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.
So: You haven’t answered ONE of my direct challenges to your rhetoric and hearsay, and you find it acceptable to SPAM me with some link to yet another unknown (to all but the GREENIES) author’s diatribe against the Japanese whale hunt.
As I asked the previous “whaling expert”, Learn what you’re talking about, get a grip on reality, and leave ME the dickens ALONE!
If you knew HALF what you think you do, you’d be dangerous! If you knew 2/3rds what you think you do, you’d have a clue! If you knew 3/4 what you think you do, you’d know more than the NOAA!
Good heavens, if you knew 1/16 what you’re claiming, you’d be the reigning Know-It-All of the entire environmental movement!
A few years ago, a nature program showed an 14-inch baby Blue Whale "harvested" from Japanese "scientific study" of a Blue Whale hauled on board. It was an exact miniature of the mother whale, and quite sad to see—dead.
Is this the same trimaran that attempted a circumnavigation using only bio-fuels?
You frame your responses as if we hate whales or have no regard for suffering etc
Hate? No. No respect & no regard for their suffering? Absolutely!
You point to the fact that there is some footage of a ship taking whales illegally...
I did not.
I reject the morally superior verbiage you hurl...
...and I reject your justification, that it is ok to kill whales or whatever as long as it is someone's culture that is 'requiring' them to do that...it was the culture of cannibals and head-hunters to shrink heads and consume humans, but, somewhere all the line it became rather uncool and unacceptable to do that. Simply practicing that 'culture' would likely be frowned upon today.
Please, look up definitions of POACHING and LEGAL HUNTING. They are two separate actions. While you are researching your lame position, please note what “is” and “is not” endangered.
Native Americans killing bald eagles and slaughtering whales should neither one be legal...
The whaling occurs in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, an internationally ordained preserve that covers the waters surrounding Antarctica as far north as 40º S and protects 11 of the planet’s 13 species of great whales. Research is permitted in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, commercial whaling is explicitly forbidden.
I guess thy renamed it. It broke the world record for circumnavigating the globe in a motorized boat. It set the record in 60 days 23 hours and 49 minutes. On Friday June 27, 2008 Earthrace set a new powered circumnavigation of the globe world record when it crossed the finish line at 14:24 CET at Sagunto, Spain.
http://www.popularmechanics.co.za/content/outside/singlepage.asp?fid=871&pno=1
Well there ya go.
It's common knowledge that it's bad luck to remane a boat. :-P
thanks for the data! Do you have the name of the two legally accepted whales?
Hard wading through your emotion based responses. You equate hunting and eating whales to cannibalistic head hunters shrinking heads and consuming human flesh? Uh...yeah....I can see why we won’t agree on this.
Indeed, as the Earthrace, back in ‘08.
You know that, I, in no way equated hunting to head-hunting/cannibalism. You used Japanese culture to justify their slaughter of whales...I used the example of head-hunting to point out there are cultural practices that are no longer acceptable.
There are multiple reasons why we won't agree on this, twisting my words to try and validate your argument is but one of the reasons.
That may be. But they are following the laws, the treaties.
The crew of the Ady Gil were violating the laws of the sea, especially the one about ramming another ship.
And ramming a ship much larger than yours while you have a camera crew on another ship, which is also crossing their bow, in an attempt to cause them to 'hit' the smaller (but much more maneuverable) craft is just dumb, and deadly.
So who is the criminal, in this case?
This isn't about saving whales. It's about well-funded liberals who got a flashy boat and are making TV shows playing James Bond.
They have some effective equipment for driving whales away from the area, so why do they insist on damaging the whaling vessels, risking the lives of those on board?
Answer: Because, it's all about fame and fortune, and bragging rights.
Proof: They risk polluting the ocean with their own ship's fuel, just to make a point.
They would never have taken damage, had they not insisted on getting within 50 feet of the nose of the whaling ship. The water the whaling ship was spraying at them was a BIG RED SIGN that says, DON'T COME ANY CLOSER.
I guess you don't know where hamburger comes from.
This is the true law of the waterways.
Size is not important, especially these days.
The concept that it applied to 'smaller craft' is more valid when applied to wind-powered craft (sailboats) vs. runabouts.
You do understand that the whales they are taking are not endangered?
No more endangered than the cows they take to slaughterhouses and hang from a hook.
Is your grocery store a market for the scum of the Earth?
OK. First, you don't even know what species of whale these are, nor what the established hunting limits are for them, nor who is , and who is not following the treaty for the allowed hunting of them. Nor do you know their population size, and whether they are at the top or bottom of their population limit.
Prove me wrong.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.