Whalers are 'on the run'

The crew of the anti-whaling boat smashed by a Japanese ship have vowed to carry on their mission which is backed by a host of Hollywood celebrities.

Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which bankrolls the protests is determined to carry on campaigning in the Southern Ocean.

"We won't be engaging for a while, they're running and as long as they're running we'll just keep pursuing, which is good, they're not killing any whales," said Watson.

He was speaking after the $2m Ady Gil was rammed and had 3m of its bow sliced off by the Japanese security ship Shonan Maru 2.

It was towed away but sank on Friday. Auckland cameraman Simeon Houtman, who is filming the boat's activities for Animal Planet's weekly Whale Wars series, suffered broken ribs.

Celebrities including Sean Penn, Pierce Brosnan, Linda Blair and Martin Sheen have donated cash to Sea Shepherd.

The crew of five New Zealanders and one Dutchman, captained by Aucklander Pete Bethune, had been trying to stop the Japanese whale fleet from slaughtering 850 minke and 50 fin whales for "scientific research".

Crew member Laurens de Groot said of skipper Bethune: "He's devastated. This boat has been part of his life for the past five years."

Bethune last night called on New Zealand police to arrest the captain of the Shonan Maru 2.

The Japanese have accused the Ady Gil of suddenly slowing in front of the whaler, causing the collision.

Former minister Chris Carter came out in support of the embattled anti-whaling crew after they were criticised by Foreign Minister Murray McCully.

Carter, Labour's foreign affairs spokesman, says McCully's "passive role" is putting the protesters' lives at risk.

McCully had said of the Ady Gil's crew when he said: "People determined to break the law and kill other people on the high seas then it is not the responsibility of the New Zealand Government... or any other government to send vessels down there to stop them."

But Mr Carter hit back. "The New Zealand Government is taking a passive role while Kiwi lives are put at risk and Japan's whalers get a green light to continue their whale hunt in the Southern Ocean," he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News