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Thanks for taking the trouble to explain that so concisely - and as you say, it doesn't seem that hard to understand. I agree, the video footage seems to speak for itself, it will be hard for the Nisshin Maru to argue against it, surely?
Fingers crossed anyway. All the best for your continued determination and success!

Yes. Nisshin Maru rammed you. BUT! "It is simply a fact that they hit us and our captain, Arne, did everything in his power to prevent it." This is not true. Arne didn't do shit! He let it happen. And it made the news worldwide. Arne could have made a hard starboard manoeuvre, or even tried to back the ship out of the situation. But he didn't. And you hit the news world wide. Congratulations! Chris, experienced rammer.

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RESPONSE FROM ARNE, CAPTAIN OF THE ARCTIC SUNRISE

Hey Chris,

Thanks for your congratulations, which I do not deserve. Captain Daisuke Toyama of the Nisshin Maru is the person who deserves "praise" for making this incident news worldwide, since he bears the sole responsibility for the collision.

There are rules of the road at sea (COLREGS) in existence, although the captain of the Nisshin Maru chose to ignore them. One of the rules states that if a risk of collision exists, then the ship, which has the other one on the starboard side has to give way - it was the Nisshin Maru in this case. The other ship (the stand-on vessel) must, according to the rules, maintain course and speed - that was the Arctic Sunrise.
When a risk of a collision becomes imminent, both ships have the responsibility to take action to avoid the collision.

If I had chosen a hard starboard turn at that stage, I would have created a disaster at sea, since the Arctic Sunrise would have been rolled over or very severely damaged by the much larger Nisshin Maru.

Instead, I chose the only option open to me, namely to put the engines in full reverse (maximum full astern). This worked as intended, the Arctic Sunrise quickly stopped and there was slight contact between the bow of the ship and the starboard side of the Nisshin Maru around midships.

The Nisshin Maru chose this point in time for applying full power and for starting a turn hard to port. The effect of this manoeuvre was that the starboard quarter of the Nisshin Maru slammed into the bow of the Arctic Sunrise despite the fact that we were still going full astern.

So, credit to the one to whom credit is due. Unfortunately, Captain Toyama of the Nisshin Maru succeeded in deliberately ramming the Arctic Sunrise, and he created worldwide headlines in the process.

Arne,
Captain, Arctic Sunrise

RESPONSE FROM ADELE, GREENPEACE WEB EDITOR:

Our captain tried to avoid collision. The important thing to note here is that we are to their starboard, their right hand side, meaning under Rule 15 of the international collision regulations we have the right of way.

The captain of the Arctic Sunrise radioed the factory ship on an emergency channel, warning him of collision and asking him to change course or slow down.

Under Rule 17, our ship was required to maintain our course and speed, which was dead slow at any rate. The purpose of this rule is to avoid any confusion about who should turn. Once an imminent collision became apparent, our captain went full astern attempting to avoid it, as also required by Rule 17. On the video, you can see that Arne has put the Arctic Sunrise into full reverse - trying to back away to avoid a collision. That smoke indicates how hard our engine is working. You can also see how small our ship is compared to the whaler's factory vessel.

Shane Rattenbury was on the phone to The Age newspaper in Australia at the time of the collision and the reporter heard everything over the phone. You can read the article here.

Will the captain of the Nisshin Maru be processed in some type of court or maritime organization? What will be his consequences? Can the whaling company be sued for their actions and damages caused?
Thank you and hang in there,
Marcel

This looks to me as a staged accident. I'm sure that these incidents go back as far the Loyds Registry does. In 1962,Farley Mowat even based an adolescent book called "The Black Joke" on the premise of a staged shipping accident. I do not doubt the skills of the Japanese sailors and captain to stage such an accident. (Had the accident involved Mr. Watson on Farley's namesake,I would not doubt his guilt.)

The damage that was caused to the Artic Sunrise has stunning affect on the short clips the media like to bottle feed us. Anyone who drives a car knows that if they rear end someone that they are at fault. Just try to convince an insurance adjuster that the front end damage to your car is not your fault. By the time Loyds does an investigation, the media will have forgotten about this.

Keep up the good work, my brave friends. Green peace is definetly not a cowards lot.

Our protests to the Japanese Government continue. We hope you are able to recover from such shocking treatment. And continue to free the whales.

Glad you guys are safe. It's obvious without a doubt that the Nisshin Maru was the ship in violation of the international laws. Even an idiot should be able to figure that out!

So Adele is now a maritime expert? Probably never been on a ship in her lifetime!
Greenpeace get real; take action or go home!

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RESPONSE FROM ADELE - GREENPEACE WEB EDITOR:

Dear "John@John.com",

Since I clearly identified myself as a Web Editor when posting the comment, I quite obviously have posted my response based on information received from the captain and crew of the Sunrise, in response to any maritime questions. I'm sure Arne would answer himself, but the captain is rather busy right now!

Secondly, I have been on a ship, several times, including the Esperanza and the Rainbow Warrior, and undergone Greenpeace's onboard training. (Obviously you weren't following the weblog from the Rainbow Warrior at the IWC last year.)

And lastly, have you been watching the news? Quite a lot of action going on down there in the Southern Ocean, so we're certainly not going home just yet :)

Dear "adele@greenpeace.org",

Nothing is happening in the Southern Ocean other than whales are being killed and Greenpeace is looking at it! Greenpeace is only taking pictures, moaning a lot and hoping that they will get more money to keep their organisation alive. What the hell are you doing out there???
For Greenpeace it's good that whales are being killed! You know why? So you can make a living! Greenpeace is doing NOTHING to prevent whaling. They are making money this way! Think about it!

RESPONSE FROM ADELE, GREENPEACE WEB EDITOR:

Hello again,

I'm answering this from my personal perspective since it's addressed to me, this is not an official Greenpeace reply. Believe me mate, if I wanted to just make a living I could be working over at a big IT company. (In fact, I used to :) ) If you want to know what Greenpeace does with its money, check it's publicly available annual report.

If we're doing NOTHING to prevent whaling, then why are you commenting on this site? In fact, what on earth are we talking about on this site then, if we supposedly have nothing to talk about?

As I'm sure you actually know, the media attention we are bringing to the situation is important, and is pushing the ICR to respond. As Bob Hunter once said, "to most people, whaling is all nineteenth century stuff. Brave little men in boats. They have no idea about huge floating slaughterhouses, steel-hulled chaser boats with sonar to stalk whales, and harpoons fired from cannons. We have to bring back photographs that will turn the whole thing around, show people that whales are small compared to the technology of industrial whaling. And we have to show people that whales are intelligent beings living in sophisticated societies."

The New Zealand Prime Minister said yesterday: "You are getting more and more alarming press releases from Tokyo because the Japanese are extraordinarily embarrassed. The object of Greenpeace, and I guess the Sea Shepherd group, to embarrass the Japanese into stopping would appear to be having an effect."

And of course our corporate campaign against Nissui is also having an effect - just last week Nissui lost a major client in Argentina thanks to the pressure of 21,000 of our cyberactivists.

Debate and difference of opinion is fine, ignorant Greenpeace-bashing is boring. Let's try and be a bit more constructive. And now back to your normal broadcast day ...

Adele

Japan says clashes at sea could reduce whale catch
Thu 12 Jan 2006 12:04 AM ET
TOKYO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Clashes at sea with two environmental groups will
not bring Japan's whaling programme to a halt but could reduce the size of
the catch, a senior official at the Fisheries Ministry said on Thursday.

The confrontations with Greenpeace and the more militant group Sea Shepherd,
which have led to at least two collisions in remote Antarctic waters in
recent weeks, could mean Japan catches fewer whales than it had planned for
the season, Hideki Moronuki, head of the whaling section at the ministry,
said.

Two Greenpeace ships set off from Cape Town in November to pursue and
disrupt the Japanese whalers, sometimes deploying inflatable boats between
the whales and harpoon guns.

Sea Shepherd has also been pursuing the whaling fleet.

"If the harassment continues there may be some effect," Moronuki said.

"But I want to make it quite clear that Japan will not cancel its research,
whatever dangerous activities or interference may occur," Moronuki added.

Japan, which abandoned commercial whaling in 1986 in line with an
international moratorium, says its current whaling programme is for research
purposes. Critics dispute this because the meat ends up in Japanese fish
markets and on restaurant tables.

"We have experienced disruption in the past, but this time it has been more
aggressive than ever," Moronuki said of the environmentalists' tactics.

He said the escalation was likely due to Japan's expansion of its whaling
programme this season.

The six-ship Japanese fleet, which set out in November, aims to catch 850
minke whales before returning to port in April, almost double the previous
target of 440. It also plans to add 10 fin whales to its haul for the first
time.

The ministry on Wednesday released video footage of a Jan. 8 collision
between the whaling ship Nisshin Maru and the Greenpeace ship Arctic
Sunrise, which it said showed Greenpeace had deliberately rammed the
Japanese vessel.

Greenpeace has blamed the whaling vessel for the collision, which caused
some damage to both ships but did not injure anyone on board.

Separately, the Sea Shepherd organisation has said its ship the Farley Mowat
deliberately sideswiped a Japanese whaling supply ship on Sunday.

Japan's Fisheries Ministry has said it believes the two groups are working
together.

Greenpeace has disavowed tactics that might endanger the lives of the
Japanese crew but has promised to continue its disruption campaign.

Someone's gotta do the work or there will be no whales left in the world. Thank you Greenpeace for doing the difficult work many others only wish they had the courage to do.

It seems that there was one clear message trying to be displayed in this particularly outrageous and by all accounts and footage: they (the whalers) obviously don't like the manner and publicity in which their killings are shown to the world... so I take my hat off to you all, and thank you all for doing a job which so desperately needs doing, and yet most of us wish we could and should do also.
I hope this incident is taken further, and that the captain of the Nisshin Maru is taken to the cleaners for this action. Again, all thanks to Greenpeace and all the crew involved; keep up the good work and best of luck for all endeavours in these times and waters.

Congratulations to EVERYONE at the GreenPeace's Artic Sunrise for keeping up the good work. I work for a magazine that's introducing ecology on one of the most dangerous countries in the world (COLOMBIA, SOUTH AMERICA). Trust me, it ain't fun talking your mind out, as Americans say. And people are not subtle about the 'get lost' issue.
Hope no one felt diminished or angry. Remember to trust yer insights. You are fighting the right fight. Don't hate. Trust your insights.
By the way, Japanese know the word karma. They are GRABBING a reaaaaaaaally fat one with those attacks.
If any of the girls at Greenpeace -and the guys too, don't feel forgotten- have time, please look over San Andrés Island. Word spread is that it's turning some beaches into a chemical waste zone for the Medicine Companies California-based and so.
Bye.

I think that people need to remember that a ship isn't a car and you can't just slam on the brakes and swing it around! And the fact is that a ship is greatly controlled by the sea no matter what we do!

The Captain definately took the right action... Better to have a stright on collision than something that would risk tipping the ship!

Greenpeace as you all know there are many critics out there... But you need to keep the faith! There are many more people out here who believe in you and your cause and know that you did 'good' in a difficult situation!

Keep up the good work and keep defending those whales (And watch out for those Japanese and their tricky manouvers!)

Dear Arne & Adele!
Thank you very much for your response regarding the ramming of MV A.S. commited by the MV N.M. I do acknowledge The Collision Regulations state, Rule 15, 16 and 17. However some premisses are disputable. Greenpeace is bearing witness, which brings you so close to the whaling that todays news brings the story of one activist falling into the water due to harpooning.
Pictures can be manipulated. In 1994 Sea Shepherd was rammed by the norwegian warship Andenes. The norwegians claimed that they had been rammed, but the case was never taken to court.
I was not present at the state of your collision. But I assume that we agree about commercial whaling bringing all whalestocks to extinction. Interesting to see that Sea Shepherd is sending greetings to you, publishing pictures with your painted art on the Nisshin Maru and even waveing to your crewmember Odin on the Esperanza. I respect that all of you have been and are doing your best. But I still think that since you are there tho bear witness, then you chose not to avoid the incident.
I do hope that the Captain of the Maru will be taken to court, and further that the IWC not will acknowledge the "research" but put an end to it so that all nations will have to respect the sanctuary. If you guys are riding a ship which could be tipping, well you accepted the risk when you entered the ship as Warriors of the Rainbow.
Chris

RESPONSE FROM ADELE:

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your support!

As for our ship, it's "tipping" is actually part of it's design. The Arctic Sunrise is an icebreaker, and is designed to roll so it can break through ice (kind of like a drill action) and "pop" to the surface if it gets frozen in (or so I understand!).

And yes, our activists choose to bear witness, however, personaly I don't believe this is an excuse for the Nisshin Maru to needlessly endanger the lives of both their crew and ours by deliberately breaking maritime rules.