Japan urged to 'use Greenpeace' (to tow stricken whaling ship)

[Barrett808]

Japan urged to 'use Greenpeace'

New Zealand is urging Japan to allow a Greenpeace vessel to tow its stricken whaling ship out of Antarctic waters.

New Zealand's Conservation Minister Chris Carter said it is imperative the Nisshin Maru is moved to prevent any pollution of the pristine area.

Japan has refused the offer, saying the ship - which has been disabled by a fire - is no threat to the environment.

The Japanese whalers have had a number of confrontations at sea with anti-whaling activists in recent days.

One crew member is still missing after the fire broke out on board the Nisshin Maru - an 8,000-tonne processing ship - just before daybreak on Thursday.

...

"There's no threat of oil leakage at all, and no worries over environmental pollution from the Nisshin Maru," said Kenji Masuda, of the Fisheries Agency.

(more)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6367721.stm

Move crippled whaler now, NZ tells Japan

Japanese authorities are resisting international pressure to let a Greenpeace vessel tow a stricken whaling ship away from Antarctica's pristine coast, amid fears of an oil spill.

New Zealand's Conservation Minister Chris Carter said he'd told Japan it was "imperative" that the fire-damaged Nisshin Maru be immediately towed away from the coast.

The 8,000-tonne ship, carrying 1.3 million litres of oil, was crippled by fire on Thursday and is currently lashed to two other Japanese vessels 175km from Antarctic's biggest penguin rookery at Cape Adare.

Carter has warned of an environmental disaster if it starts leaking oil and said Japan's government should use the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, a converted Russian tug, or a US icebreaker in the area.

While noting Japan's objections, he said Greenpeace's offer of help was "reasonable" and said it was a "long shot" that the US icebreaker would be able to move the whaler.

(more)

http://wimmera.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=international%20news&subclass=general&story_id=557967&category=General&m=&y=

[w4rma]

1. So the Japanese government will allow more harm to come to people and the environment because they

are too proud to let a nearby ship, with the proper capabilities, tow their ship.

Pride is not a virtue. It is a sin.

[Barrett808]

3. Esperanza is a Russian tug, so it's probably the best ship for the job

So the whalers have even less reason to refuse.

[SlowDownFast]

13. "Pride is not a virtue. It is a sin."

The Japanese call it "honor".

Too bad it's pretty much the same thing.

[Eugene]

2. Greenpeace has its own history with the Nisshin Maru.

(Reuters)

Stricken Japan whaler tied to ships to clear ice

By Rob Taylor
Reuters

Feb 16, 2007

-snip-

"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.

-snip-

Full article: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2880375

[Ghost Dog]

8. Too right.

Keep up the good fight, folks.

ed. Damn. This was supposed to be a comment to #3.

[Turbineguy]

4. The Japanese government may have a point.

If the vessel is in placid waters now but towing away would take it into rough waters, it would be better to secure the vessel (remove fuel, excess water etc. and reballast) where it is now prior to towing to a different place. Towing is not without its dangers, especially if there are stability problems brought on by firefighting efforts. In ships often more problems result from the aftermath of putting out the fire than the fire. That's why often ships capsize and sink after the fire is brought under control. With structural damage, regaining stability could well require some re-design work to even evaluate the possiblity of establishing stability.

If they have lashed the vessel to two others it would indicate to me serious stablity issues.

[Barrett808]

5. Interesting, thanks for the analysis. n/t

[Divernan]

6. Towing is extremely tricky. The Caribbean is littered with sunken ships

which sank while being towed. This has often happened when derelict ships are designated to be sunken to form artificial reefs, but ended up sinking en route, sometimes breaking up in the process.

[Pavulon]

17. Salvage rights

could apply. A stricken ship accepting a tow from another ship technically gives up its ownership to the salvaging vessel..

[panzerfaust]

18. Maritime Law is NOT THAT simple

For starters, it depends upon whose towing cable is used, and how it is passed ...

[Pavulon]

20. lloyds open salvage form

is complex. However a stricken vessel assisting help from another is open to a salvage claim.

[Barrett808]

7. Esperanza arrives at the crippled Nisshin Maru (photos)

Esperanza arrives at the crippled Nisshin Maru
Posted by Dave, on the Esperanza


The crippled Nisshin Maru and other whaling vessels. © Greenpeace/Beltra

We sighted the Japanese government's whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru at about 07.00 (New Zealand daylight time) this morning. Two ships - the re-supply and re-fuelling vessel Oriental Bluebird and one of the harpoon, or catcher boats - are tied either side of the Nisshin Maru. Nearby are two more catcher boats. Standing off, some distance away is the US Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Sea - they've asked us for assistance in translating, and like us, want to assess the situation.

The weather conditions are clear, but there's quite a few icebergs and loose ice around, and Forecasts indicate that the weather may worsen over the next couple of days.

Earlier, Sakyo radioed the Nisshin Maru, but received no answer. He then radioed the Yushin Maru and repeated the assurance that the Esperanza had come to help. They responded, asking us to standby and also to assess the ice conditions.

Our helicopter (Tweety), with Hughie at the controls, has been up for an initial aerial assessment of the situation. After flying over the Nisshin Maru, it looks fairly normal. There's no sign of burnt decks, no sign of any damaged stuff on the deck. There's a lot of power cabling and ropes from the catcher boat to the Nisshin Maru. The ship's decks are white with snow and there were approximately 12 people visible on the Nisshin Maru's deck.

(more)

http://weblog.greenpeace.org/oceandefenders/archive/2007/02/esperanza_arrives_at_the.html

[Zachstar]

9. Good!

Now the ball is in Japan's court. You have a russian tug out there that has more than the needed ability to tow that ship out of danger and is offering full support. These are not crazy pirates trying to stop propellers or fire chemical weapons, they simply want to tow it out before something bad happens.

The call is out to Japan!

[Zachstar]

10. I thought Japan said the ship was no longer listing?

The damage to the ship may be alot more than they are willing to admit. We have a brewing environmental bomb out there.

Get that ship the hell out of there and worry about politics later!

[Barrett808]

11. Here's the photo:

Nisshin Maru, listing and disabled in Ross Sea - ice visible in the distance
© Greenpeace/Beltra

[Barrett808]

12. Japan: Gov’t rejects New Zealand’s Greenpeace plea

Japan: Gov’t rejects New Zealand’s Greenpeace plea
By Bonny Apunyu
Sat. February 17, 2007 11:49 am.

(SomaliNet) A plea by New Zealand to allow a Greenpeace vessel to tow its stricken whaling ship out of Antarctic waters has been rejected by Japan

According to Japanese officials, there was no threat of environmental damage from the Nisshin Maru, which has been disabled by fire, despite earlier fears of oil leakage.
New Zealand has been calling for the ship to be moved to prevent any pollution of the pristine area.

Meanwhile one crew member was confirmed dead in the fire.

...

Earlier New Zealand's Conservation Minister Chris Carter said the ship was "dead in the water".

He pointed out that the ship is just 60 miles (100 km) from the world's biggest Adelie penguin colony at Cape Adare.

There are fears that it could start leaking fuel oil into the Ross Sea and damage the immediate environment.

Greenpeace urged Japan to accept its offer. "This is not a time to play politics from behind a desk in Tokyo," said Karli Thomas, from on board the Esperanza.

But Japanese officials said there was no immediate cause for concern.

(more)

http://somalinet.com/news/world/World/7646

[Zachstar]

14. It's drifting closer to shore

I had noticed around 120 miles before the fire ended.

This is insanity you have one crewmember dead and a disabled listing ship and you are refusing help! I hope the people of Japan pressure these fools at once!

[Barrett808]

15. Japanese ship may continue whaling even after fire

Japanese ship may continue whaling even after fire
Sun-18-Feb-2007 7:27am

The owners of stricken Japanese ship Nisshin Maru, say its whaling season may not be over.

The whaler sent out a distress call from the Ross Sea early on Thursday, after a fire erupted below the deck, killing a crewman.

Glenn Inwood, speaking for the ship's owners, says the Captain stopped its engines when the fire began.

He says the condition of the engines when restarted will help determine whether or not the ship returns to Japan immediately.

http://www.tv3.co.nz/News/NewsDisplay/tabid/209/articleID/21422/Default.aspx

[Barrett808]

16. Australia: Monitoring of whaling 'too expensive'

Monitoring of whaling 'too expensive'
By Denis Peters

A dedicated program to monitor the killing of whales in Australia's Antarctic waters would be too expensive with too few benefits, a Senate inquiry was told.

Australia obtained information on how many whales were taken by Japanese whalers from the data they provided to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and had no reason to believe those figures were inaccurate, the inquiry heard.

Environment Department deputy secretary Dr Conall O'Connell, one of Australia's most senior officials involved in whaling issues, said the government was not happy with any aspect of Japan's whaling program but had to rely on the figures provided to the IWC.

Labor senator Penny Wong asked Dr O'Connell if his department had considered the possibility of other monitoring activities such as surveillance vessels or aircraft in the area in which Japan is undertaking whaling.

"In terms of a dedicated program to count the number of whales that have been killed, no, we haven't," he said.

(more)

http://www.tv3.co.nz/News/NewsDisplay/tabid/209/articleID/21422/Default.aspx

[Barrett808]

19. Greenpeace: Arriving on scene with the whaling fleet

Arriving on scene with the whaling fleet
Posted by Melanie, on the Esperanza

At Saturday morning at 7am, I was in the bridge with my morning coffee, when third mate Zeger sighted through binoculars the Nisshin Maru and other vessels from the whaling fleet. As we got closer, we saw that the re-supply and re-fueling vessel Oriental bluebird was on one side of the disabled Nisshin Maru, while one of the catcher boats (the vessels with the harpoons the actually kill the whales) was on the other side.

Two other catcher boats were hovering near the Nisshin Maru. On our stern was the US Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Sea. The Polar Sea was doing just as we were: getting closer to the Nisshin Maru to assess the situation.

At 8am we radioed the Nisshin Maru, but the ship did not answer, which was not a surprise given the ship had a serious fire and is most likely without power. We radioed to the catcher boat, Yushin Maru, and told them we are here only to assist in whatever way was required. The Yushin Maru replied that it would be helpful if we could assess ice conditions in the area, and it may be helpful if the Esperanza helped them navigate once towing is underway. Since then we have been standing by, waiting to see if the Nisshin Maru and the fleet are in need of anything from food, water and blankets to medical care or anything else.

We had a number of conversations with the whaling fleet throughout the day, where they have updated us on their progress and we have provided information on the location of the ice pack and ice-free waters. At around 3pm on Saturday, the fleet contacted us to give us an update on their progress, and at that time they informed us that they had found the body of their missing crew member.

(more)

http://weblog.greenpeace.org/oceandefenders/archive/2007/02/arriving_on_scene_with_th.html#more