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Australia pressured to police whale protests
Source: Agencies |
January 7, 2010, Thursday
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AUSTRALIA'S government came under pressure today to send a patrol vessel to the Southern Ocean after a high seas collision between an anti-whaling protest boat and a Japanese whaling ship that injured one activist.
Canberra has called for restraint by all sides after the hardline Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's futuristic powerboat Ady Gil had its bow sliced off by the Japanese security ship Shonan Maru No. 2 and left foundering near Antarctica.
But Australian opposition and green lawmakers said the government should immediately send a customs patrol ship to the area to ease tensions as Sea Shepherd founder and captain, Paul Watson, predicted an all-out "war" with the Japanese fleet.
"We think that the government should arrange for a non-military observation vessel...to chronicle, to capture, to record the slaughter of Australians whales in Australian waters," said conservative opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt.
Environmentalists accuse centre-left Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of going soft on threats of an International Court of Justice whaling challenge to avoid damaging Australia's $58 billion two-way trade relationship with Japan.
"These are Australian waters. Australia has not only a right but an obligation to be policing them," said Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown on Thursday.
Confrontations between whalers and opponents have become an annual feature of the hunt in Antarctic waters claimed by Australia but not recognised as Australian by Japan.
Australia sent a customs icebreaker to Antarctic waters in early 2008 to monitor the Japanese whaling fleet and gather photographic and video evidence for a legal case.
Both countries have in the past agreed to quarantine their differences over whaling from wider diplomatic relations to avoid damaging close security ties and long-running free trade talks.
Australia has managed to protect its major trade ties in Asia from periodic bilateral tensions, most notably the detention of an Australian mining executive in China in 2009.
JAPAN SAYS COLLISION UNAVOIDABLE
Japan's Fisheries Agency said the collision took place when Ady Gil suddenly slowed down as it crossed in front of Shonan Maru, which had warned the boat of impending danger.
All six crew were rescued from the Ady Gil, but the collision left one activist with two broken ribs and the A$1.5 million (US$1.37 million) carbon-fibre trimaran foundered. Sea Shepherd expected the powerboat to be unsalvageable.
Australian newspapers on Thursday were generally supportive of the activists, accusing the whalers of "sea terror" and backing demands for Rudd to play a stronger security role in the Southern Ocean in an election year.
"It is time the Australian government stepped up its responses to a situation that is now intolerable. It is no longer sufficient to advise caution on both sides," said The Age newspaper, adding to pressure on the government.
But New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully, whose government launched an investigation into the incident given the Ady Gil was New Zealand-registered, said sending an Australian patrol ship would not lead to automatic restraint.
"People are going to behave badly down there. There's not much we can do about it," McCully told Australian state radio.
Australian law expert Don Rothwell said if the Japanese captain was found at fault, legal proceedings would likely occur in New Zealand.
Concerns could also be raised by the London-based International Maritime Organisation following reports the Japanese vessel fled after the collision, said Rothwell, from the Australian National University.
Commercial whaling was banned under a 1986 moratorium, but Japan continues to cull whales, saying it is for research purposes, deflecting criticism from anti-whaling nations. Japan says whaling is a cultural tradition and while most Japanese do not eat whale meat regularly, many are indifferent to accusations that the hunting is cruel.
Canberra has called for restraint by all sides after the hardline Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's futuristic powerboat Ady Gil had its bow sliced off by the Japanese security ship Shonan Maru No. 2 and left foundering near Antarctica.
But Australian opposition and green lawmakers said the government should immediately send a customs patrol ship to the area to ease tensions as Sea Shepherd founder and captain, Paul Watson, predicted an all-out "war" with the Japanese fleet.
"We think that the government should arrange for a non-military observation vessel...to chronicle, to capture, to record the slaughter of Australians whales in Australian waters," said conservative opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt.
Environmentalists accuse centre-left Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of going soft on threats of an International Court of Justice whaling challenge to avoid damaging Australia's $58 billion two-way trade relationship with Japan.
"These are Australian waters. Australia has not only a right but an obligation to be policing them," said Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown on Thursday.
Confrontations between whalers and opponents have become an annual feature of the hunt in Antarctic waters claimed by Australia but not recognised as Australian by Japan.
Australia sent a customs icebreaker to Antarctic waters in early 2008 to monitor the Japanese whaling fleet and gather photographic and video evidence for a legal case.
Both countries have in the past agreed to quarantine their differences over whaling from wider diplomatic relations to avoid damaging close security ties and long-running free trade talks.
Australia has managed to protect its major trade ties in Asia from periodic bilateral tensions, most notably the detention of an Australian mining executive in China in 2009.
JAPAN SAYS COLLISION UNAVOIDABLE
Japan's Fisheries Agency said the collision took place when Ady Gil suddenly slowed down as it crossed in front of Shonan Maru, which had warned the boat of impending danger.
All six crew were rescued from the Ady Gil, but the collision left one activist with two broken ribs and the A$1.5 million (US$1.37 million) carbon-fibre trimaran foundered. Sea Shepherd expected the powerboat to be unsalvageable.
Australian newspapers on Thursday were generally supportive of the activists, accusing the whalers of "sea terror" and backing demands for Rudd to play a stronger security role in the Southern Ocean in an election year.
"It is time the Australian government stepped up its responses to a situation that is now intolerable. It is no longer sufficient to advise caution on both sides," said The Age newspaper, adding to pressure on the government.
But New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully, whose government launched an investigation into the incident given the Ady Gil was New Zealand-registered, said sending an Australian patrol ship would not lead to automatic restraint.
"People are going to behave badly down there. There's not much we can do about it," McCully told Australian state radio.
Australian law expert Don Rothwell said if the Japanese captain was found at fault, legal proceedings would likely occur in New Zealand.
Concerns could also be raised by the London-based International Maritime Organisation following reports the Japanese vessel fled after the collision, said Rothwell, from the Australian National University.
Commercial whaling was banned under a 1986 moratorium, but Japan continues to cull whales, saying it is for research purposes, deflecting criticism from anti-whaling nations. Japan says whaling is a cultural tradition and while most Japanese do not eat whale meat regularly, many are indifferent to accusations that the hunting is cruel.
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