Several tiger sharks attack a sick humpback whale calf back in November 2006 off the Kailua-Kona area of Big Island.
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.
Oh c’mon...everyone knows that chicken has absolutely no flavor........
:)
Do you eat hamburgers?
I hate to agree with you but I concur... Slaughtering cows is sick. We have so much technology now adays they can use for the cow materiel they take...
On what basis?
Who gives a damn what boat or what group is protecting the animals.
People who care about the rule of law.
I for one would like my children and grandchildren to be able to see those whales and not see them go the way of the dinosaur.
I see, the basis of all your ranting is what emotionally gratifies you. That's not a foundation for a moral code.
I think you might be surprised, especially with regards to the younger people. They certainly have swallowed the whole AGW hoax hook, line and and sinker so they're as gullible as anybody else to a good media campaign. As far as whale, I know in my wife's family only one of my nieces will eat whale, none of the other young people care for it. To the people my wife's age it's a special dish eaten at New Years but not any other time. My FIL eats it two or three times a week though, you'll never change his mind.
20, 30, and 40 year old grainy video of alleged infractions by “pirates” holds about as much legitimacy as the rants of Paul Watson. It’s hysterical, histrionic, and wholly irrelevant to an adult discussion of what is currently going on in the whaling industry.
Paul Watson was ALSO a founding member of “Greenpeace”, and they drummed him out for his radical views. To find his ludicrous allegations getting support HERE of all places is surprizing.
That said, it *DOES* say something about who really is open to dissent and disagreement, doesn’t it?
BTW, cut-and-paste is usually used for a new post, since we here try to use our own words to discuss things. If your mind is so bereft of ideas and unable to order a cohesive and coherent argument, perhaps you should spend a bit of time re-learning how to think for yourself?
You didn’t ask me, but yes, hundreds of times often in one year. And its an treat every time. But you need to relax, minke’s are not endangered, and the Japanese “research whaling” is sustainable. You obviously are passionate about this, and that’s okay, but recognize it for what it is - you have long ago left science and embraced a personal viewpoint. I would also prefer that the Japanese not conduct research whaling, but its a historic part of their culture, diet, and community. Just like subsistence whaling that we permit with Makah and Inuit peoples.
For those of you who love whales and all they do to prevent global warming, you can get a full season of The Whale Whisperer on DVD by sending a generous contribution to Wailing Over Whales.
While reducing population density can indeed lead to a healthier population overall, this only works until density falls below the conservation reliant threshold based on common migration patterns.
Read: progeny doesn’t occur when the individuum can’t find a mate.
“Paul Watson was ALSO a founding member of “Greenpeace”, and they drummed him out for his radical views. To find his ludicrous allegations getting support HERE of all places is surprizing.”
Paul Watson? Show me a post of mine in support of him. You are lying if you are refering to me.
Said another way, if the bat-boat crew believed that it was intentionally rammed when it tried to cross the bow of the Japanese ship, why didn’t they tell the truth when reporting the incident? First reports out had the bat-boat crew claiming that the bat-boat was DRIFTING and SUDDENLY RAMMED. They falsely attributed their own behavior (unprovoked aggression, approaching with attempt to ram or harass) to the Japanese ship. Not the behavior or demeanor of innocent people.
Genesis 9:2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
I think I may not have seen the vid you saw. Starboard is to the right and the vid I watched had the bat-boat approaching from the port/left side. I’ll check for another video when I have time.
If the pirates were dragging fouling gear the whalers could have turned towards the pirates in order to swing the vulnerable stern away from them.
And I think Greenpeace is very critical of Watson and his crew because their confrontational and life-endangering approach to "saving the whales" is doing more harm than good for the cause.
If there was a food shortage in the world it would be different to slaughter whales...but, there is not!
And to have no respect for the beauty and magnificence of whales or any other species just because they are NOT human, shows a total lack of humanity in my opinion.
Just because humans have the means to do so, doesn't quality them to take the lives of any other being just for the 'sport' of it or 'just because they can.'
It's not 'disgraceful' as some redneck conservatives seem to think to show compassion and admiration for species that reside outside the species of 'man!'
Good Lord man, get a grip. They aren’t hunting the whales that the tourists go on the cruises to see. The whales they hunt are fairly common. That said, I do not necessarily condone whaling but they are not depriving your children or grandchildren of anything. In fact, it’s radical people like the nut who would risk the lives of his crew to get his name in the papers that are a greater risk to the future well being of your family. When you have nothing but tofu for dinner you can thank the ecoterrorists.
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