are talking about.

[ransomnote]

So...you’re saying it’s warmer where you are then where we are.... :) ***shudders and puts on yet another pair of socks***

[proud_yank]

Possibly, I think its about -10 to -15F outside, which isn’t too bad.

[myknowledge]

True. International law trumps over emotional feelings any day. Especially ‘for the whales’.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

Sarc.?,,,LOL,,,

Polychlorinated biphenyls Iz Goood Fer Yew!,,,

Go ask the VA...LOL...;0)

[worst-case scenario]

I am in complete agreement that conservation efforts, often by led by hunters, combined with wise hunting and culling practices, often results in increased populations of hunted species. It's true here in the Northeast as well, where wild turkey, brown bear, coyote and even eagle population have rebounded over the past 30 years from levels close to local extinction.

Conservation practices usually involve limiting the number of animals that can be killed during a season, limiting the number of hunting licenses for a specific species, and preventing the killing of young animals and females of reproductive age. All these efforts involve limiting the number of animals hunted.

However, unlimited fishing of wild fish stocks off the east coast has led to the collapse of cod, shrimp and haddock fisheries from Newfoundland to Cape Cod. The collapse of the Canadian cod fisheries is especially well-documented. More cod fishing didn't lead to the cod having more young; it just led to their near-extinction.

The original statement was: The more they are hunted, the more progeny they produce.

For this statement to be true, it would mean that there is some kind of causality between the amount of hunting in a species and the number of young they have.

There is no no proof that the hunting of a species will cause that species to produce more children as a result. There is no causality between the two whatsoever, from everything in biology that I have ever studied. I wondered if there was any evidence behind "I just think that it's so." Apparently not.

[Norseman]

>>The video is being taken from the other eco ship that is crossing the bow of the Japanese ship changing the angle on the bow as the video is running. Also, you can see the smaller ship accelerate in front of the whaling ship as the angle does NOT change indicating that the whaling ship is starting to turn away from the smaller boat.<<

You’re just assuming that the other eco ship is moving. An equally good assumption is that it was stationary, that the Ady Gil was also nearly dead in the water and that the Japanese ship veered first to starboard to ram and then to port following the collision. Plus, note that the Japanese shipmates were spraying down the occupants of the Ady Gil to the point of nearly throwing them off the boat following the collision.

Don’t mistake me here. I think the eco-terrorists probably got what they deserved, but I DO think the Japanese rammed them intentionally. Anyone able to interpret the Japanese speaker on the first video?

[proud_yank]

If you need, FReepmail me your address and I’ll send you a pair of boots like I’ve got. This global warming is really out of hand, no?

[ransomnote]

If the temperature inside my shoes drops another 2 degrees, I’ll take you up on that!!!! :)
MMMmmyessssssss....global warming...of course...

[GonzoGOP]

The video is being taken from the other eco ship that is crossing the bow of the Japanese ship changing the angle on the bow as the video is running

Not buying it. The speed necessary to get that much change of angle on the bow in only 9 seconds would be more than the Bob Barker is capable of. She is a speed boat like the Ady Gil, but an old whaler herself. Also the angle on the bow of the Ady Gil does not make a similar change. Had the movement of the Barker been the cause of the change of angle of the bow on the Japanese ship the Ady Gil should have moved rapidly left in the frame. It remains in a constant position.

Note that in the Japanese video the angle of the guard rail in the foreground relative to the Ady Gill gets smaller as the ships approach (seconds 00-06. If she was going straight or turning to port that angle should be getting larger. This is before the wake appears On the Ady Gil at second 14. Now if the Ady Gil had backed engines instead of accelerating towards the Japanese there would have been no incident. Heck if they had just kept a reasonable distance there would have been no incident.

But the Japanese ships bow swings to starboard.

[proud_yank]

I agree with your points, and am not familiar with the case he made earlier.

I made my point about Kodiak bears because its counter-intuitive to normal thought, and it showed success.

[proud_yank]

I agree with your points, and am not familiar with the case he made earlier.

I made my point about Kodiak bears only because its counter-intuitive to normal thought, and it showed success.

[Trteamer]

What you fail to understand, is that the whale population is healthy and the harvest does not hurt the population by taking a little surplus from a sustainable population. Please study up on the concept of carrying capacity and get back to me.....

[ColdWater]

BTW, it's Masters (degree) IN Business Administration. If you're going to try and scold folks, at least get your terminology correct, PUTZ!

Just using Dengar01's terminology! Are you calling him a putz?

Dengar01: First of all I am a 26 year old male with an MBA in finance. For you dummies that means Masters of Business Administration. So you can take your insults elsewhere. If you really think that it is only Minke whales being culled, then I have a country to sell you. There is video of Japanese cullers slaughtering humpbacks

Me: You may have an MBA in finance but you are totally ignorant on whales.