(Australian Herald-Sun)
Whale wars: Boat claims ram attempt
MERYL NAIDOO From: The Mercury February 05, 2011 12:00AM
The Gojira catches up to the Yushin Maru. Picture: Barbara Veiga/Sea Shepherd Source: Herald Sun
SEA Shepherd activists have accused Japanese whalers of trying to ram their state-of-the-art interceptor vessel Gojira in Antarctic waters yesterday.
Sea Shepherd leader Paul Watson said the latest confrontation occurred about 2pm in the Ross Sea, 2000 nautical miles south-east of New Zealand.
"It was a very narrow escape for the Gojira," Captain Watson said.
The anti-whaling group said the whaling vessel Yushin Maru No. 3 turned deliberately into the Gojira in an attempt to destroy the multi-hulled vessel.
"It was like staring death in the face when that steel hull suddenly turned into us. We just narrowly avoided being cut in half," Gojira's captain, Locky MacLean, said.
"Both vessels were on a parallel course, with Yushin Maru No. 3 on the starboard side of the Gojira.
"Suddenly the Yushin Maru No. 3 made a dangerous hard turn to port. I saw this just in time to hit the throttle and the Yushin Maru No. 3 missed crashing with the stern of the Gojira by only 10 feet."
Capt Watson said the Gojira and the small boats from the Bob Barker were harassing the Yushin Maru No.3 in an effort to keep the whaler from tailing the Bob Barker.
"The Bob Barker has lost it tail and is now free to search out the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru," he said.
Once the Bob Barker had escaped the Yushin Maru No. 3, the Japanese whalers issued an international distress signal saying they were under attack by the Bob Barker and Gojira.
Sea Shepherd said the Bob Barker had been more than seven miles away when the whalers issued their distress signal.
The Bob Barker and the Gojira intend to continue to pursue and harass the Japanese whaling fleet while the other Sea Shepherd ship, Steve Irwin, refuels and takes on supplies in New Zealand.
Last whaling season, the Sea Shepherd trimaran Ady Gil sank after a collision with the harpoon ship Shonan Maru No. 2.
The Ady Gil's captain, New Zealander Peter Bethune, was subsequently arrested and given a two-year suspended jail sentence in Japan for boarding the Shonan Maru No. 2 after the sinking.
New Zealand authorities found both the whaler and the protest vessel to be at fault.
The Gojira was in Hobart to refuel late last month, after its 33-day maiden campaign in Antarctica.
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