NZ calls for calm in 'whale war'

While the New Zealand Government is opposed to whales being killed in the southern oceans, it is equally opposed to people getting killed in the anti-whaling protest, says Foreign Minister Murray McCully.

Speaking after yesterday's collision between the harpoon ship Shonan Maru and the New Zealand protest vessel Ady Gil, Mr McCully said lives had been risked in a very serious way.

The crew of the hi-tech anti-whaling trimaran, which had more than two metres of its bow ripped off when it was hit by the Japanese ship, describe it as attempted murder.

But Glenn Inwood - a New Zealand-based spokesman for the Institute of Cetacean Research, the Japanese government-linked body that carries out the hunt - disputed the protesters' account, saying video shot from the whaler showed the conservationists' boat moving toward the whaler just before the collision.

A spokesman for Mr McCully said the Government had received a formal complaint from Japanese whalers about the Ady Gil's actions and referred that to Maritime NZ.

Mr McCully called for restraint "about any sort of activity that would put life at risk in such a harsh and remote environment".

The Ady Gil was a New Zealand-registered vessel but the clash occurred in Australian search and rescue territory so authorities from both sides of the Tasman would be involved in untangling matters.

However, final responsibility for the investigation would rest with Maritime New Zealand, Mr McCully told Radio New Zealand.

He said he would be taking up the matter with the Japanese government today.

"The New Zealand Government is totally opposed to Japanese whaling taking place in southern oceans but we're also opposed to killing human beings down there as well, and it is quite clear that unless there is some restraint exercised there is serious risk to human life in that region at the moment."

Despite strong differences on the whaling issue, he said that the Government worked constructively with Japanese authorities because there were issues of safety and welfare at stake.

The government of Australia has also urged both sides to show restraint.

'AT THE VERY LIMIT OF THE LAW'

The five New Zealanders and the Dutchman on the New Zealand protest boat rammed by a Japanese whaling ship on Wednesday were operating "at the very limit and edge of the law", says an international expert

It was clear "provocative" behaviour was involved on the part of the crew of Ady Gil crew skippered by Peter Bethune, Professor Donald Rothwell of Australia's National University in Canberra told The Australian newspaper's online edition.

"There's a history of being very provocative and they really are operating at the very edge of the law," he said.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's Ady Gil had its bow sheared off in a collision with the Japanese whaler's ship Shonan Maru 2 on Wednesday.

"We know Sea Shepherd vessels have collided with whalers in the past," said Prof Rothwell. "The difference this time is it is obviously a more light and nimble vessel and it was the only one that was going to be damaged in that collision.

"The reality is restraint hasn't been exercised and the (anti-whalers) are now talking about war in the southern ocean."

Prof Rothwell said that if there were going to be any legal claims for damages "I suspect it will be in New Zealand" .

And Ernest van Buuren, a maritime law expert and the deputy federal master of the Company of Master Mariners Australia, told the ABC that criminal charges were unlikely.

Crimes at sea legislation could apply, but it was more likely it will be a matter for investigation that will ultimately only involve insurance companies.

He said that initially it seemed that the Japanese ship, Shonan Maru 2, was at fault when it hit the New Zealand trimaran Ady Gil.

"The Shonan Maru 2 should be giving way to the Ady Gil because it's on the starboard side and what seems to be the allegation of the Shonan Maru 2 is that the Ady Gill failed to keep its course and speed, it was varying its speed," he said.

"There is responsibility on the Shonan Maru to give way, but also responsibility from the Ady Gill to maintain its course and speed."

Prof Rothwell said Australia should now probably send a vessel to monitor the situation, if only to perform search and rescue operations in the event of another incident.

'THEY HAVE NO MERCY'

While the shocked crew of anti-whaling protest vessel Ady Gil recover from what they say was a ramming by a Japanese harpoon ship in Antarctic waters, thoughts are turning to how the badly damaged boat can be salvaged.

Crew member Laurens de Groot said they were "just drifting", waiting for the Shonan Maru to pass by, when they were run down by the whaling ship.

"They have no mercy, those guys. They were trying to kill us, ramming us like that in one of the most hostile environments in the world. The only way to describe it is attempted murder," he said.

The whalers say the Japanese boat tried to avoid a collision.

The impact of the crash sheared off the front of the $1 million Ady Gill - the former Earthrace high-tech speedboat which resembles a stealth bomber.

Despite such colossal damage to the vessel, Auckland cameraman Simeon Houtman was the only crewman injured. He has broken ribs.

The Ady Gil remained afloat, allowing the six crew members - five New Zealanders and a Dutchman - to salvage valuable equipment, before being picked up by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel Bob Barker.

Mr de Groot said the team was now working to salvage the New Zealand-registered protest boat, which is tied to the Bob Barker.

There were hopes that it could be towed to the French Antarctic base Dumont Durville where there was a supply ship equipped with a crane which could lift the Ady Gil aboard, Mr de Groot said.

Plans had not been finalised, but if they were given the go-ahead, it would take 36-48 hours to reach the base.

Current conditions and the forecast for the next few days were favourable, he said.

ANNUAL HUNT

The clash was the most serious in the past several years, during which the Sea Shepherd organisation has sent vessels into far-southern waters to try to harass the Japanese fleet into ceasing its controversial annual whale hunt.

Clashes using hand-thrown stink bombs, ropes meant to tangle propellers and high-tech sound equipment have been common, and crashes between ships have sometimes occurred.

Each southern summer the Japanese whaling fleet travels to Antarctic waters for what it calls a scientific whaling programme. Conservationists and many countries say the programme is a front for commercial whaling and want it to stop.

- NZPA, AP, The Dominion Post