HONG KONG — An antiwhaling group said Wednesday that the new high-speed boat it had been using to harass Japanese whalers was badly damaged in a collision at sea.
Video taken from the deck of the Japanese whaling ship, Shonan Maru 2, showed its collision with the Ady Gil, a sleek black trimaran belonging to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a group that aggressively confronts the Japanese whaling fleet each year. The fleet focuses mostly on the Southern Ocean, the waters south of Australia and New Zealand that encircle Antarctica.
Sea Shepherd’s Australian director, Jeff Hansen, said in a telephone interview Wednesday said that the Ady Gil had not sunk, “but it’s in two pieces, and we’re trying to salvage what we can.”
A companion vessel, the Bob Barker, was used to rescue the crew, Mr. Hansen said. That boat, a former Norwegian whaling ship, was named after the former American game show host who donated $5 million to the group.
Mr. Hansen said one crew member on the Ady Gil was injured in the collision.
The Japanese video shows a frothy wake coming from the stern of the Ady Gil, although it is unclear whether the Ady Gil was moving. The Shonan Maru 2 was directing a water cannon at the Ady Gil before and during the collision, which is clearly seen on the video, and the nose of the Ady Gil was sheared off.
The Ady Gil, a former racing boat capable of speeds up to 57 miles an hour, was added to the Sea Shepherd fleet last October. At the time, the group’s founder, Paul Watson, said he would use the boat “to intercept and physically block the harpoon ships from illegally slaughtering whales.”
The Japanese Whaling Association calls Sea Shepherd “a terrorist group.”
Japan is one of the few nations that still permit whaling. Its vessels operate in the Antarctic under a loophole in an international whaling ban that allows the taking of whales for research purposes and the sale of the surplus meat.
The small Japanese fleet has a goal of about 1,000 whales this season, most of them minke whales. The Japanese vessels, which are escorted by a refueling and support ship, are expected to hunt whales until mid-March.
In recent years the Sea Shepherd group has been the only one to stalk the whaling fleet in an attempt to interfere with its operations and limit its catch.
“They’ve really upped the ante this year,” said Mr. Hansen of the Japanese whalers. “But we definitely won’t be leaving.”
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