-
The front of the Ady Gill is seen ripped open after its collision with Japanese whaling ship Shonan Maru 2 - Source: ONE News -
Watch Video
-
Related
Just one day after the anti-whaling protest vessel Ady Gil was allegedly rammed by a Japanese harpoon ship in the Antarctic, the crew are back on the tail of the Japanese whalers.
On Wednesday the Ady Gil was reportedly rammed by Japanese harpoon ship, the Shonan Maru, leaving one crew member injured and the vessel un-salvageable.
Sea Shepherd's Paul Watson says while they are trying to salvage what they can from the Ady Gil, it does not look like there is any way the vessel can be saved, as it is literally sinking.
"It doesn't look like we can save the vessel. We've tried towing it but every time we tow it, it takes on more water because the whole front end has been shorn off and the whole front end has already sunk," he says.
Fortunately only one crew member, Auckland cameraman Simeon Houtman, was injured and the rest of the crew are fine, however the vessel is a real loss to the organisation.
"It's a $2 million loss to the organisation and unfortunately there is really no legal recourse. It's pretty much a state of anarchy down here, the Japanese do what the Japanese want to do and get away with it," says Watson.
Peter Bethune may be one crewmember to feel the loss in particular.
"He built that vessel, he designed it, raced it around the world, he holds the world record of circumnavigating the world in that vessel," says Watson.
While Watson says the footage shows "the truth" of what happened on Wednesday, the Japanese are blaming them, saying the vessel just suddenly rose up in front of them and stopped.
"You just have to look at the film footage, including the Japanese footage that they had temporarily on the website and took down. There is no argument with the fact that what happened was that the Ady Gil was stationary in the water when it was struck by the Shonan Maru which just suddenly did a turn right into them," Watson says.
Watson says even after the Shonan Maru had hit the Ady Gil and cut off the front part of the vessel the Japanese were still attacking the crew with water cannons. When the Ady Gil put out a distress signal the Japanese refused to respond or lend any assistance at all.
"They wanted to destroy that ship, there is no doubt about it," says Watson.
He says they are not protesting anything, that they are trying to stop criminal activity, something that the governments of New Zealand and Australia should be doing but "refuse to hold a responsibility to do so".
"What the Japanese are doing down here is breaking the law, they are poachers, they are targeting endangered whales in an established whale sanctuary," says Watson.
And so that is why despite losing a vessel the crew on the Steve Irwin are continuing the pursuit of the Shonan Maru whaling fleet.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully has called on both sides to respect each other and respect human life down in Antarctica.
However, Watson says this will not happen as they have zero respect for poachers.
"We are here to stop criminal activity and save these whales, Australia and New Zealand have a moral and legal responsibility to save these whales ... and yet they are doing nothing," he says.
Watson says the situation that transpired on Wednesday could have been much worse.
"They hit (the Ady Gil) at full speed and if it wasn't for the fact that Pete Bethune was able to get the injured and reverse them back away, it would have struck them straight in the cockpit where the entire crew was," he says.
One person was injured but many more could have been if the Japanese had hit them where they were allegedly aiming to.
While Sea Shepherd are back on the tail of the Shonan Maru they cannot go to the scene of the event, because there are two harpoon boats there waiting, one to follow the Bob Barker and one to follow the Steve Irwin. If they are being followed then they cannot close in on the Shonan Maru because their locations will be relayed ahead in advance.
Sea Shepherd say they are going to make sure the Japanese continue to fall short of their quotas, and thus save as many whales as possible.
Watson says the loss of a vessel is certainly a blow but they knew what they were in for.
"We knew what the risks were going in. Losing a vessel is certainly regrettable but it would be far sadder to lose all those whales this year. Whales are more important to us than our ships," he says.
What do you think about whaling in the Southern Ocean? Have your say on our messageboard
Add a Comment:
Post new commentGiant Sequoia said on 2010-03-29 @ 09:35 NZDT: Report abusive post
Message for Sir Geoffrey Palmer Your suggested compromise with nations like Japan who are illegally and brutally ignoring the conservation pleas is a wrong decision to make. The underlying reason is that NZ wants to have a free trade agreement with Japan. Compromise is equivalent to selling your nation's integrity or soul to the devil. Japan is not a nation suffering from the lack of food - they are suffering from greed and NZ has just been used as a pawn.
qwert said on 2010-03-22 @ 06:11 NZDT: Report abusive post
SSCS is the group ignoring International laws and conventions. The reason No government will attempt to prosecute the Japanese is because they know Japan is not breaking any laws. As is implied in the article, any case brought against them in the int. Court of Justice would likely be decided in Japan's favor. All SSCS is doing making reasonable compromise with Japan more difficult and they are delaying the day when Japan stops all whaling. SSCS games are causing MORE whale deaths, Not less.
whalerider said on 2010-03-21 @ 17:53 NZDT: Report abusive post
By now even McCully must realise that you can't 'talk' to Japan.No Government has taken action over their breaches of Law of the Sea Convention, the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling Convention [various breaches including an abuse of right of Article VIII & other regulations] , the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) [& other ATS conventions], and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Plus a few other irregularities. GO SSCS!
simc said on 2010-02-15 @ 16:04 NZDT: Report abusive post
cpederson Greenpeace and presumably the sea shepherd have tried numerous attempts to engage and communicate via other mediums, which have not amounted to success. The governments of NZ and Australia have a responsibility to bring these illegal practices to justice, but don't, so who will interfere with this pointless butchery? The Japanese ships collided with protestors countless times, do you really think the protestors really wish to risk their lives by creating a no-way out situation?
Zanziabar said on 2010-01-08 @ 20:02 NZDT: Report abusive post
Not an ounce of sympathy for the protestors on this one, The video shows them directly in the path of the whaling boat. What did they honestly expect to happen? It's a 1000 ton whaling ship that isn't going to be stopped by a plastic boat, It does deliberately seem like the protestors were gunning for this kind of reaction