Anti-whaling boat damaged during protest at sea

Your Ad Here

SYDNEY – A clash off Antarctica between a Japanese whaler and a boat from a protest group partly bankrolled by former TV game show host Bob Barker left the anti-whaling vessel badly damaged and each side accusing the other of life-threatening behavior.The bow of the Ady Gil — a sleek, wave-piercing power boat that resembles a stealth bomber — was sheared off Wednesday by the Shonan Maru. It was the latest in a series of escalating confrontations between the U.S.-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and the Japanese whaling fleet.Only minor injuries were reported aboard the Ady Gil.New Zealand's marine safety authority said it was launching an investigation into the clash and that Australia's equivalent body would be cooperating closely.Japan kills about 1,200 whales a year during the December-February season. Sea Shepherd sends ships to try to stop the Japanese hunt, which Tokyo says is for scientific research but conservationists suspect is a cover for commercial whaling.Sea Shepherd's aggressive and confrontational tactics have drawn criticism in the past from Greenpeace, which is seeking to change Japanese attitudes toward whaling by cultivating political allies in parliament.Sea Shepherd's efforts have spawned the Animal Planet TV series "Whale Wars," which has helped win the group high-profile patrons.Among the group's financial backers is Barker, the former "Price is Right" host who recently gave Sea Shepherd $5 million. The activists named a vessel the Bob Barker, which was near the scene of the clash and rescued the crew of the stricken Ady Gil.Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd's founder, vowed to continue to confront the whaling fleet."The Japanese whalers have now escalated this conflict very violently," Watson said in a statement from aboard Sea Shepherd's main ship, the Steve Irwin, which he is captaining. The vessel, named for the late Australian conservationist, was about 570 miles (900 kilometers) away from the Ady Gil."We now have a real whale war on our hands now and we have no intention of retreating," he added.Watson told The Associated Press by satellite phone on Thursday the group was working to get diesel fuel, oil and the engines out of the Ady Gil because fears were high it could sink and pollute the pristine environment."That is our priority right now; to make sure there is no pollution from that vessel," he said.Watson said the group had tried to tow the Ady Gil but that each time they tried the boat took on more water, so they had stopped.Barker, a longtime animal rights advocate, said news of the clash came as a shock."To think We had just become involved in it, then they had the worst accident that they've had. We thought, 'Barker, what have you brought onto these people'" he said.He said he steadfastly supports Sea Shepherd and was grateful that his namesake ship was able to help."We knew that they get in there and try to get between the whalers and the whales," said Barker, 86.Watson and Barker met through a fellow activist."He said he thought he could put the Japanese whaling fleet out of business if he had $5 million," Barker said earlier. "We said, 'We think you do have the skills to do that, and We have $5 million, so let's get it on,' so that's what we did."The two sides involved in Wednesday's incident gave conflicting versions of what happened.Sea Shepherd said the Shonan Maru deliberately rammed the 78-foot (24-meter) Ady Gil as it sat idle in the water near Commonwealth Bay. Representatives of Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research, which oversees the whaling fleet, said the activists caused the incident when the carbon fiber and Kevlar trimaran veered into the Shonan Maru's path.The whaling institute said the Ady Gil came "within collision distance" of another ship on Wednesday, theisshin Maru, and repeatedly dangled a rope that could have entangled the ship's rudder and propeller. The Ady Gil's crew lobbed small projectiles designed to release a foul smell, and the whalers re