Global General

Anti-whaling boat damaged during protest at sea

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-01-07 09:47

Locky Maclean, the first mate of the Steve Irwin ship, said one of Ady Gil's crew appeared to have suffered two cracked ribs, but the five others aboard were uninjured. Toshinori Uoya, a spokesman for Japan's Fisheries Agency, which provides grants to the institute and oversees whaling policy, said there were no injuries on the Japanese side.

Anti-whaling boat damaged during protest at sea

The crew of the Japanese ship Shonan Maru No. 2 spray water at the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's high-tech powerboat Ady Gil during a collision between the two vessels in the Southern Ocean January 6, 2010. [Agencies]

Glenn Inwood, a spokesman for the whaling institute, said the Ady Gil was moving toward the Shonan Maru and the crash occurred because of an apparent miscalculation by the activists. He said video shot from the Shonan Maru shows the conservationists' boat moving toward the whaler just before the collision.

"The Shonan Maru steams to port to avoid a collision. I guess they, the Ady Gil, miscalculated," Inwood told AP.

Video shot by Sea Shepherd shows the Ady Gil bobbing in the water in front of the Shonan Maru, which then struck it. It was not clear from either video if the Ady Gil had come to a full stop before being struck, or if the Shonan Maru turned to port before it struck the Ady Gil.

The clash represented a departure from the usual confrontations, said Jules Boykoff, assistant professor of politics and environmental studies at Pacific University in Oregon.

"Certainly when an actual Sea Shepherd ship gets rammed, that is an escalation," Boykoff said. "I think getting rammed, regardless of whose fault it was, shows there is violence involved."

Although it would focus attention on whaling, Sea Shepherd's tactics might turn off other animal rights activists, he added.

Greg McNevin, a Greenpeace International spokesman in Amsterdam, would not comment on the incident directly, but said his group stopped sending ships to the Antarctic to confront whalers in 2008 in order to focus its efforts on changing opinion in Japan.

"We don't condone violence in any form, no matter who does it," McNevin said. "Greenpeace's position was that we would only place ourselves between the whale and the harpoon."

Animal Planet spokesman Brian Eley said Sea Shepherd has no editorial control over "Whale Wars" and that it pays the group a nominal fee for space on its vessels and for meals and incidentals.

Asked if producing the show raises the risk of violent confrontation, Eley replied: "Our production crew did not direct or control Sea Shepherd's actions. We have documented what happened, and our viewers can make their own judgments."

Australia and New Zealand — both opponents of whaling — have maritime safety authority in the region where the Japanese hunt occurs, and they have urged both sides to show restraint in the frigid waters, warning that they are far away from rescue if anything goes wrong.

"The government is very concerned at this collision," Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett said. "We condemn any dangerous or violent activity that takes place in the southern oceans. Safety at sea is an absolute priority in this dangerous and inhospitable ocean area."

New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully deplored the clash and urged both sides to "put a greater premium on human life in such a harsh environment." He said would take up the issue with Japanese authorities.