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.
There is such a thing as a “generalized” statement, often included with a reply.
That you took such offence with my unrelated anecdote about Paul Watson in connection with my reply to you speaks VOLUMES about something. What, I am not sure, but WOW, you certainly reacted strongly.
Some of those ignorant people have apparently infiltrated the staff at Merriam-Webster's: http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/decimate:
Entry Word: decimateFunction: verbMeaning: to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of <the armyʼs attack decimated the enemyʼs defenses beyond repair> — see destroy
And the entry for decimate at Freedictionary.com reveals that it is considered to be a proper synonym for destroy by The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, The Collins English Dictionary , and The Collins Thesaurus of the English Language
The ignorant people problem extends far beyond FreeRepublic is clearly worse than first suspected.
Minke whales are common, they are not in any danger of extinction, where did you learn this nonsense?
If you ask that question sincerely then you are too thick skulled for anyone to try and answer...if that is not the reason you ask [which I suspect it is not]then you are too soulless to bother answering.
“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 ...” Hey Don. I’m not smart enough not have the expertise. That’s why I posted a link you frikin genius. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a713853239
Read an interesting article in some hunting magazine a few years back that those deer that flag with their tail are becoming less numerous and those that don't flag with their tales are becoming more numerous...Mother nature is not selective, its survival of those most adaptable.. but they do clean up the clearing of all the ancient apples that fall from the trees on my property...good only for deer feed...
Note starboard and port refer to the Japanese ship's starboard and port. Since the ship is heading at you they are reversed.
Correctomundo. They know they have to keep the focus on the 'enviro whackos' if they want to be able to keep up their shenanigans. That's why there's always tons of chatter from the whaling lobby shils over at youtube following these incidents.
These whalers are just continuing the long Japanese tradition of ignoring any other countries territorial water. The over 900 whales killed for "research" have all found their way to the fish markets. Keep in mind the Japanese are known to absurdly underestimate their fishing numbers, so who knows how many have really been killed.
Nearly all of these whales are poached from the Australian Whale Sanctuaries, where the Japs have been ordered to stop whaling by Australian courts.
Just goggle "Japanese illegal fishing" there's plenty of documentation, some linking illegal fishing to the Yakuza. Considering one whale brings them $3.5 Million, this is not surprising.
And don't worry, there's no shortage of Freepers who talked trash about patriots like the Minutemen too.
Good video of the intentional ramming by the Japanese "security boat". http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/07/sea-shepherd-japanese-whaling-ship
I never really understand the call to show respect for ‘beautiful’ animals as if we need not have any regard for the suffering of ugly animals (no manatee every won a beauty contest but I grant that they DO look cuddly). I have heard outcry about killing ranch minks (fur used for clothing, bodies used for pet food) and harbor seals which talk about the wistful beauty of the animal but I think we can agree that a one eyed mangy dog should be spared needless suffering as much as any other pretty animal.
You bring in other points to grant yourself the moral high ground - I haven’t seen any posts here advocating the playful sport killing of whales just because ‘we can’ but you seem to attribute this attitude to those who differ with you on other points.
I can’t follow your leaps and bounds that lead you to suggest that people who don’t agree with you must be redneck conservatives. Surely reasonable people can disagree whether killing and eating whale is equivalent to killing and eating other mammals in a moral context. I haven’t seen anyone suggest that they should be hunted to extinction, no one seems to boast about looking forward to the day when Earth is ‘free’ of such ‘pests’. You frame your responses as if we hate whales or have no regard for suffering etc.
I suspect many of the people who disagree with you, as I do, have actually seen them in the wild, as I have, and heard their mighty inhale as all but their blow holes lay just beneath the waves drawing in more air than seems possible, as I have. I am utterly awestruck by them and consider them beautiful. I advocate for the protection of the species from extinction, pollution etc. but I don’t object to cultures hunting them legally if population size is protected.
You point to the fact that there is some footage of a ship taking whales illegally - ergo there should be no whaling? But every hunted species is prone to being taken illegally (illegal dear, pheasant etc.) Poaching has to be one of the oldest professions - it doesn’t in my mind rule out legal hunting. It matters to me that we do preserve the species and needless suffering is rejected (I am against sport hunting with no intention to harvest anything from the catch) and I reject the morally superior verbiage you hurl in hopes of shaming to silence those who disagree on various aspects of a surprisingly complex issue.
I watched a vid taken from the stern of the Japanese ship so I didn’t see the one you saw - the ships were not heading toward the camera. I’ll look for the other vid.
Why don’t these eco nuts protest and harass the Eskimos for hunting whales.
Oh wait...that wouldn’t be politically correct because they are minorities.
This is the latest greenie to find out that ships don’t turn on a dime. In the late 1980s, I had a buddy who worked in the engine room aboard the USS John Hancock (homeport Mayport, Florida). They were patrolling an area that was off-limits for an ICBM launch. They wound up chopping a Greenpeace boat in half that was attempting to disrupt the missile launch. Pulling in front of a destroyer and stopping is a real bad idea.
Indeed. Some folks learn about inertia the hard way.
Assigning a special significance to whales as opposed to deer, cattle, bunnies or any other animal makes no logical sense. You are operating on emotion.
I've seen plenty of whales. I live on the seacoast and have cruised the ocean for 50 years in my boats and others. I have friends who have been hit by whales, damaging their boats. I've been lucky enough to avoid them. I don't see any reason to believe they are better or worse than any other mammal we consume daily.
You are dealing with maniacs.
Obviously.
I have finally learned what *goyim* actually means!
Get Over Yourself Ignorant Manipulator.
Learn the ROOT of words, and yes, even Merriam-Webster *can* be wrong.
It’s not necessarily IGNORANCE of USAGE, merely that of the word’s actual MEANING, from its derivation. I’ll bet you never even placed in your school’s spelling bee, let alone the city or state level.
Good day.
Ecclesiastes 3:19
Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath [a] ; man has no advantage over the animal.
The verse that immediately follows asks, “Who knows if the spirit of man goes upward, and the spirit of the beast goes down to the earth?” The exact Hebrew word for “spirit,” “ruach,” is used in connection with animals as well as humans. Ecclesiastes 12:7 concludes that “the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”
This position was taken by Paul, who called himself an apostle to the gentiles. Paul spoke of God as the “giver of life and breath and all things to everyone.” (Acts 17:25) In his epistle to the Romans 8:18-25, Paul wrote that the entire creation, and not just mankind, is awaiting redemption.
Revelations 16:3 “The second angel poured out his bowl upon the sea, so that it turned to blood as of a corpse, and every living soul that was in the sea died.”
A friend of mine was a semi-retired ship captain from Pt. Richmond (CA) who took jobs moving yachts for the owners from one harbor to the next. IN this story he was moving a lovely, teak and brass decked 44 foot sailboat. He checked the Loran, set the helm on auto and told the owner of the boat and his wife that their course was set and not to touch the controls.
The owner did not like to have his wife witnessing him taking instruction from a ‘mere’ sea dog. At first opportunity, he pointed off the bow at a ship in the distance that he said was the Queen Mary, and promised to give the wife a good, close, look.
The owner took the helm off autopilot and changed course - the captain dozed for about 20 minutes and immediately before waking and sensing they were off course based on the light streaming in the porthole. He rushed to the deck.
Upon arrival he raced to the wheel and spun it hard.
The owner began to curse him, remind him whose boat he was sailing and who writes the paychecks etc. The captain shouted, as the sailboat layed hard into a turn “What in the **@!! are you doing taking it off auto!?”
The owner was now livid and ordered the captain to return them to course because he promised his wife he would show her the Queen Mary.
The captain stayed at him incredulously and shouted “THAT ISN’T THE QUEEN MARY, THAT IS AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER AND IT PROBABLY DOESN’T EVEN SEE US AND IT COULDN’T AVOID US IF IT DOES”
As the sailboat raced to get out of the way - the owner asked anxiously if they were going to be hit. The captain replied that it might be a mercy if they were because then they wouldn’t have to face the WAKE of the aircraft carrier.
The captain reported that the wake of the carrier was even worse than he anticipated after 40 years of sailing. They survived. Following, the owner was far less inclined to remind him of his ‘lowly’ position on the boat.
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