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.
The hunt is legal in the eyes of the world. I personally might like to say "no" to whaling, but I must not do so because I'm not a marine biologist and have no clue what's really happening.
In any case, such decisions must be made on the intergovernmental level, and not by a bunch of self-important yahoos with an agenda, the same ones who openly brag about acts of piracy that they committed. Even if they are right, their actions hurt more than they help. Who is going to listen to pirates? Will we listen to murderer's excuses that the victim was "asking for it?"
The best way to insure they survive is to hunt them for whatever.
The more they are hunted, the more progeny they produce.
The BBC says that the Antartic Minke is one of the most abundant of whale species.
Please concede your position. Thank you.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/whale_debate.shtml
Come on now, that’s a lib tactic.
Well yes and no. If you read your NavRules (
US Coast Guard Navigation Rules http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/mwv/navrules/navrules.htm) they are both at fault.
RULE 8
ACTION TO AVOID COLLISION
(a) Any action taken to avoid collision shall be taken in accordance with the Rules of this Part and [Intl] shall, if the circumstances of the case admit, be positive, made in ample time and with due regard to the observance of good seamanship.
(b) Any alteration of course and/or speed to avoid collision shall, if the circumstances of the case admit, be large enough to be readily apparent to another vessel observing visually or by radar; a succession of small alterations of course and/or speed should be avoided.
(c) If there is sufficient sea room, alteration of course alone may be the most effective action to avoid a close-quarters situation provided that it is made in good time, is substantial and does not result in another close-quarters situation.
(d) Action taken to avoid collision with another vessel shall be such as to result in passing at a safe distance. The effectiveness of the action shall be carefully checked until the other vessel is finally past and clear.
(e) If necessary to avoid collision or allow more time to asses the situation, a vessel may slacken her speed or take all way off by stopping or reversing her means of propulsion.
(f)
1. A vessel which, by any of these rules, is required not to impede the passage or safe passage of another vessel shall, when required by the circumstances of the case, take early action to allow sufficient sea room for the safe passage of the other vessel.
2. A vessel required not to impede the passage or safe passage of another vessel is not relieved of this obligation if approaching the other vessel so as to involve risk of collision and shall, when taking action, have full regard to the action which may be required by the rules of this part.
3. A vessel, the passage of which is not to be impeded remains fully obliged to comply with the rules of this part when the two vessels are approaching one another so as to involve risk of collision.
The Ady Gil was the stand on vessel as the Japanese vessel was crossing on the Ady Gil’s port side. The Japanese vessel was the give way vessel and should of either stopped or passed on the Ady Gil’s stern. I don’t have a dog in this hunt as I don’t care for the whalers and I definitely don’t approve of the Sea Shepard’s tactics.
So, you castigate a race this way, “the Japanese are as barbaric as their ancestors in World War II” simply because they hunt a variety of whale, that doesn’t even seem to include “humpback whales?”
I am 99.9% against your racist butt.
So is cigar consumption and sex with your wife after menopause.
So what?
I have absolutely no knowledge of the incident but without hesitation I can confidently state that the blame rests soley with the green weenies.
You're the one saying they're endangered. The burden of proof is upon you. Go get educated on the subject and then report back here on what you've learned...and while you're at it, take a pill.
because man cannot possibly count all the whales, they must be endangered...
of that i am certain.
/sarc.
my kid loves dinosaurs, alas... he’ll never get to see one... *sniff*
In this case, the Japanese whalers were harvesting non-threatened Antarctic Minkes.
You’re still emoting like a schoolgirl on her first period.
This statement really spurs my curiosity. On what do you base it? It's not a fact I've ever seen in any book of either biology or zoology. Any sources, please?
I agree with you.
Last time I looked, there are plenty of buffalo.
You can buy buffalo meat at the butchershop.
I had a buffalo burger two hours ago.
What's your point?
You are a sick person if you are going to dwell down to racism and completely bypassing the entire argument. That is a typical LIBERAL tactic. When all else fails, scream "RACISM".
You may have an MBA in finance but you are totally ignorant on whales.
Minke's ARE humpbacks
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