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28 December 2005

Video evidence and putting distractions behind us

by Andrew, onboard the Esperanza

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©Greenpeace/Sutton-Hibbert
What they don't want us talking about.
It's a time-honoured tactic - go on a smear campaign against your loudest critics. Accuse them of something, anything that sounds exciting, truth in the matter is not relevant. Only the whaling industry has taken this tactic to a new level. First, one of their ships goes well out of its way to 'collide' with ours (although in honesty it was more of a small bump this time), then they start with the media attacks - saying it was all our fault. They used the same tactic back in 1999, when I was down here on board the Arctic Sunrise. It was more of a sideswipe that time, and a rather larger and more dangerous bump that left a dent in our ship. No doubt this time they will once again be found at fault in the incident, although by then the whaling season will be over.

So, here is my promise to you, dear weblog reader, this time it will not work. This is the last time I'm going to talk about it. We've posted a complete video record of the entire incident from start to finish. Certainly the Esperanza was in an inconvenient position for them - just about where they would normally put their hunting vessel to transfer its dead whale. But from the footage it's easy to see that the Kyo Maru overtook the Esperanza from our port stern, and very deliberately turned into our ship. Frank (Esperanza captain) steered a steady course throughout those critical minutes, and clearly had the right of way.

Feel free to see for yourself...

Watch the video

Full extended version - All the footage of the incident shot by our heli team. (7.75 min.)
General footage from our first day of actions.

Read the accusations by "institute for cetacean research," the whalers' front group.

Read our statement on the incident.

   

Comments

Curious to know, did Greenpeace take action on the incident in 1999 and will they do so again in 2006? Surely this is a blatant action of vandalism and reckless endangerment, regardless of the amount of damage done. The captain of that Japanese whaling boat should be rotting in a jail cell like those French terrorist scumbags did (at least for a brief time) after the Rainbow Warrior bombing.

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Andrew replies


I don't know if any legal case went forward. We are in international waters - making legal matters tricky - and luckily no one was actually hurt (though they easily could have been). The Nisshin Maru was found at fault by Lloyd's though, supporting our version of events.
-- Andrew (onboard the Esperanza)

Posted by: Paul at December 29, 2005 12:13 AM

Hi guys, just letting you know we are behind all your efforts and have put up details on our site to help you get those one million or more 'Ocean Defenders' signed up and hopefully donating aswell to this great cause.

Take care, God Bless.

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Andrew replies

Thanks for pitching in. A million is a big goal, and we need all the help we can get to reach it.
To be one in that million - sign up as an Ocean Defender today.

-- Andrew (onboard the Esperanza)

Posted by: abe/happy at December 29, 2005 4:20 PM

http://fr.groups.yahoo.com/group/dolphinus/messages

the campaign in french for you andréas

Posted by: Andréas Guyot at December 30, 2005 5:23 PM

I would like to let you know that I'm 100% behind what you guys are doing for protecting the whales. I've been praying this week that God will intervene and will not let the Japanese catch more whales. I will continue to pray for the whales and for you all on board. God speed and have a safe journey! Joe

Posted by: Joe at December 31, 2005 12:05 AM

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