• Shiver me timbers: The Japanese whaling vessel Nisshin Maru (left) collides Wednesday with the fuel tanker Sun Laurel near Antarctica.
    Shiver me timbers: The Japanese whaling vessel Nisshin Maru (left) collides Wednesday with the fuel tanker Sun Laurel near Antarctica. | SEA SHEPHERD AUSTRALIA/AP

Japanese whaling ship accused of ramming Sea Shepherd boats

AP

WELLINGTON – The antiwhaling activist group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society accused a Japanese whaling vessel of intentionally ramming two of its ships Wednesday near Antarctica. The Fisheries Agency, however, blamed the protesters for the collisions.

Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson said he was aboard the ship Steve Irwin when the Japanese whaler Nisshin Maru collided with it, the Bob Barker and a tanker used to refuel the Japanese whaling fleet.

Watson said the Japanese ship deliberately rammed the Sea Shepherd vessels to try to move them aside in order to get to the tanker. He said the Japanese ship also accidentally hit the tanker. He said the incident, near the Australian Davis Research Base on the Antarctic coast, was particularly dangerous because the tanker was involved.

The Fisheries Agency blamed the Sea Shepherd boats, saying they had taken the offensive and had hit the Nisshin Maru at least four times during refueling despite verbal warnings. No one was injured, but the Nisshin Maru’s bow was dented and a handrail was damaged, the agency said in a statement.

“It’s unforgivable,” the agency said. It called Sea Shepherd’s action “a dangerous act that threatened the safety of our research fleet and the lives of its crew members.”

Sea Shepherd boats and the Japanese whaling fleet have had past clashes and collisions.

Japan says it hunts whales for scientific purposes, an allowed exception to an international whaling ban, though antiwhaling activists say the hunts are a cover for commercial whaling.

Japan decries Sea Shepherd as a terrorist group that risks lives through tactics used to obstruct the whaling fleet.

Watson said the Bob Barker sustained the most damage in the Sea Shepherd fleet from Wednesday’s clash. He said it initially put out a distress call to Australian maritime authorities after it lost power and began taking on water, but added the crew later got the situation under control. He said no one from the Sea Shepherd fleet was injured.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokeswoman Jo Meehan said they were aware of the reports but weren’t involved in any active search-and-rescue operations.

Australian Environment Minister Tony Burke said in a statement that he was seeking more information about the incident.

“The government condemns so-called scientific whaling in all waters and we urge everyone in the ocean to observe safety at sea,” Burke said.

  • Roan Suda

    The eco-terrorists care nothing about scientific facts, nothing about justice, and certainly nothing about the whales. They are bullies, cowards, and racists, who see the Japanese as a safe and convenient target. The Chinese could cut off every shark fin, slaughter every whale, and eat all the tuna in the world, and the sea-slug thugs would utter not a peep in protest.

    • http://www.facebook.com/andrewsebastiansuryali.tung Andrew Sebastian Suryali Tung

      To be fair, the reason Sea Shepherds don’t normally go after Chinese fishing fleets is because the Chinese rarely leave their territorial waters (or what they perceive to be theirs). Sea Shepherd activities are conducted in international waters, where laws of the targeted ships’ nation of origin don’t apply. If Chinese fishing fleets went to the Antarctic they probably would be targeted as well. It is also not true that the Shepherds ignore the practice of shark fishing (and finning). The Sea Shepherds’ less famous Ocean Warrior ship is known to track and record shark fishing in places as far away as Costa Rica, but cannot act because much of these activities happen within the territorial waters of the countries involved.

    • Jaycasey

      Your statements are demonstrably inaccurate if not downright false. You should do more research and calm down.

  • Blacowsley

    The Australian government supports vigilante terrorists because the Japanese aren’t breaking any laws that can be prosecuted

  • Jaycasey

    I don’t know who to believe about the ramming but I do know who is lying about the whaling ships being part of a “research operation.” It’s the Japanese Government that is outright lying about their whaling being research and everyone knows this. And the Japanese are lying about the purpose in order to get around international agreements – and everyone knows this also. When you come right down to it, the Japanese should be ashamed. When the world is faced with such mendacity by a government one of the few possible reactions is civil protest. My sympathies are with Sea Shepard.

Photos

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Shiver me timbers: The Japanese whaling vessel Nisshin Maru (left) collides Wednesday with the fuel tanker Sun Laurel near Antarctica. | SEA SHEPHERD AUSTRALIA/AP

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