Ady Gil sinks after whaling skirmish

Australian Broadcasting Corporation ^ | January 8, 2010

[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.

[Admin Moderator]

Knock it off.

[Richard Kimball]

In Alaska, polar bears are listed as threatened and the green groups are trying to list them as endangered. This is entirely political, and the populations of all bear populations in the state are high and in many areas there are too many.

You point out one of the big problems. Most people hate the idea of an endangered species being destroyed, but the people who make up the lists do it strictly for political reasons, and I don't believe their lists.

I don't keep up with the whale populations, and I wouldn't know a humpback from a sperm whale if one bummed a cigarette from me.

A few things are obvious to me. The Ady Gil used the technique of harassing and provoking the Japanese whalers. The whalers were out there whaling. Whether they should have been or not is one thing. The Ady Gil was out there strictly to harass them. The "right of way" that's being debated is a little absurd. They provoked the confrontation and are now acting like the aggrieved party.

I have looked at the video, and I do not know if they deliberately took a hit or if they were trying to cut them off and accidentally got too close.

[Balding_Eagle]

now that I know that they are I do think it should be outlawed to hunt them. I don't care how many there are.

At least you are candid. You need to state that more often.

[Salmonslayer]

Have you ever seen a whale in person?

I have. In fact, I have enjoyed the fine taste of raw Beluga right after we pulled it out of the water.

They sure are cute!!

[proud_yank]

They are beautiful animals that deserve the right to live.

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. There is far more cutsey stuff involving pigs and cows than there is whales. They are impressive, but so are lots of other animals that people take as food.

A bullet to the brain works well for deer and bears

Head shots are fine for does and cows, but on a buck or bull you'd ruin your trophy. Bears you do NOT want to shoot in the head, their skulls are thick and sloped and often times a bullet will ricochet. Especially if their head is down when they are moving.

[GonzoGOP]

It’s not illegal.

Yes and No. Depends on who's court you listen to. Australia claims the waters in question, and they have forbidden all whaling of any kind. The Japanese don't acknowledge Australia's claim to the waters. Australia doesn't enforce their claim so the Japanese can get away with ignoring it.

If your neighbor tells you not to fish in his lake, but you claim that his land ends at the beach and fish there anyways are you breaking the law?

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

“First of all I am a 26 year old male...”
~~~
You were TOLD,,, BAAAD things would happen in 1984 !!!,,,

Would Yew Listen?!?!?!,,,Noooooooooooooooo!!!,,,

See How Ya’ Are !!!

Yew Change His Diaper!!!,,,

LMAOROF!!!

I got boots older than that,,,;0)

[ransomnote]

THanks for posting the photo. When reports first surfaced regarding the collision, the eco-terrorists shrieked that the Japanese failed to respond to the mayday. I wondered, at the time, if that exotic boat that was rammed was taking on water slowly so that the Japanese stood off nearby in case the crew did indeed need to be rescued before their sister ship arrived. The photo you posted shows a Japanese boat indeed standing by to assist. I imagine that if the Japanese boat had immediately responded to try to rescue the crew, the eco-t’s would report being rammed, boarded, and taken hostage. And no, I am not anti whale - I used to work as a marine biologist.

[dfwgator]

99.9% of all species that have ever inhabited this planet are extinct, and yet the planet carries on somehow.

[ColdWater]

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.

The smaller boat has only slight headway which would not allow it to pass safely in front of the large ship. There would have been no collision if the smaller boat had not suddenly accelerated into the path of the whaling ship thus causing the collision.

[artichokegrower]

Both vessels were at fault. Ady Gil did not have the “right away” but according to NavRules was the stand on vessel meaning it had to hold course and speed. If the Ady Gil altered its speed then it held a percentage of the blame for the collision.

[Admin Moderator]

Don't appreciate the nastygram in private mail. We are deleting everybody's over the top posts as fast as we can.

Yours went first because they were the nastiest.

It doesn't matter how long you've been here, accusing other posters of having sex with their mothers is completely unacceptable.

One more post like that and you will be out of here.

[NotSoModerate]

This is the problem with the mainstream GOP. Killing endangered whales is wrong, killing endangered tigers is wrong

I didn't know Japanese whalers were registered republicans. And I didn't know Michael Steele had killing endangered tigers on the GOP platform either.

Maybe we don't like the that douche and his anti-whaling boat because he's just like most libs: walking around believing it's his god given right to force everyone to live the way he sees fit.

[proud_yank]

You point out one of the big problems. Most people hate the idea of an endangered species being destroyed, but the people who make up the lists do it strictly for political reasons, and I don't believe their lists.

Or financial reasons. I've read that most of the animal groups' $ comes from middle-aged women in larger cities, which would make sense to me.

Polar bears and whales are cash cows for them, they're impressive animals that few people will ever see in their natural habitat and easily become emotional over.

I don't think it is right to try and decimate an entire species, including predators. I am a very avid outdoorsman, and don't know anyone else that holds a view like that either.

[anglian]

Pity the Japanese schoolchildren, who’s lunches are limited to plates of dripping whaleblood meat just because it’s the only way to get rid of the whalefood surplus. Thank God their whaling days are numbered.

[ransomnote]

I can’t understand how the freakish behavior of people of Japanese descent living on an isolated island for 30 years reflects negatively on Japanese culture as a whole. IF there’s a freak island out there populated with barbarian Americans living like animals, I don’t want my country judged as having the same character.
When I worked as a marine biologist, I collected biological sampling data from the commercial hauls of fisherman. I think it’s wise to combine the two efforts so that you don’t catch/kill animals strictly to take measurements and toss them dead back into the water.

[Norseman]

Here’s a video from the deck of the Japanese ship. Note the hosing down of the Ady Gil after the collision.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQPzy6Z6UIo&feature=related

So far it’s hard to tell who was aiming at who.

But here’s a video that makes it look like the Japanese intentionally veered over to hit the Ady Gil:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbuq0YEIPNU

[randomhero97]

Totally agree. These eco-scum care nothing about the animals. Conservationists, who usually are educated in biology and agriculture, actually care about the welfare of the species. They also believe in hunting and farm raising animals for slaughtering.

[proud_yank]

Absolutely.

With the exception of evasive species, I don’t think there should be a free-for-all on hunting, but hunters and anglers are some of the best conservationists. I do not know any outdoorsmen who openly support bringing a species to extinction.

[Balding_Eagle]

I am going to Alaska for the fourth time specifically to go see humpback

You know, I think we're being scammed here, Dengars story has changed. He first said he got a pet last year and that changed his mind about animals. Then he said he is a male, yet, as some have pointed out, 'he' rants and raves like a schoolgirl.

Now he's been to Alaska three times just to see the whales, and is going a fourth time.

Nothing wrong with that, I'm sure they're magnificent, but it doesn't fit with all the rest.

PLUS he starts out by saying (daring?) that he might be bannned..

Things don't fit.