Tag Archives: Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Real Whale War erupts in Antarctic!

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society anti-whaling boat the Ady Gill has been attacked by Japanese whalers, and has sunk.  This is a reflection of the determination of the Japanese to hunt whales in the Antarctic, and to deter the Society in its determination to stop whaling in this area.

The full report from the Sydney Morning Herald follows below:

The high-tech stealth boat Ady Gil was cut in half and sunk by a Japanese security vessel in Antarctic waters today, dramatically upping the stakes in the annual struggle between whalers and protesters.

Sea Shepherd group leader Paul Watson told Fairfax Media the $1.5 million Ady Gil was sinking, but its six-man crew had been rescued and was uninjured.

Earlier today, the fleet was contacted for the first time by the Ady Gil and Sea Shepherd’s “secret” third vessel, the Bob Barker.

Where the collision occurred, according to Sea Shepherd.Where the collision occurred, according to Sea Shepherd.

Captain Watson, aboard the Steve Irwin, said he was still 500 nautical miles from the scene.

“This seriously escalates the whole situation,” Captain Watson said of the collision.

The ICR said the Ady Gil came “within collision distance” directly in front of the Nisshin Maru bow and repeatedly deployed a rope from its stern “to entangle the Japanese vessel’s rudder and propeller”.

The statement accused the activists of shining a laser device at the Nisshin Maru crew and launching acid-filled projectiles, one of which landed on the vessel’s deck.

After broadcasting a warning message, the Nisshin Maru sprayed the Ady Gil with water cannons to prevent it from coming closer, the ICR said.

Captain Watson told Fairfax in November the Ady Gil would be used to intercept the whaling fleet’s chaser boats.

“What I think we can do is latch onto at least one of the three harpoon vessels and keep them out of the picture,” he said.

Looking more like Batman’s spacecraft than a boat, the biodiesel-powered trimaran Ady Gil arrived at the Southern Ocean stand-off between Japanese whalers and activists yesterday.

It was reported this morning to be about 50 nautical miles away from the whaling fleet.

Japan’s Fisheries Minister Hirotaka Akamatsu had earlier warned two security ships would be used to protect the whaling fleet, intervening when Sea Shepherd tried to block the transfer of harpooned whales to the factory ship Nisshin Maru.

Captain Watson this morning announced the existence of a secret third ship in the Sea Shepherd flotilla.

He said he was confident that with three ships, Sea Shepherd would be able to cause maximum disruption to the whaling, which has been underway for around a month.

Japanese whalers have stepped up security this year, sending spy flights from Australian airports to track protest ships.

The Hobart flights were paid for by Wellington-based Omeka Communications, air industry sources told Fairfax.

Omeka is a public relations firm retained by Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research. The Hobart flights carried Omeka’s principal, Glenn Inwood, who is an institute spokesman, and another man, the sources said.

The operation started in December when the Steve Irwin left Fremantle to intercept the whaling fleet, which this year is targeting 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales.

WA pilots said surveillance flights continued out of Albany for some days, costing a ”truckload” of money. Two men aboard the flights told locals they were ”looking for people who were looking for whales”.

The Rudd Government has repeatedly called for caution by both sides in the wilds of the Antarctic.

“We have reminded the masters of protest vessels of their obligations under international law to take all steps to ensure safety of life at sea, particularly in the inhospitable conditions of the Southern Ocean,” Environment Minister Peter Garrett said recently.

“We are also passing the same message to the government of Japan.”

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has brought in a third boat to help it in its anti-whaling activities.  Its media release, written before the sinking of the Agy Gil, follows below:

“Another whaling ship arrived in the Southern Ocean today, unexpected and right on time: the Bob Barker.
The 1,200-ton Norwegian built Antarctic harpoon vessel caught up with the Japanese whaling fleet at 0300 Hours on Wednesday, January 6th, in the area of Commonwealth Bay off the Adelie Coast at 143 Degrees 17 Minutes East and 66 Degrees 43 Minutes South.
Thanks to a $5,000,000 contribution from American television personality and icon Bob Barker, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was able to quietly purchase and refit the former Norwegian whaler in Africa. The ice strengthened fast chaser boat quietly departed from Mauritius on December 18th to join up with the Sea Shepherd ships Steve Irwin and Ady Gil in the Southern Ocean.
Barker has also funded the cost of a helicopter that will accompany the society’s ships. The aircraft is named The Nancy Burnet after the president of United Activists for Animal Rights, an organization Barker also supports. This new helicopter will participate in future campaigns.
“I’m delighted to be able to help the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in its mission to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans,” said Barker. “There is lot of talk about preserving our ecosystems and species, but this is one organization that puts these words into action.”
For the first time ever, Sea Shepherd has three ships on the Japanese fleet.

Thanks to the generous support of Bob Barker, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been given the means to seriously impact the profits of the whaling industry this season.

 “We intend to bankrupt the whalers,” said Captain Paul Watson.”

‘Whale Wars’ on Animal Planet

The new season of ‘Whale Wars’ is being flighted on Animal Planet at 21h00 on Wednesday evenings.  The show features the work of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, under the leadership of Captain Paul Watson, in preventing the hunting and killing of whales, especially by the Japanese in the Antarctic.

The programme started in November last year, reports The Times, and has attracted controversy due to the graphic reflection of the extent to which the Society goes to prevent the Japanese from hunting and killing Minke and fin whales, including shooting at the Japanese, but also being shot at by them.

“What we hope to achieve with ‘Whale Wars’ is to raise global consciousness about what’s happening in the world’s oceans, what’s happening to the whales, and I think we have been very successful”, says Watson. 

Watson would like to see the programme broadcast in Japan.  To date it has achieved success and support in Latin America, Europe and Africa, and will now be broadcast in New Zealand and Australia.   “Before ‘Whale Wars’, people weren’t aware that whaling was even taking place, and I think it’s important to bring people down to this very remote and very hostile region of the world and allow them to be eye witnesses to what’s going on” added Watson.

Watson accuses the South African government of siding with the Japanese, and of keeping them in Cape Town against their will four years ago.  They had no choice but to ‘escape’ from the Cape Town harbour.

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Whale war against S A wines

Captain Paul Watson, head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, has incensed South Africans in calling for a ban on South African wine sales until Mike Meyer, of Marine and Coastal Management, labelled by Watson as the “Butcher of Kommetjie Beach”, be sacked.

Watson is so passionate about saving whales that he takes the Japanese head on every year in the Antarctic waters off Australia. 

He was reacting to the slaughter of 44 pilot whales on 30 May at Long Beach in Kommetjie,  under the directive of Meyer.   Marine and Coastal Management, the Dolphin Action Protection Group, the NSRI and SPCA, along with hundreds of volunteers, tried to help the whales back into the stormy ocean, but only 14 made it back to sea, the others rebeaching.   These are the whales that Meyer had shot with a rifle, a traumatic event for the volunteers and members of the public present.

Criticism of the events of the day are that the public did not assist the whale rescue operation by wanting to have a look at what was going on, and by not accepting instructions; no clear directives were given to the volunteers and public, as no one seemed to be in charge of the rescue operation; and that the volunteers were not well trained enough.   Better volunteer training and a clear disaster plan should be prepared in the event of future whale beachings, say the parties involved in the whale rescue.

Watson’s call for the ban has been described as a “vicious and personal attack” on Meyer, according to the Department of Environmental Affairs, which is supporting Meyer’s decision.   The Cape Argus, reporting on the Sea Shepherd wine ban threat, wrote as follows: “Most of his statement about Meyer is too defamatory to print”.

Watson slates both Meyer and Marine Coastal Management, and its handling of the whale beaching on Long Beach.  “Meyer simply called himself a scientist and proclaimed the animals doomed, and thus gave the order for execution. This man does not possess a single scientific degree.   He is a bureaucrat, not a scientist, not a vet, and not even a former student of marine biology or any discipline involving marine species. In short he is an unqualified sadistic thug and an embarrassment to the government and the people of South Africa.” said Watson.

Watson has visited South Africa, and has been a speaker at a Whale Festival in Hermanus.    His full statement can be read on http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-090602-1.html

Whale of an Obama!

The administration of new US President Barack Obama will signal a far stronger anti-whaling stand at the International Whaling Commission meeting in Rome, which started yesterday, reports AFP.

The Obama administration will oppose whaling, stating that “The United States continues to view the commercial whaling moratorium as a necessary conservation measure, and believes that lethal scientific whaling is unnecessary in modern whaling conservation management.”

Australia too is seeking an end to all commercial whaling by the Japanese in the Antarctic. the battlefield for a whale war between the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and the Japanese whalers.

Environmentalists argue that it is immoral to hunt whales, and that there are too few whales to justify this.  The Japanese say that whaling is a tradition and that its culture is not respected.

The Whale Commission will try to negotiate a compromise solution, allowing the Japanese to hunt whales closer to its own shores, while reducing its activities in the Antarctic.