Abandoned Ady Gil still aflloat and leaking fuel, Japan claims

[Robb]

...taken with the appropriate grains of salt, of course.

Abandoned Ady Gil still aflloat and leaking, Japan claims

JAPANESE authorities have criticised the environmental activist group Sea Shepherd for abandoning a vessel at sea, apparently leaking fuel and debris.

The Ady Gil was crippled in a collision with a Japanese whaling ship in the Southern Ocean on Wednesday. Sea Shepherd spokespeople have repeatedly claimed the boat had sunk, and today the activist group abandoned the scene.

But Japanese authorities have released photographs which show the Ady Gil wreckage is still afloat in pristine Antarctic waters. The official Institute of Cetacean Research said an oily substance thought to be fuel was leaking from the wreckage, "raising concerns that Sea Shepherd is willfully polluting the Antarctic environment''.

A Japanese vessel salvaged part of the severed Ady Gil hull and some arrows....

MORE....

Key words are "Japan claims," of course. Here's the notoriously biased Telegraph's take on it this morning:

Ady Gil captain Pete Bethune told The Daily Telegraph the group was forced to abandon the vessel early yesterday because it was taking on too much water.

Mr Bethune, who was on board the Sea Shepherd ship the Bob Barker last night, said they drained hundreds of litres of diesel from the Ady Gil but admitted it was possible "a little bit of a slick" was left behind.

"It's a diesel boat but we did everything we could to remove the fuel," he said. "It's pretty rich of the Japanese whalers to be accusing us of environmental damage when we cleaned up their mess because they were the ones that caused the collision."

I think it should be renamed "Press Release Wars," frankly.

Edited to add: I found their photos. Not particularly damning, frankly, I don't see an oil spill. But I haven't seen them elsewhere, so here they are. Look like crossbow arrows to me.

[thunder rising]

1. On this issue ... fuck the Japanese

[Robb]

2. Indeed. nt

[Larkspur]

3. I like the fact that the Australian Greens have sent Japan a $2 million bill

for the Ady Gil. I don't expect the Japanese to pay it but the thought counts.

I'm also glad that the Australian government told Japan to stop whaling. Finally, an official government response. If the Japanese reject Australia's request, will the Aussies send a navy vessal against the whalers?

And kudos to actress and Transformers star Isabel Lucas for doing pro bono a PR ad campaign on behalf of Sea Shepherd.

[Robb]

4. Sounds like Australia's waffling a touch on this

...IIRC one official said it was within their search-and-rescue boundaries but not waters they claim as being within their economic zone, or something similar. Sounds like an opportunity to weasel out to me.

Thanks for the Transformers reference, no one I've read has yet to tell me where I was supposed to know her from. :D

[Robb]

5. SS responds:

Press release on SS's site:

...The day before, the Australian maritime authorities had advised Sea Shepherd that the only obligation the crew had was to rescue all crew members and personal items from the damaged vessel. They advised against re-entering the vessel. Despite this the crew risked their lives to re-enter and to pump all oils and fuel from the Ady Gil in an effort to protect the marine environment from pollution in the likely event of a sinking. Every drop of fuel and oil was removed. When the Bob Barker left the Ady Gil there was not a drop of fuel escaping. Sea Shepherd suspects that the pictures of a spill taken by the Shonan Maru No. 2 while trailing the Bob Barker were set up....

"Every drop" seems to be contradicted by the "some might've been left behind" statement to the Torygraph.

[petronius]

12. I don't get the "personal items" reference - it seems to me that the only

real obligation would be to rescue the crew, and I'd expect SAR organizations to suggest leaving behind everything else to avoid extra risk to potentially untrained and ill-equiped salvagers...

[DainBramaged]

6. There are many here who will condemn the japanese for their whaling efforts

while driving japanese cars. The same people who drive hybrids while drinking bottled water and filling their hybrids up with plastic shopping bags from WalMart.




:mad:

[Robb]

7. Hybrids run on plastic bags?

:D

I kid, your point is well taken.

[NYC_SKP]

8. No, they run on Unicorn Tears...

I kid you not.

:silly:

[DainBramaged]

11. Thanks.

[Larkspur]

10. Ironically, it was America who introduced whaling to the Japanese

We did it after WWII to help their fishing industry.

Also the whale meat is loaded with toxins, and that meat is being fed to the poor Japanese school children. The Japanese whalers are criminals on both fronts.

[DainBramaged]

13. So it's our fault they continue to hunt whales? jesus blame us for attacking Peral Harbor why don't

:wtf:

[NYC_SKP]

9. In other news, who caught Richard Heene on TV DENYING that the Balloon thing was a Hoax.

Can we put his sorry ass in the Ady Gil and sink 'em both???