Did anyone catch the Paul Watson interview Wednesday night on CNN?
The controversial Sea Shepherd Conservation Society captain appeared on the Anderson Cooper show in the aftermath of the collision between the high-speed Ady Gil and the Japanese whaling vessel Shonan Maru No. 2.
Watson blamed the whalers for intentionally ramming and destroying the smaller 78-foot catamaran in an event that made international news. The captain claimed both vessels were idle when the whaling ship was suddenly driven into the Ady Gil, prompting a rescue effort and reportedly causing a rib injury to a Sea Shepherd crewman. The whalers maintain the collision was the fault of the Ady Gil crew, which had been trying to disable the Shonan Maru No. 2 by towing a rope to entangle the larger ship's rudder and propeller.
It was an expensive confrontation regardless of fault. The Ady Gil, the fastest and most maneuverable of three Sea Shepherd boats, cost $1.8 million. But I have a feeling Watson is not pouting too visibly, because the amount of publicity generated by the incident is worth a fortune to Sea Shepherd's cause.
Perhaps millions more people are now aware of his campaign in Antarctic waters against Japan's annual whale hunts, which Watson claims are illegal and are occurring in a whale sanctuary. While Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research, which supports the hunts, labels Watson's group terrorists and extremists, the captain labels them poachers. (Japan hunts whales using a "lethal research" loophole in the wording of an international moratorium imposed in 1986.)
This is the sixth such campaign and Watson says the Japanese are far more aggressive than in the past. Could this have anything to do with Sea Shepherd, likewise, becoming more visible--with three boats this season, instead of one--and aggressive toward the whalers?
Could it also be that the collisions--there were some last season, too--and Sea Shepherd's beefed-up effort are occurring because of Animal Planet's involvement in the project? The network has a crew with Sea Shepherd and is filming its third season of the popular "Whale Wars" series. The second series featured more drama than the first, so it stands to reason that Animal Planet would benefit from an even more dramatic third season.
It seemingly will get just that. Hopefully, though, it will not come at too high a price.
-- Pete Thomas
Photo of crippled Ady Gil and Sea Shepherd rescue crew courtesy of JoAnne McArthur/Sea Shepherd
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