New video shows Japanese whalers changing course to intentionally ram the Sea Shepherd’s Ady Gil as the high-tech ship sat idly in freezing waters.
The ship was destroyed and a Sea Shepherd crew member suffered cracked ribs, according to news reports. What’s even more disturbing is the Japanese ship, which was many times the size of the Ady Gil, refused to acknowledge a distress call from the environmental activists.
According to the Japan Times:
Watson, speaking from aboard the ship Steve Irwin, also said Sea Shepherd put out a mayday distress signal “but the Japanese fleet refused to acknowledge that and just kept going. It was a hit and run.”
The Japanese whalers have long been attempting to label the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as an “eco-terrorist” organization because of its campaigns to directly intervene in the illegal slaughter of whales. They have gone so far as to call Animal Planet a terrorist organization, for airing a TV program about the group called “Whale Wars.” And even when they shot Captain Paul Watson, they still maintained that it was the environmentalists, not the whalers, who were the “eco-terrorists.”
This is perhaps the most disturbing incident to date of the reckless violence of the whalers, not only against the whales but against anyone who tries to halt them. They directly threatened the lives of non-violent activists, destroyed their ship, then left them in freezing waters and ignored a distress call.
Which is the terrorist organization, again?
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The video certainly seems to show the whalers turning to intentionally ram the Sea Shepherd boat. I pray this brazen act will garner further sentiment against the Japanese whaling industry. Thanks for posting this, Will.
Thanks Mark. Also, the whalers have released their own video, and although it is not as clear (because they're doing the ramming) it shows the same thing.
In a reverse situation, Sea Shepherd would *never* have rammed a smaller craft like that while it crew was aboard.
Big difference: Sea Shepherd takes all precautions to avoid harming life – the murderous Japanese Whalers do not.
Jesus christ. That is some straight up murderous shit.
Those MOTHERS! I certainly hope this action by the japanese is considered attempted MURDER!. Thanks to Bob Barker they have a 3rd ship to use. That saint of a man, gave 5 million bucks to the Sea Shepherds for that vessel. Losing one ship will only make them more vigilant and determined to stop this bullshit once and for all. GO Paul Watson!
I would guess that they are betting on it being percieved as the nice mainstream people putting the dirty hippies/terrorists in their place rather than the murderous corporate drones getting violent on activists.
That brings up a good point. How did a clunky whaling ship get that close to super sleak hot rod boat in the first place and how come that uber fast boat could not get out of the way?
Will, if you think this is appropriate, could you please provide this information so everyone can at least send donations or emails…
TAKE ACTION IMMEDIATELY
You can do your part to help Sea Shepherd defend the whales. Now more than ever, Give generously to Sea Shepherd:
http://www.seashepherd.org/support-us/
Let's make sure the Japanese Embassy and their Consulate offices come in to voice mail and e-mail messages this morning. Contact the Embassy of Japan and their New York City Consulate Office asking them to stop attempting to kill whales and to stop trying to murder our activist friends:
Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki
Embassy of Japan in the USA
2520 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20008
Phone: 1.202.238.6700 or 6900
Fax: 202.328.2187
e-mail: jicc@embjapan.org
Ambassador Shinichi Nishimiya
Japanese Consulate General
299 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10171
Phone: 1.212.371.8222
Fax: 1.212. 371.1294
e-mail: inquiry@ny.cgj.org
thanks for posting that!
We see only 41 seconds of video, what we don't see is what the Sea Sheperd did to provoke the attack. Sea Sheperd has rammed many vessels belonging to fishermen and seal hunters, where were all your cries for justice for the people that the Sea Sheperd endangered?
Yeah, this is not only an act of blatant corporate terrorism and an obvious attempt to murder six activists but a nauseating cowardice of the first degree – going after a fragile vessel at least twenty times smaller then their ship. Type your comment here.
Sea Shepherds has never and would never ram a vulnerable boat where there is a high probability of casualties. You cannot compare the clashes with similiar sized boats and boats without crew aboard to what the Japanese did to the Ady Gil.
It is prety clear whats going on when watching the vid. There are some story's going arround that the sea shepherd was hit because of bad sale behaviour of the Shepherd, but the vid is prety clear.
it is clear when watching the video that the Ady Gil is dead in the water. It is not moving or trying to ram or attack the other ship.
Provoke the attack? So, in your opinion, there is some action the Sea Shepherd crew could have done that would have warranted the Japanese ship to do what they did, potentially killing everyone on board?
Lol you guys are awesome. First off it's standard boating regulations that larger vessels have right of way over smaller vessels since the smaller vessel is more manuverable. Secondly these “eco-terrorists” are committing acts of terrorism against the whaling vessel. You seriously expect the whaling vessel to show compassion and rescuse them after the “eco-terrorists” willing chose to put themselves in danger while attempting to control the actions of the whalers? The motive does not justify the means, what these “eco-terrorists” are doing is just as wrong as any other form of terrorism. This is how children resolve disputes not intelligent adults.
Wait wasn't the Sea Sheperd there in an attempt to force the whaling vessel from being able to kill whales? So how exactly did the whaling vessel “go after” a vessel who's sole intent was to put themselves in that situation?
You mean like killing whales? Right? If the She Sheperd was killing whales the Ady Gil could have rammed them and you all would applaud.
Did you watch the video?
“You seriously expect the whaling vessel to show compassion and rescuse them after the “eco-terrorists” willing chose to put themselves in danger while attempting to control the actions of the whalers?”
Wow. The whalers radically changed course, destroyed the ship, and then the video clearly shows the whalers shooting the activists with a water cannon after their lives were already in danger. And this is all justifiable to you, because the activists want to stop whaling? Unbelievable.
???? I'm sorry, but your comment confuses me. The Sea Shepherd crew IS ON the Ady Gil. I don't understand what you're trying to say…
You got it all in reverse. Your head must be upside down. What the whalers – the true ecoterrorists – are doing is terrorism because they are terrorizing and murdering defenseless nonhuman animal individuals and now they are also terrorizing those who are bravely trying to get in the way of their terror.
But more I think about this, I am starting to feel that this incident is going to play very nicely in Sea Shepherd's favor. Fortunately and it's a miracle that no one was killed, but there must be some priceless footage that came out of this. Symbolism of a tiny space like ship against barbaric whales killing monstrosity is overwhelming. Paul Watson is genius when it comes to use of the spectacle to undermine it even better than PETA does.
It should be instructive for you to learn that George Orwell (I supposed you have heard of his works) wrote in 1942 that in the context of a war against fascism, pacifism is “objectively pro-Fascist”. And this is what is underway, from the waters of Antarctic Sea to the depths of Amazon and Congo rainforests — a war agains eco-fascism, a war moved against earth, nonhuman animals and other humans, by the Capital and the State. Now, if you think that all struggles for liberation all over history were “children disputes”, so you are surely have neve not the least idea of what history is…
Hey, Save…it might help before commenting, to educate yourself on the particular circumstances surrounding this brazen act of terrorism by the rising scum, whaling cowards. The Ady Gil WAS DEAD IN THE WATER AT THE TIME OF THE ATTACK, awaiting REFUELING. It had NO ABILITY TO TAKE EVASIVE MEASURES. And just to be absolutely clear, Paul Watson has never, I repeat NEVER scuttled any MANNED vessel. Yet this is the 2nd attempt by whalers to murder activists. Last year when Paul was shot in the chest, and would have probably died if not wearing a vest, virtually no govt came forth to seize these whaling bastard's ships and order an investigation into this despicable behavior.
If Watson and his crew had done what the Japanese did yesterday, you can bet your sweet ass Japan would have called in their internationally bought-off govt goon squads. And recruited the necessary kangaroo court, ASAP, to indict and imprison every last one of Watson's crew.
Here is a video clip of a ship deliberately steering into another and ramming it, based on the comments here I am sure you will all be outraged by this act of terrorism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXQq78lvKrU
Before you all say that Watson would never ram a smaller vessel please know that Watson has an outstanding warrant in Costa Rica for attempted murder. In 2002 Watson used the Farley Mowat a 179 foot ship to ram a 13 foot fishing vessel.
Here is YouTube video from the Sea Shepherd solidarity protest in front of Japanese Consulate in NYC yesterday. I was there! You can see me with the Sea Shepherd's flag held above my head moving in the wind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VurlIRsh7Hw
Great! It also made it onto Japanese news:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHHXXCDufz0
Hey, not bad! In this short video (pt2) by nyc4animals, you can see Japanese news' cameraman there and more people walking by. I was wondering, at the time, what was he going to do with his footage:
http://www.youtube.com/user/antebozanich#p/c/B1...
Wish I could have been there. I honestly believe something good will come out of all of this, but only time will tell. News articles are still popping up all over the internet. Any coverage is good coverage. I have to give it to you New Yorkers, you are always there to protest. Awesome.
Have you seen this clip yet from CNN? Jane Velez-Mitchell talks to Bob Barker:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4IygycGFao
I was looking at video clips from the Japanese ship taken just prior to and at the time of the crash. They show the Ady Gil cutting in front of the Shonan Maru and coming to a halt and forcing the larger vessel to change course.
When the crash happened it looks like the Ady Gil stopped too close to the Shonan Maru, leaving the captain two options. Turn left and cut the bow of the Ady Gil off or turn right and have the prop cut up the entire length of the Ady Gil. He chose the option that would do the least amount of damage to both ships.
I have spent time on large research vessels in the north Atlantic,these ships do not turn on a dime. When the wheel is turned there is a delay of several seconds before the ship begins to answer. It looks like the Ady Gil just parked itself too close in front of the Japanese ship and the captain of the Shonan Maru did the Ady Gil a favor by only cutting off the bow instead of proping the whole ship.
And then there is this video from Australian news with legal expert:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VVcx5GHOXI
blah blah blah…
Sounds from this that Joe's the kind of “man” (I use that term VERY loosely, being even more loose with my language than he is with his morals and corporate apology) who would blame a rape on the woman. “Well, she was comin onta me! She shouldn'ta been wearin that tight dress!”
I tend to agree with Joe, if you look at the video from the Whaling ships perspective it is clear that the sea shepherd ship fired up its engines and moved in front of their ship. If an actual investigation was done I believe that the sea shepherd crew would be found guilty.
As far as breaking whaling laws, thats not cool and I respect your stance on that. But don't try to “spin” this video…
All in defense of what they do best: reckless murder of God's creation. They are the terrorists. Animal murderers are the terrorists – they commit genocide on animals and nobody blinks an eye. They terrorize and destroy life. That, in itself, is terrorism. If someone went around killing life – killing LIFE, that, in itself, is terrorism. Activists do everything they can to end the terrorism campaign against living animals. Why doesn't anyone see that THEY ARE THE REAL TERRORISTS?
This made me so mad. It is so upsetting about their deeds seen on Whale Wars and there they are, just ignoring someone need help.
it is easy to see that they japanese whaling industry is just fighting back. the acts of the steve irwin and the captain are clearly acts of pirates or better in this day and age, terrorism. i don't support the whaling thing, but there were limits set up so these people can make a living. who are you people–GOD? if i were to have been on that boat when the steve irwin rammed it, i would have shot back with lead and not nuts and bolts. i view it as the same type of pirates that are in somalia, or the same type of terrorist that attacked the towers. the steve irwin declared war on hard working people and are innocent to the point of just wanting to make a living. how hypercritical is that–they are making money off animal planet and DVD sales,give me a break. in the days of old time–there would have been cannons shot at them–not water
who started what?
Wah wah wah. What a bunch of cry babies. As far as I am concerned, the crew of the Sea Shepherd provoked this attack. If you are going to wage a campaign against another entity employing the tactics they use, you'd better get used to people defending themselves. The Japanese fleet has shown tremendous restraint concerning the Steve Erwin and its crew. It's amazing that they haven't been blown out of the water yet. All of this because they want to impose their beliefs on other people. Typical elitist attitude.
remeber when the steve irwin had 2 people board the other ship without permission? i would have taken them back to japan to stand trial as pirates or terrorist.
isn't this funny that these comments are appearing now that the new season of whale wars has started. Hmmm, strange coincidence? Dgmunn, you write “who started what”? The Japanese are the ones who have started this war by illegally whaling in the southern whale sanctuary. They kill endangered whales, someone has to stop them. Thankfully the IWC has not lifted the ban on whaling even though the corrupt Japanese tried to bribe the members on the commission. The Sea Shepherds will continue to wage this war until it is won. Sure, call them what you want, but one thing is clear, the Japanese are the real terrorists. The Sea Shepherd will stop harassing the whaling fleet when they stop killing whales. Real simple.
Hey Liberation, from what I have seen, you are correct in the assessment that this is war. I have no problem with the crew of the Steve Erwin doing what they believe they have to do to defend whales. Even though I personally think Paul Watson is a egomaniacal nutjob who needlessly puts people's lives in danger, I still respect their right to stand by what they think is right. Conversely, I think the Japanese have the right to fish and defend themselves against attack. The problem I have is all of the hand wringing and cries of “terrorist!” when the Japanese do defend themselves. If Paul Watson, who has rammed Japanese ships, and the Sea Shepherd crew want to continue this “war” then they should be ready for the consequences and quit their crying.
I do remember that incident. Another case of restraint shown right there by the Japanese.
after watching coastwatch on green planet channel. the sea sheppard has been carrying weapons and ramming and sinking ships for years. why do these pirates get away with it? is it a wonder that the distress call wasn't answered? i wish i would have been informed of this earlier. they need to be sunk. they don't respect the laws of the seas, they make up their own. i would have had the two that boarded the boat walk the plank. who were they pansy pottsy and the other dude. that peter hammerstead –skinny little wimp–should be picked up and thrown like a harpoon old style. they are such hypocrits.
i notice no one is replying now.
IF THEY DO HAVE THIS EQUIPTMENT THEY SHOULD USE T ON THESE WHALING SHIPS. HAVE YOU SEEN THESE ANIMALS THEY ARE TRYING TO PROTECT. HAVE YOU EVER HAD CONTACT WITH THESE CREATURES? I HAVE. I WILL TELL YOU THIS…. THEY ARE AMAZING,INTELLEGENT AND LOVING. THEY BELONG TO THIS PLANET AND THE JAPANESE NEED A HARPOON IN THEIR ASS TO SEE HOW THEY LIKE IT. I HOPE ALL THOSE FUCKERS DIE THEY ARE DESTROYING OUR WORLD. THEY NOT ONLY GO AFTER WHALES BUT DOLPHINS,SHARKS AND SEA TURTLES DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE YOU GO STCKING UP FOR DEMONS YOU DONT EVEN KNOW. PS WHAT THEY DO IS ILLEAGAL. DROWNING IS TO GOOD FOR THEM
I REPLIED BUT APARENTLY FREE SPEECH DOESNT EXIST ANYMORE
Comments are moderated. Sorry for the delay.
After reading all the posts on here it is obvious that “Joe” and “dgmunn61″ work for the Jap whalers and “save whales” is a tard. I can only hope one day a ship can be added to the Shepard’s fleet that can be used to ram and sink the illegal whalers…I agree with some of you that the Shepard’s actions have caused the whalers to reach their breaking point but now that the whalers have crossed the line I believe more fire power should be used against the whalers!
Nobody should purchase any Jap products as long as the assholes kill whales. Maybe if the worlds idiots would stop buying Toyotas, Nissans, Mitsubishis, and the other shit those fucking whale killers produce their own government would stop them.rnSteve in USA Michigan
Elias, i am born and raised in the USA. done 8 years of military time. bet you can’t say that. i was defending this country when you were just thinking about trying to take a job away from a hard working person. you people get a lot of money from over-bearing people that have nothing better to do than give a tax right-off. i do believe in what you are going for, but i don’t believe that your cause is a right to be a pirate. paul watson has been doing that for decades. well if i would have been on the boat that the two guys boarded, and now with pete bethune boarding it the last time, there wouldn’t be a trip to asia. a walk of the plank would be the act for the pirates. you want to help the whales, you want to help the sharks. well what about the people hunting alligators in the south of the usa and in Austrailia? ya know why you don’t go there? because you know that them good ole country boys would just take ya down and use you as bait for the next hunt. you are wussys hiding behind a big checkbook and always will be. go to the south one time you will find out how much you will be cheering. damn–still talking out your bum hole.