wild places | wild happenings | wild news
make a difference for our wild places

home | links | search the site
  all articles latest | past | articles by topics | search wildnews
wild news on wildsingapore
  Yahoo News 16 Feb 07
New Zealand tells Japan to move stricken whaler in oil spill scare

Yahoo News 16 Feb 07
Stricken Japan whaler tied to ships to clear ice
By Rob Taylor

Yahoo News 14 Feb 07
Greenpeace try eating whale to stop whaling

Yahoo News 15 Feb 07
Whaling ship fire in Antarctic quelled
By Carl Freire

TOKYO - Officials warned of a potential environmental disaster in Antarctica after fire erupted Thursday on a Japanese whaling ship, as the search continued for a missing crewman from the crippled ship.

Japanese officials said the blaze that broke out in the below-decks area of the 8,000-ton Nisshin Maru where whale carcasses are processed had been brought under control. Most of the vessel's 148-member crew were evacuated Thursday to three other ships in the are that also belong to the Japanese whaling fleet, said Hideki Moronuki, an official with the Japan Fisheries Agency.

Hatches were closed to seal off the burning area, and some 30 crew members stayed on board to fight the fire, pumping water from the surrounding ocean, Moronuki said. However, one crewman--Kazutaka Makita, 27--remained missing 21 hours after New Zealand officials received the ship's distress signal at 5:15 a.m. Thursday, said Kenji Masuda, another agency official. He added it was not yet clear if Makita had gone missing aboard ship or not. Search teams were waiting for smoke to clear in the burning area before attempting to assess its condition and search for Makita, Masuda said. They planned to evaluate the situation Friday morning, he said. Crew members also planned to reboard the ship to check its engine at that time and restart it if possible, he added.

The accident on board the ship--which was crippled and drifting near penguin breeding grounds along the Antarctic coast--aroused concerns of a potential environmental disaster.

New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter, whose country was leading efforts to help the stricken ship, said it was carrying 132,000 gallons of heavy oil and 211,000 gallons of furnace oil and was starting to list from water pumped aboard to fight the fire. No oil had spilled from the ship and it was in no immediate danger of sinking, officials said.

Steve Corbett, a spokesman for Maritime New Zealand, said his agency had been in constant contact with the ship's captain and was on standby to send ships to help. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

The ship was drifting 110 miles from Antarctica's Cape Adare, the world's largest penguin breeding rookeries with some 250,000 breeding pairs, Antarctica New Zealand chief executive Lou Sanson said. "It's a long way off the coast but the currents do go that way. We're very concerned about what could happen," Sanson told The Associated Press. He said the ship was far from help and in a "high energy environment where you get a lot of storms." Conditions stayed calm Thursday.

Carter contacted his counterparts in Japan, Australia, United States and Britain--other signatories to the Antarctic Treaty with responsibility for protecting its environment--in case "an international environmental response is needed," ministerial spokesman Nick Maling said.

The Nisshin Maru is the mother ship for five other Japanese vessels, and processes whales captured under Japan's research program. One of the Japanese ships--but not the Nisshin Maru--collided on Monday with a ship from the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling group during a protest. The two Sea Shepherd ships left the area on Wednesday after running low on fuel.

The New Zealand navy said it had two frigates that could get to the scene quickly. A Greenpeace ship is also nearby, though Moronuki said Japan would not seek help from anti-whaling vessels.

Yahoo News 16 Feb 07
Whaling ship drifts off Antarctic area
By Ray Lilley, Associated Press Writer

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A Japanese whaling ship crippled by fire drifted off the world's largest penguin breeding grounds Friday, and New Zealand alerted other countries it may need help if the vessel leaked oil into the pristine Antarctic waters.

One crewmember was missing from the 8,000-ton Nisshin Maru, which had started to list from water pumped aboard to fight the fire. The fire was contained below decks but continued to burn, said New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter. No oil had spilled and the vessel was in no immediate danger of sinking, officials said.

Carter contacted his counterparts in Japan, Australia, United States and Britain--other signatories to the Antarctic Treaty with responsibility for protecting its environment--in case "an international environmental response is needed," ministerial spokesman Nick Maling said.

Antarctica New Zealand chief executive Lou Sanson said he had asked the U.S. Antarctic program to redirect a scheduled flight over the Nisshin Maru on Friday to check the ship's condition and provide the first independent assessment of the vessel since the fire began Thursday.

The ship was carrying 132,000 gallons of heavy oil and 211,000 gallons of furnace oil. Steve Corbett, a spokesman for Maritime New Zealand, said his agency had spoken with the ship early Friday and the captain said overnight pumping had emptied excess water from the stricken vessel.

"That's corrected the list ... but there is still no (engine) power," he said. The fire "is contained and controlled" at present. "We're confident the situation is under control but there's still an environmental threat and a crewman is still missing," he told The Associated Press.

Search teams were waiting for smoke to clear in the burning area before attempting to assess its condition and search for crewman Kazutaka Makita, 27, Japan Fishery Agency official Kenji Masuda said. Crew members also planned to reboard the ship to check its engine at that time and restart it if possible, he added.

Japanese officials said the blaze broke out below deck, where whale carcasses are processed. Most of the vessel's 148-member crew were evacuated Thursday to three other ships in the area that also belong to the Japanese whaling fleet, said Hideki Moronuki, an official with the Japan Fisheries Agency.

Hatches were closed to seal off the burning area, and some 30 crew members stayed aboard to fight the fire, pumping in seawater, Moronuki said.

The Nisshin Maru is the mother ship for five other Japanese vessels that hunt whales in annual hunts that Japan says are for research. The hunts began after the International Whaling Commission imposed a global ban on commercial whaling in 1986. The program is allowed by the IWC, which uses its data and approves its kill quotas.

But many environmental groups say the hunts are a pretext to keep Japan's tiny whaling industry alive. Meat from the catch is sold commercially, and canned or frozen whale can be found in most large supermarkets, though it is no longer an important part of the Japanese diet.

One of the ships in the Nisshin Maru's group collided on Monday with a ship from the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling group, which was protesting the hunt. The two Sea Shepherd ships left the area on Wednesday after running low on fuel.

Masuda said it was too early to determine what effect the fire would have on the whaling operation.

The ship was drifting 110 miles from Antarctica's Cape Adare, which hosts the world's largest penguin breeding rookeries with some 250,000 breeding pairs of Adelie penguins, Sanson said. "It's a long way off the coast but the currents do go that way. We're very concerned about what could happen," Sanson told The Associated Press. He said the ship was far from help and in a "high energy environment where you get a lot of storms." Conditions were calm Thursday.

The New Zealand navy said it had two frigates that could get to the scene quickly. A Greenpeace ship is also nearby, though Moronuki said Japan would not seek help from anti-whaling vessels.

Institute of Cetacean Research spokesman Glenn Inwood said the New Zealand-owned tug Pacific Chieftain, the closest salvage vessel to the Nisshin Maru, was 6 1/2 days away. "Contingencies are being made at this stage but, again, it all depends on the damage assessment and that will be done over the next few hours," he told National Radio on Friday.

Yahoo News 14 Feb 07
Greenpeace try eating whale to stop whaling

TOKYO (AFP) - As activists clash with Japanese whalers on their Antarctic hunt, other anti-whaling campaigners are doing the once unthinkable -- getting out chopsticks and tasting whale meat.

In a bid to reach out to the Japanese public to end the slaughter, the environmental movement Greenpeace is turning its back on confrontation to show it is respectful of Japanese culture.

For Valentine's Day, Greenpeace distributed cards worldwide, including by fax to a Japanese whaling boat, reading, "I love Japan, but whaling breaks my heart."

And some supporters of the group which has battled for decades to protect the world's largest animals are doing what hardliners find abominable -- eating whale.

Greenpeace last month launched an online travelogue -- the Whale-Love Wagon -- of Japan's whaling towns. In one episode, a Spaniard visits a grandmotherly woman's home to eat whale for the first time and politely tells her in Japanese it was delicious.

"We are making it very clear that we have no problem with Japanese culture or eating whale. We have never been anti-Japanese like the Japanese government always tries to portray us," said Emiliano Ezcurra, an Argentinian Greenpeace activist who helped design the campaign.

"But whaling in Antarctica has nothing to do with Japanese culture," he said.

Greenpeace, he said, had no problem with "subsistence whaling" on Japan's coasts and instead targeted the Antarctic Ocean hunt, which each year infuriates Australians and New Zealanders.

The website, www.whalelove.org/wagon, features playful cartoons of whales and gently highlights Greenpeace's arguments, such as pointing out that Japan has a glut of uneaten whale meat.

The 10-week "Whale-Love Wagon" travelogue is targeting trendsetting young Japanese women.

The idea came after years of failure to change whaling policy in Japan, which has been seeking an increasingly assertive role in foreign affairs. Japan, which uses a loophole in the global moratorium that allows whaling for "research," in 2005 defiantly doubled its catch in the Antarctic to some 1,000 of the giant mammals a year.

This week Tokyo has convened 34 nations in a show of strength ahead of a May meeting of the International Whaling Commission, where Japan is expected once again to make a push to resume outright commercial whaling.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a hardline offshoot of Greenpeace, says previous attempts to go soft on Japan have failed. Sea Shepherd activists have clashed repeatedly with Japanese whalers in icy waters and dropped threats to ram a boat into the Japanese fleet only after intervention by New Zealand.

"We can wait for Japanese opinion to change, but by that time there won't be any whales left," Captain Paul Watson, the founder of Sea Shepherd, told AFP by satellite phone in Antarctic waters.

The silver-haired Canadian says his life changed during a 1975 confrontation with Soviet whalers when he saw "a flicker of understanding in the dying whale's eye."

He left Greenpeace in 1977 and vowed to protect animals directly. "Greenpeace, when we started it, was 100 percent opposed to killing whales, which are highly intelligent, socially conscious creatures. Greenpeace has now compromised on that completely," Watson said.

"There is no such thing as sustainable whaling. The trouble with Greenpeace is it's just one big feel-good organisation. Sometimes I feel like Doctor Frankenstein."

Greenpeace insists the aggressive approach will backfire in Japan, where whale meat holds sentimental value for some baby-boomers who ate it after the devastation of World War II.

"It will bring attention, but not necessarily in a positive way," said Junichi Sato, Greenpeace Japan's campaign manager. "What we need to change is to have the Japanese people stand up and say we don't need this whaling," he said. "Otherwise, the Japanese government will keep taking a nationalistic point of view."

Yahoo News 16 Feb 07
New Zealand tells Japan to move stricken whaler in oil spill scare

WELLINGTON, Feb 16, 2007 (AFP) - New Zealand has pressed Japan to prevent a stricken whaler from polluting Antarctic waters by accepting an embarrassing offer of help from a Greenpeace anti- whaling protest ship.

A fire on board the Nisshin Maru, an 8,000-tonne factory ship of the Japanese whaling fleet, was reportedly burning under control but there was fear 1.3 million litres of fuel oil could spill into the pristine environment.

New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter said it was imperative the ship, which is just 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the world's biggest Adelie penguin colony at Cape Adare, be moved away from the Antarctic coast.

He said the most immediate solution was to use the nearby Greenpeace ship Esperanza, a former Soviet tug, and there was also the possibility of using an American icebreaker.

It appeared unlikely that propulsion could be restored to the Nisshin Maru, which has been lashed between two other whaling vessels in an effort to avoid icebergs.

"Electrical equipment has burned out, including the new switchboard -- the Nisshin Maru is dead in the water," Carter told reporters. "It is imperative the Nisshin Maru is towed further away from the pristine Antarctic Coast, the neighbouring penguin colony and the perilous ice floes."

He said he had spoken to the Japanese ambassador in Wellington and that New Zealand had contacted the Japanese government. In Tokyo, an official at Japan's Fisheries Agency told AFP there was no threat of pollution.

"There's no threat of oil leakage at all and no worries over environmental pollution from the Nisshin Maru," said Kenji Masuda. "We are awaiting natural fire extinction as we closed all hatches in the vessel." One crewman is missing and most of the others have abandoned ship, leaving a few on board to fight the fire.

Greenpeace has offered to tow the whaler with the Esperanza, which had been hunting the fleet to disrupt its planned slaughter of nearly 1,000 whales. The Fisheries Agency of Japan has already refused the offer, labelling the activists "eco- terrorists", but the Esperanza is continuing on its course to the stricken vessel, Greenpeace said.

"This is not a time to play politics from behind a desk in Tokyo," said Karli Thomas, expedition leader on board the Esperanza, which is less than 24-hours sailing time from the Nishhun Maru. "This is a human tragedy and a potential environmental disaster. We have a moral obligation to act and there is a legal obligation under the Antarctic treaty for the Nisshin MaruÂ's owners to accept our help."

But with the six-ship Japanese whaling fleet's expedition apparently ended for this season, Greenpeace said it did not want to salvage a ship which would be repaired and used for whaling again next Southern Hemisphere summer.

"This tragedy should mark the end of this terrible business," Thomas said.

Carter acknowledged Japanese reluctance to use Greenpeace and said there was also an American icebreaker 260 nautical miles away at McMurdo Sound, the site of the main US Antarctic base.

This would be a "bit of a longshot" but it might be possible for the Polar Sea icebreaker to tow the factory ship away from the coast, he said. The cause of the fire was not known, but authorities ruled out any connection with recent protest action by the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd, one of whose ships collided with a whaler last week.

The International Whaling Commission imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986, but Japan has continued hunting for what it calls scientific research.

Yahoo News 16 Feb 07
Stricken Japan whaler tied to ships to clear ice
By Rob Taylor

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A stricken Japanese whaling ship on fire off the Antarctic coast was lashed between two other ships on Friday to avoid drifting into ice as its crew worked to contain a blaze below deck.

Fire teams were unable to get to the fire on the black-hulled Nisshin Maru, the 8,000 ton flagship of the Japan whaling fleet, despite it having lost some of its intensity in freezing conditions, emergency officials said.

"There are still hot spots and they still cannot get down beneath the deck," Maritime New Zealand spokesman Lindsay Sturt told Reuters, adding the ship had been lashed alongside a fleet supply vessel and another whaling ship.

"Because they haven't got any power, there are icebergs and all sorts of stuff, so they don't want it just floating around. The plan is to move the ship north where it will be safer."

Fears were easing of an oil or chemical leak spill after the crew managed to pump off excess water and correct the list to the ship, Sturt said. "They are trying to starve the fire as much as they can. Once they get in there they can start to search for the missing crewman and assess the damage," he said. The fire broke out on Thursday.

Maritime authorities said anti-whaling protesters in the Southern Ocean, which clashed with the whalers on Monday, were not involved. The fire, fueled in part by whale oil, was burning in a factory area above the engine room and below the ship's bridge.

OFFER OF HELP

Environmental group Greenpeace offered to tow the stricken boat with its converted salvage ship Esperanza as the Nisshin Maru wallowed without power less than 100 nautical miles from the world's largest Adelie penguin colony.

"Our first thoughts are for the missing crewman and the rest of the people on board. This is not a time to play politics," Greenpeace expedition leader Karli Thomas said.

Amid reports Japan had rejected offers of help from environment "terrorists," Hideki Moronuki at the Japanese Fisheries Agency said Greenpeace had not been in contact.

But the Nisshin Maru may have refused help because the ship had been boarded by Greenpeace activists in New Caledonia in 1998 as it lay in port after another fire, Moronuki said.

A spokesman at the Institute For Cetacean Research, which runs Japan's whaling program and is partly government-funded, also said they had not been contacted by Greenpeace.

About 30 people were still on board to fight the fire and it was thought a missing crewman had perished on board. It is unclear whether the ship, currently disabled, will be able to restart its engines.

If it remains disabled the Nisshin Maru will continue to threaten the environment if calm weather in the Southern Ocean, known for massive storm seas, turns bad.

Jun Hoshikawa, executive director of Greenpeace Japan, told Reuters that the Esperanza could reach the Nisshin Maru on Saturday morning. "We'll put aside our campaign for however long is necessary," he added. "Let's put life and the environment first now."

New Zealand's government said on Thursday that if an oil leak occurred an international response would be launched involving New Zealand, Australia and the United States, which all have Antarctic bases. (Additional reporting by Elaine Lies in Tokyo)
links
Related articles on Dolphins and other cetaceans
about the site | email ria
  News articles are reproduced for non-profit educational purposes.
 

website©ria tan 2003 www.wildsingapore.com