The whale wars between the Sea Shepherds and Japan's whaling fleet continue. The Ady Gil, a pursuit craft, was rammed by the Shonan Maru 2.
Whaling is an ancient practice that most of the modern world views with abject horror. It may provide employment and a large number of export products, but the dangers of excessive hunting and the resulting legacy of blood are too hard for many to ignore.
Japan main perpetrator of whaling
Japan is one of the few nations that still permit whaling, its ships hunting whales “for research purposes and the sale of surplus meat” in the Antarctic. They can take in excess of 1,000 whales per season thanks to a loophole in international law that permits this activity.
Groups who protest whaling are often labeled “terrorists” by those in the industry. The Ady Gil, a Sea Shepherd anti-whaling pursuit craft, appears to have been a casualty of the whale wars, bearing the brunt of that hot heart’s shell. The Japanese whaler Shonan Maru 2 blasted the Ady Gil with water cannons – before, during and after the time that they sawed the smaller vessel in half via collision.
You Can’t Stop that Great White Whale
The Ady Gil is a small pursuit craft belonging to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an activist group that opposes Japanese each season in the Southern Ocean, which is south of Australia and New Zealand and encircles Antarctica. While Sea Shepherd Australia Director Jeff Hansen told the New York Times that the Ady Gil wasn’t sunk, “it’s in two pieces, and we’re trying to salvage what we can.” Ady Gil crew was rescued by an accompanying vessel, the Bob Barker. One crew member was injured.
The Price is Wrong, Whaler Man
The video below shows the Shonan Maru 2 plow through the Ady Gil, breaking off the nose of the smaller ship. No doubt the Japanese Whaling Industry considers it payback for all the stalking and harassment the Sea Shepherd group has caused their whalers, but they have yet to come forward with such a statement. Not surprisingly, Sea Shepherd is not undaunted. The whale wars will continue, at not doubt great expense.
“They’ve really upped the ante this year,” said Hansen. “But we definitely won’t be leaving.”
(Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/guano/ / CC BY-SA 2.0)
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Quit buying ALL Japanese products. Buy a Ford or a Chevy. What about a Dodge Challenger? Close the research loophole.
Done.
Why didnt you mention their ship (Steve Irwin) ramming into one of the Japanese whaling vessels? Stupid is as stupid does I guess…. The Sea Shepherd Group have rammed and scuttled (sunk) numerous other LEGAL fishing vessels, why didnt you mention that? The founder makes it dangerously clear that he pulls no punches in ending human lives in place of saving animals.. HES A PSYCHOPATH, STOP SUPPORTING HIM!
This is predictable. Even though Japanese whaling is reprehensible, and they should knock it off (I don’t need to tell anyone that – duh) it’s legal in Japan, and not only that, it’s an industry. The thing is that if you threaten a persons’ livelihood, they ARE going to retaliate. I’m surprised it took this long, and it was as mild as just ramming one of their vessels.
Sea Shepherd is going to be lucky if they don’t encounter serious harm sometime in the future. I hate to say it, but the reality is that people get pretty ticked when you interfere with their making a living, and before whaling gets scaled back to more reasonable levels, or done away with, there are likely going to be some incidents that make this one look relatively tame by comparison.
I console the crew and Capt for their loss as I support their cause, but the Capt acted stupidly in not having engines running ready for an evasive manavure WITH his collision alarm going off, he put the crew at risk and hope he learns from his mistakes. God speed to the Whale Wars crew.
Sincerely,
Ed Rokusek, USN, Retired