SPIT IT OUT,HARLEY...;0)
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.
“.I have chased many of them on foot.”
~~~
LMAO,,,I do that all the time!,,,
Just run up and “Feel” to see how Fat they are !,,,
Harley grabs em’ and drags em’ back to camp,,,
Guess where them Polar Bears Went ?!?!?!...;0)
SPIT IT OUT,HARLEY...;0)
In dealing with large ships ie: aircraft carriers, it must take miles for a complete turn...I am an old lady and could figure that out...but perhaps you have more info than I. How long does it take to turn one of those large ships...Interested because my son was on several but never asked him..(back in the late 70’s early 80’s)
Out of the 180 posts on this thread, none express the desire to kill off a species. If you recall in the old testament, God taught his people that it was appropriate for them to offer a lamb to be slaughtered for their sins - it was a simple way of illustrating the day that the Lamb of God would be slaughtered on the cross for the sins of the people.
God didn’t advocate driving sheep to extinction through slaughtering lambs. He did not object to his people using lambs and by his very character, he would not condone the pointless torment of animals.
No one is saying DOWN WITH WHALES! KILL’EM ALL. The posts speak of rule of law, conservation principles. Both sides of this argument have worhty points to make, some arguments - yours for example - produce strawmen to ‘defeat’ in order to prove that any diversion from your opinion is by definition, base and ungodly.
Still laughing at that one as I post......go Harley.....:O)
Yea but I don’t think you are yelling at them “get out of my flowers you SOB”
...;0)
LMAOROF!!!,,,
Nope,,,
Just cussin’ this slo-ass puter!...;0)
For sensitive consumers and those with high-level consumption (e.g., whaling communities), exposure to mercury and to a lesser extent PCBs from certain whale blubber and bacon and striped dolphin liver products could lead to chronic health effects. The Japanese community should therefore exercise a precautionary approach to the consumption of such foods in excess, particularly by high-risk members of the population.
In other words, there is NO risk of whatever you were trying to frighten the rest of us with, if the food in question is consumed in reasonable quantities.
So your point is?
Oh, nevermind, I understand now: YOU don't like that fact that certain cultures consider whale meat FOOD!
Tough bananas, buddy. I eat things that you don't like, and you eat things that I don't like, and the Japanese eat things that you and others don't like. So bloody what? As I said to another poster here: Get Over Yourself! You are NOT the be-all and end- all of what is right and wrong.
Live and let live. Abortion is NOT "let live". Work on a REAL problem, not what the Sea Shepherd Society TELLS you to worry about.
The video and pics I saw show the eco's ship WAS NOT cut in half but the tip was knocked off.
I can't claim 50 years but I've been sailing and cruising close to 30.
I'm interested in your assessment of this video clip.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/07/sea-shepherd-japanese-whaling-ship
Watch the Japanese video again, this time paying attention to the water behind the Ady Gil; you’ll see the water churning as the smaller boat accelerates into the path of the Japanese vessel. Had the Ady Gil not accelerated, the collision may have been avoided.
Good advice, think I'll start with the word sciolist.
Illegal is illegal which is exactly why the eco-terrorists should be in jail.
sciolist.
How pedantic. Using a rare word to attempt an insult.
Talk to me once you’re out of the seventh grade.
MMMM tofu... does it taste like chicken, too?
IN, OF, it’s all the same, right?
P*SS on it, I just don’t care anymore.
| species | population | status and listings* |
| northern right whale | 500-1,000 | endangered (ESA, IUCN) |
| southern right whale | 3,000 | endangered (ESA); vulunerable (IUCN) |
| bowhead whale | 8,000 | endangered (ESA, IUCN) |
| blue whale | 10,000-14,000 | endangered (ESA, IUCN) |
| fin whale | 120,000-150,000 | endangered (ESA); vulnerable (IUCN) |
| sei whale | 50,000 | endangered (ESA) |
| humpback whale | 10,000+ | endangered (ESA, IUCN) |
| sperm whale | 200,000 | endangered (ESA) |
| vaquita | a few hundred | endangered (ESA) |
| baiji | about 300 | endangered (ESA, IUCN) |
| Indus susu | 500 | endangered (ESA, IUCN) |
| Ganges susu | unknown | vulnerable (IUCN) |
| boto | unknown; thought to be declining | vulnerable (IUCN) |
| franciscana | unknown | not listed |
| tucuxi | unknown | not listed |
| Hector's dolphin | 3,000-4,000 | vulnerable (IUCN) |
| Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin | unknown; thought to be depleted | not listed |
| Atlantic humpbacked dolphin | unknown, but depleted | not listed |
|
* "ESA" denotes listing according to the Endangered Species Act. "IUCN" denotes listing according to the IUCN/World Conservation Union Red Databook. |
||
Kind of like the PT 109. Without the Camelot...
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