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The front of the Ady Gill is seen ripped open after its collision with Japanese whaling ship Shonan Maru 2 - Source: ONE News -
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There will be no help from the New Zealand government after the anti-whaling vessel Ady Gil sank in Antarctic waters following a collision with a Japanese whaling ship.
Despite salvage efforts after the collision with Shonan Maru No 2 the protesters lost their prize vessel at 4.00am Friday and now they are losing their cool with the government.
"For 33 years I've been protecting whales without causing a single injury to a single person and when some know-nothing politician comes out and accuses me of trying to kill somebody I do get upset," says Paul Watson from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
The politician he is referring to is Foreign Minister Murray McCully who said in a radio interview: "If people are determined to break the law and determined to kill other people on the high seas then it is not the responsibility of the New Zealand government or any other government to send armed vessels down there or something of that sort to stop them."
Watson says he finds the comment "totally offensive".
ONE News asked McCully to explain the comments but his press secretary says the foreign minister is not interested in discussing the topic any further.
The government also says it has not received a reported "stern" complaint from Tokyo over the collision.
Japan's chief cabinet secretary Hirofumi Hirano was quoted by the Kyodo news agency as saying a complaint had been lodged with the New Zealand government "in a stern manner" because the Ady Gil was registered in New Zealand, and Japan had urged New Zealand "not to repeat such an incident in the future".
McCully's spokesman said on Friday that there was a "low-key" meeting on Thursday in Wellington between the Japanese ambassador and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) officials.
"According to information our embassy has got from the Japanese foreign ministry, he (Hirano) didn't say there had been a protest made - there hasn't been one," the spokesman says.
"The low-key discussion was perfectly amicable between the two countries."
The Japanese ambassador was briefed on Maritime New Zealand's planned investigation into the collision because the Ady Gil was registered in New Zealand and MFAT discussed the need for a Japanese inquiry because of the Japanese ship's involvement.
The whaling industry is keeping quiet but the crash is being investigated by both New Zealand and Australian authorities. McCully says that MNZ will oversee an investigation of the collision, which was in the Australian search and rescue area, while Australia's acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) will conduct its own investigation.
Resuming the chase
And members of the Sea Shepherd Society have taken a petition to the Japanese ambassador in Wellington while the anti-whalers have resumed their chase of the Japanese ships.
"We won't be engaging for a while, they're running and as long as they're running we'll just keep pursuing, which is good, they're not killing any whales," says Watson.
The Ady Gil was the Earthrace trimaran and its five Kiwi and one Dutchman crew have been harassing the Japanese fleet in Antarctic waters, trying to prevent them from slaughtering 850 minke and 50 fin whales in the name of science.
The Sea Shepherd and the whaling fleet have come to blows in the past few whaling seasons with other collisions, percussion grenades and illegal boardings.
And despite McCully's call for the anti-whaling protesters to show restraint, the five New Zealanders and the Dutchman rescued from the Ady Gil have vowed to continue their fight.
