Sea Shepherds snelle actieboot Ady Gil geramd door Japanse walvisjager Shonan Maru 2 - Mogelijk dat Ady Gil water maakt en zinkt - Kat- en muisspel

Australian anti-whaling boat Ady Gil holed after



colliding with Japanese whalers in Southern Ocean



Ben Packham, David Killick, From: The Mercury, Herald Sun, AFP, Herald Sun, Australia





UPDATE 4.40pm: JAPANESE whalers have collided with one of the Sea Shepherd's protest vessels in the Southern Ocean, ripping a gaping hole in the front of the Australian vessel. The lightweight 24-metre (79-foot) Ady Gil was shadowing the Shonan Maru 2 when protesters claim the Japanese ship suddenly started its engines and hit the Sea Shepherd vessel.



Sea Shepherd insists the Ady Gil was trying to get out of the way of the Japanese vessel, while the Japanese have accused the protesters of causing the collision.

The Japanese harpoon vessel 'Shonan Maru No 2' shadowing the Sea Shepherd's 'Ady Gil' in the Southern Ocean off Antarctica last month. Source: AFP

Jeff Hansen, Australian director of Sea Shepherd, said the Ady Gil had come to a stop in front of the Shonan Maru 2 vessel.

Mr Hansen said the Ady Gil, a small vessel built for speed, was trying to get out of the way when the incident happened at 3pm in Australia's Antarctic waters near Commonwealth Bay, south of Hobart.



"The Ady Gil has been cut, hit by one of the harpoon vessels,'' he said.

"It was stationary at the time. It tried to back out of the way but the Shonan Maru 2 had it in its path and it cleaned it up.

"It's still floating at the moment, but chances are it will take on water and sink.



Mr Hansen said the crew of six were uninjured.

"Everyone aboard is safe, we've managed to get everyone off and they're ok.

"We have it all on film and we're getting onto all the authorities at the moment."



But Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research, which supports the whaling program, has released footage which shows the Ady Gil chasing the Japanese vessel and passing in front of it, and claims an Ady Gil attack caused today collision.

In the footage, anti-whaling protesters unfurl a rope from the back of the Ady Gil and appear to drag it in front of the Japanese, as the whalers respond with a water cannon and loudspeaker warnings.

It's not clear from the footage who caused the collision.



The Institute has released a statement saying the Ady Gil attacked the Japanese vessel.

"The Ady Gil came to collision distance directly in front of the (ship's) bow,'' the statement said. "The (ship) started its water cannons and proceeded to prevent the Ady Gil coming closer.''

The statement accused Ady Gil activists of towing a rope to entangle the Japanese ship's rudder, shining a laser, and lobbing acid bombs. One landed on the Japanese vessel's deck, the Japanese said.



The Institute, which backs the slaughter of hundreds of whales in Antarctic waters each summer, said it was concerned that towing a rope was bad for the environment.

"Their repeated deploying and abandonment of ropes designed to entangle the propeller of our navigating vessels ultimately ends becoming litter which is spoiling the Antarctic marine environment.''



The 24m futuristic trimaran left Hobart on December 19 to tackle the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctic waters.

Before leaving, Captain Pete Behune said he was planning to take the fight right to the harpoon vessels.

"We will be on the fleet the whole time. Once we engage them, every day we'll be looking to mess them over," Bethune said.

"My first job is to get my boat down there and get my crew down there and back safely and look at the risk."



The Shonan Maru 2 was detailed to provide security to the rest of the Japanese whaling fleet.



The Ady Gil is one of three Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessels battling Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean.



Paul Watson, captain of Sea Shepherd flagship the Steve Irwin, said the $2 million Ady Gil is now paralysed and probably unsalvagable.

"It cut eight feet off the front of the vessel. There is a big gaping hole, so it can't go anywhere or it would fill up with water," he said.



Five of the crew are now on Sea Shepherd's new ship Bob Barker, with one still on the wrecked Ady Gil.



Earlier today, Captain Watson accused the Japanese of chartering planes from Australia to pinpoint Sea Shepherd locations.

"We didn't think anything of it at the time, we thought they were Australian government planes, routine,'' he said.

"And then about six hours later the Shonan Maru was on our tail so we figured out that the planes had given the location so that the Japanese could tail us.''



He said the Steve Irwin only shook off the ship - after skirmishes involving a water cannon, a laser-type device and a military-style sonar weapon - when he returned to port and then left under low cloud cover, making air surveillance impossible.

"I think they spent about 20,000 dollars on that search, about 12 hours in total, and they didn't find us and we were able to slip past,'' Captain Watson said.



Earlier today, anti-whalers threw rancid butter-filled Christmas tree baubles "like baseballs'' at the Japanese ships to make their decks too foul to work.

"They can't work on the deck with these stinkbombs and it makes life very unpleasant on board,'' Captain Watson said.

"In East Africa they shoot elephant poachers, down here we just throw stinkbombs.''



Captain Watson said the Sea Shepherd activists latched on to the Japanese ships just before dawn, about a month after setting out from Australia on their annual bid to stop the slaughter of hundreds of minke and fin whales.

Watson said earlier the Ady Gil and the Bob Barker were pursuing the whalers in Antarctica's Commonwealth Bay.

The 1200-tonne Norwegian built Antarctic harpoon vessel Bob Barker arrived off Commonwealth Bay at 3am today with 30 crew aboard.

The ship was bought in Ghana with a $5 million donation by US television celebrity Bob Barker and sailed from Mauritius on December 18. It joined the MV Steve Irwin and the Ady Gil.



"I'm surprised we kept it a secret as long as we did, considering how many people we had involved," Captain Watson said.

"It has the speed and it's ice strengthened and it's the perfect vessel to go after the whaling fleet.

"We kept it quiet until this morning at 3 o'clock when they found the Japanese fleet.

"The security vessels were so busy chasing up 500 miles north of the fleet that they had no idea the Bob Barker was moving in on them."



Sea Shepherd activists have harassed the Japanese fleet over the past six hunting seasons and claim to have saved the lives of hundreds of whales.



An international moratorium on commercial whaling was imposed in 1986 but Japan kills hundreds each year using a loophole that allows "lethal research'' on the animals.



Japan makes no secret of the fact that whale meat ends up on dinner tables, and accuses Western nations of not respecting its culture.



ADY GIL FACTS

Length: 24m metres

Crew: 6

Top speed: 40 knots

Displacement: 16 tonnes

Cost: $US2 million

Formerly the Earthrace, the Ady Gil was renamed after a US donor who bought the round-world record holder for the Sea Shepherd conservation society.



- with AFP, AAP



(Bron: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/)

(Bron foto: Herald Sun / Bron foto 'Bob Barker': http://www.indymedia.nl/nl/2010/01/64580.shtml)