Futuristic Anti-Whaling Ship Ady Gil Challenges Japanese, Loses
By Andy Towle
In November, I posted about the new Batman-style, anti-whaling ship Ady Gil that was being put into commission by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in its ongoing battle against Japanese whalers.
Well, it was rammed by a whaling ship in the Antarctic yesterday and didn't fare so well.
Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...
I'm reading Moby-Dick right now and have gotten so into it that I found myself cheering the whaling ship.
Sigh...
Posted by: David | Jan 6, 2010 10:46:20 AM
So, the japanese ship is the one the video was shot from? (At least the angles from above)? How did that work exactly?
Posted by: derek | Jan 6, 2010 11:34:00 AM
Cool looking ship, but seemed like a piñata compared to the Jap whaling ship. They need to go into battle with more weaponry.
Posted by: Chuy Christ | Jan 6, 2010 11:34:23 AM
Next time, Bruce Wayne may want to purchase the armor plating option...
Posted by: mw1126 | Jan 6, 2010 11:37:43 AM
I wish it had sunk, don't get me wrong, whaling is awful and I wish it would stop but what these Sea Shepard people do is useless, idiotic and puts human lives in danger.
Posted by: John M | Jan 6, 2010 12:13:01 PM
THey probably put themselves in the way of the whaling vessel, interfere with it and try to board it. BY watching their tv show they constantly harrass and attack the whalers.
whaling bad but basically committing piracey is not the answer.
Posted by: ousslander | Jan 6, 2010 12:39:17 PM
The whales have begun to trust humans again and the Japanese are not helping the situation between the two.
Posted by: Maverick69 | Jan 6, 2010 1:03:06 PM
Did any of the previous commentors actually listen to the audio? Paul Watson said that his ship was sitting motionless in the water, with the engine turned off. The Japanese ship intentionally rammed the Ady Gil.
Also, the video was taken from another Sea Shepherd Society vessel, the Bob Barker, not a Japanese ship.
If you have not seen "The Cove" I highly recommend it; your opinion of the Japanese whalers will change, I am sure.
Posted by: John Merzetti | Jan 6, 2010 1:12:12 PM
1) The first clip is from the Japanese ship. It's looking over its starboard side as it hits the Sea Shepard.
2) The second clip is from the companion vessel.
3) The laws of the sea lanes are thus: The bigger ship has the right of way. If you're in a bigger ship's way, and you're smaller, you gotta get out of its way.
That said, it's obvious the Japanese changed course and intended to inflict harm to the smaller vessel. I hope an international court finds the Japanese criminally liable... and enforces its ruling - US Navy, anyone?
Of course, the Sea Shepard's immediate fix would be to get a bigger and faster ship.
Posted by: TommyOC | Jan 6, 2010 1:31:23 PM
Go Sea Shepherds!!! The Japanese are terrible. They are killing off whale species. Poaching needs to stop NOW!
Posted by: Bill | Jan 6, 2010 1:40:10 PM
Whaling, sealing, and dolphin killing is sick.
Donate to Sea Shepherd (note correct spelling) like I just did (and matched by my husband's employer!):
http://www.seashepherd.org/
Posted by: David R. | Jan 6, 2010 1:47:03 PM
The Sea Shepherds could sink a Japanese whaling vessel down there (and I wouldn't shed a tear, mind you), and suffer less bad press than their show, Whale Wars, has delivered. The continual demonstration of fouled up "missions" and snubbery by the Japanese whaling fleet is a nightmare. This latest incident with the new wunderboat, is the most recent cherry on top.
Posted by: ctSF | Jan 6, 2010 1:57:50 PM
FUCK A YOU, WHALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: TANK | Jan 6, 2010 2:24:19 PM
Has 'whale wars' been picked up elsewhere? I would love to see something like a rag-tag group of Hindus awkwardly harrasing American slaughterhouses for ratings.
Is there a better way to go about this than Batman-style vigilanteesim?
How are these guys not considered international terrorists? Going into a foreign country forcefully taking a 'moral' stance (albeit half-assedly) without a care for the lives they endanger.
Posted by: Hugh Merme | Jan 6, 2010 3:02:15 PM
Just to clarify, the Japanese are whaling in Australian waters in violation of Australian Law and in violation of International Law governing territorial waters and the Protection of Antarctic Waters - they are banned under Australian Law from entering Australian Ports and waters.
Posted by: happyozzie | Jan 6, 2010 3:12:15 PM
Watson, for his part, is either misinformed by the Ady Gil crew or lying through his teeth about the Ady Gil being at a dead stop. You can clearly see the Ady Gil dragging a wake behind her, and her wake increases, rather than decreases, as the two close. Yes, the whaler should have been hard over to port to do its part to avoid the collision, but bear in mind the rule "When, from any cause, the vessel required to keep her course
and speed finds herself so close that collision cannot be avoided by
the action of the give-way vessel alone, she shall take such action as
will best aid to avoid collision." Ady Gil, instead, increased speed and maintained course, rather than shearing away to avoid the collision. Frankly, a maritime court, based on the video evidence, could find that the whaler failed to give way, but also that the Ady Gil deliberately hazarded itself and the whaler.
Posted by: Him | Jan 6, 2010 5:55:48 PM
RE:: Hugh Merme
Racist fucker!
Posted by: Gino | Jan 6, 2010 7:30:44 PM
It's a little disconcerting to see all this half-guised racism seeping out of some of these comments. The practice of whaling is neither inherently Japanese (it was practiced wide-spread up until the turn of the century), neither it is wholly condoned by the entire country (as if every person who self-identifies as Japanese plays a personal role in the practice). Yes, I disagree personally with the practice, but as someone pointed out in the comments, aren't we a country of factory-line slaughter houses? I think a compassionate approach (education) rather than this wannabe pirate approach would probably be significantly more effective.
Posted by: Jesus | Jan 6, 2010 8:57:49 PM
Yes, jesus, because we all know that we can't condemn anything if we've got faults of our own, or are indirectly implicated in perpetuating an unethical practice. Magically, unethical behaviors are exempt from being criticized because the person calling it as it is is implicated in immoral practices. Everyone, then is guilty of hypocrisy either directly or indirectly (and it thereby loses its meaning), and EVERYONE thereby can't weigh in on the moral status of anything. Shaddup, you idiot.
Posted by: TANK | Jan 6, 2010 9:34:25 PM
I was just pointing out what Hugh was stating about cultural ideas about what is ethical and what is not. For your information, I find both practices barbaric and unethical. I'm not an idiot either.
Posted by: Jesus | Jan 6, 2010 10:16:54 PM
Yes, because cultural ideas about what is ethical and what is not is the last word on the matter such that right and wrong depend on a culture and, by default, a time period...just like if someone says I enjoy killing small children because it gives me pleasure or "my god says I need to do this"...it's okay...because they said so...and such. You know, not all moral relativists (a metaethical view) are stupid. But a lot of them...well, not you necessarily, jesus...but it's just invalid reasoning to say that because so and so says that x is moral, and so and so believes that it therefore is moral...the same with entire cultures and gods and whatnot.
Accusations of hypocrisy work in emotionally charged debates, but not so much in ethical theory...for example...every american has benefited to some extent from slavery...so we can't condemn it? That logic is more unethical than the "bad manners" it accuses others of when they're "hypocrites".
Posted by: TANK | Jan 6, 2010 10:26:28 PM
Wow, that's some deep moral commenting going on.
I thought I knew how I felt until reading the various comments.
Thanks guys for taking me outside of my moral comfort zone and making me think.
Posted by: DEREK WASHINGTON | Jan 6, 2010 11:21:00 PM
The Sea Shepherd people aren't commiting piracy and trying to board the Japanese vessels. They are merely trying to get in between the Japanese ships and the whales so that those vile wastes of space calling themselves "scientists" can't harpoon those beautiful whales.
Posted by: Glenn | Jan 7, 2010 1:56:37 AM
Please see the movie "the cove" before even commenting on this topic and get REALLY enlightened. Your opinion of the japanese fisherman and of humans in general will be altered(and not in a good way).
Posted by: SFshawn | Jan 7, 2010 12:20:26 PM
HAPPYOZZIE -
You do realize that Australia merely claims territory rights in those waters but actually has none under recognizable international law? Those waters are not part of the jurisdictional EEZ... It's actually considered public navigable waters.
SFSHAWN-
The Cove is such a one-sided movie. People have no problem considering the killing of other animals but once it's a dolphin, it's cruel and inhumane? All killings are cruel by nature. You should allow for certain traditions to stand - particularly where the hunt does not cause a long-term unsustainable damage to the ecosystem.
Posted by: NickfromNYC | Jan 7, 2010 7:49:49 PM