Sea Shepherds count a success, despite loss of racing yacht Ady Gil

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

 

 

Sea Shepherds count a success, despite loss of racing yacht Ady Gil

 

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder

Paul Watson considers the 33-year-old

organization's most costly campaign yet an

unequivocal success.

The $3 million bio-diesel-powered racing

yacht Ady Gil lies on the ocean floor about 180

miles from the French Antarctic research base

Dumont d'Urville. Rammed by the Japanese harpoon

boat Shonan Maru #2 on January 6, the Ady Gil

sunk on January 8, 2010 after a failed towing

attempt by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

ship Bob Barker. " Fortunately, all fuel and

lubricants had been removed from the Ady Gil

hours earlier, " the Sea Shepherds e-mailed to

media.

Ady Gil skipper Pete Bethune was headed

to Japan as a prisoner on the Shonan Maru #2,

the whale-killing vessel that rammed the Ady Gil

on January 6.

" I think we can guarantee now that the

Japanese whaling fleet will fail to get their

kill quota by 30% to 55%. They will not be

seeing any profits this season, " Watson assessed

on February 18.

The whalers are believed to have killed

about 350 minke whales, about a third of their

goal, before February 5, but none after the Bob

Barker and the Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin

caught up to the whaling factory ship Nisshin

Maru, after two months of atttempting to evade

the Shonan Maru #2. The Shonan Maru #2 appeared

to have been assigned to running interference for

the rest of the fleet. Sending the Shonan Maru

#2 to Japan with Bethune " removes the fourth

harpoon boat from the fleet, " Watson observed.

Bethune on Valentine's Day morning,

February 14, " boarded the whaling ship under

cover of darkness from a Jet Ski, " recounted a

Sea Shepherd media release. " His first attempt

failed when he fell into the frigid waters, but

despite this the crew of the Shonan Maru #2

failed to see him and he successfully boarded the

whaler without detection. "

Bethune remained undetected for an hour

and a half. " Once the sun had risen, Bethune

calmly knocked on the bridge wing door, entered

the wheelhouse, and presented himself to the

captain of Shonan Maru #2, " Hiroyuki Komiya, the

Sea Shepherd release continued. " He informed the

skipper that he was under arrest for sinking the

Ady Gil. " A Sea Shepherd video showed Bethune

knocking on the wheelhouse door, then entering.

Japanese chief cabinet secretary Hirofumi

Hirano told a news conference that Bethune would

be brought to Japan for questioning, and would

probably face criminal charges. Bethune and the

Sea Shepherds " were prepared for this possibility

prior to the boarding, " the Sea Shepherds said.

Three videos of the ramming, taken from

the Bob Barker, the Ady Gil, and the Shonan

Maru #2, all showed that the Ady Gil was dead in

the water, with the six-member crew all topside,

waving to the Shonan Maru #2 and laughing, until

the Shonan Maru circled, accelerated, and hit

the Ady Gil broadside, shearing off the bow.

" The incident injured one of the six

crewmembers and could have killed all six, " said

Watson. " Who are the pirates here? If the

Japanese put Bethune on trial in Japan, " Watson

added, " it will be a case that will draw the

attention of the world. "

Such a case was already underway.

Greenpeace Japan activists Junichi Sato and Toru

Suzuki pleaded not guilty on February 15 to

charges that they stole a box of whale meat from

a warehouse in Aomor, Japan, in 2008. The

trial was then adjourned until March 8.

Sato and Suzuki admitted taking the box,

but contend that they took it as evidence in

pursuing a case against both individual whalers

and the whaling company Kyodo Senpaku.

" Greenpeace said it had evidence to prove that at

least 23 members of the Nisshin Maru's crew

smuggled more than 90 boxes of salted whale,

disguised as personal baggage, and accused them

of defrauding the Japanese taxpayer with the

approval of Kyodo Senpaku, " summarized Justin

McCurry, Tokyo correspondent for the

British-based Guardian newspaper chain.

" Kyodo Senpaku insisted the packages were

a bonus for crew. Prosecutors, who initially

agreed to pursue the embezzlement claims, dropped

the investigation on the day Sato and Suzuki were

arrested, " McCurry continued. Held for 26 days,

including 23 days without charges, Sato and

Suzuki were interrogated for up to 12 hours a

day. The United Nations Human Rights

Commission's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

concluded in early February that Japan thereby

violated several articles of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights.

With both the detention of Bethune and

the Greenpeace case whetting demands that

Australia act to keep Japan from killing whales

in Australian waters, Australian prime minister

Kevin Rudd said in a Seven Network broadcast that

while his government would prefer to use

diplomatic means, " If that fails, then we will

initiate court action before the commencement of

the [next] whaling season in November 2010. "

Rudd spoke on the eve of the first visit to

Australia by newly appointed Japanese foreign

minister Katsuya Okada.

Earlier, Hiroshi Hiyami of Agence

France-Presse reported, " Japan will propose

scaling down its troubled annual whale hunt in

Antarctica on condition it is allowed to whale

commercially in its own coastal waters. Tokyo

will present its proposal to the International

Whaling Commission at its annual meeting in

Morocco in June, " Hiyami said, citing a senior

Japanese fisheries official, " even though a

similar plan was rejected by the 85-nation body

last year. "

The plan rejected in 2009 was favored by

then-IWC chair William Hogarth, who headed the

U.S. delegation by appointment of former

President George W. Bush. His term expired after

the 2009 IWC meeting.

The Ady Gil ramming was only the most

serious of many other clashes between the Sea

Shepherds and the Japanese whaling fleet during

January and February 2010. Another collison

occurred on February 6.

" The Bob Barker had been actively

blocking the slipway of the Nisshin Maru, the

Japanese whaling fleet's factory ship when the

collision occurred, " said Sea Shepherd media

director Amy Baird. " Four harpoon ships, the

Yushin Maru #1, #2, and #3 and the Shonan Maru

#2, were circling and making near passes to the

stern and bow of the Sea Shepherd vessel. The

Bob Barker did not move from its position. " Sea

Shepherd video showed the Yushin Maru #3 racing

with apparent intent to cut off the Bob Barker's

pursuit of the Nisshin Maru, in sight ahead,

and remaining in sight throughout most of the

incident. The position of the Nisshin Maru

relative to the Bob Barker did not change,

indicating that the Bob Barker kept a straight

course.

The Yushin Maru #3, however, backed off

to avoid crossing in front of the Bob Barker,

which could not have stopped in time to avoid

ramming the Yushin Maru #3. The Yushin Maru #3

then turned parallel to the Bob Barker, and kept

turning, away from the Bob Barker. As it did,

the stern of the Yushin Maru #3 hit the side of

the Bob Barker. Had the collision occurred

seconds later, the impact would probably have

damaged the Yushin Maru #3's rudder and

propeller. Both vessels made repairs at sea.

On February 11, the Japanese Institute

for Cetacean Research claimed that Sea Shepherd

crew injured the eyes of three members of the

crew of the Shonan Maru #2 with butyric acid,

better known as rancid butter. The Sea Shepherds

have often hurled bottles of rancid butter on the

decks of Japanese whaling vessels, but Sea

Shepherd video of the incident showed nothing

being thrown in the direction of the Shonan Maru

#2 at the time. Instead, recounted Baird, " The

three crew were injured because they shot

themselves in the face with pepper sprayŠThe

video shows two crew with the tanks aiming their

nozzles at Sea Shepherds in an inflatable boat, "

but wind blew their blasts of pepper spray back

in their faces.

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

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