Sea Shepherd View of Ady Gil Being Struck by Japanese Whaling Ship
(Amazing Videos) Our last video of the Sea Shepherd’s Ady Gil being struck by a Japanese Whaling Ship drew a lot of interest and several comments already. After that video was put out, the Sea Shepherd released footage of the incident that was taken from the vantage point of the Bob Barker, one of the ships in the Sea Shepherd fleet that is fighting to save whales against Japanese whale hunters in the Antarctic.
The claim of the Sea Shepherd is that the Japanese Whaling ship purposely aimed at the Ady Gil, which was sitting still in the water. At the last second, the Ady Gil tries to throw their $2 million speedboat into reverse, but it is too late. The Ady Gil was struck and totaled (last word was it had sunk after the crew were rescued). The Sea Shepherd claimed that they put out a distress call, but the Japanese ship failed to acknowledge it initially. Later they did, but ignored the request for help. The battle between the Sea Shepherd and its three boat fleet (Steve Irwin, Bob Barker, and Ady Gil) is documented in the reality TV series, Whale Wars. There was a filming crew on both the Ady Gil and Bob Barker at the time of the incident. The Steve Irwin was not on scene during the incident. Here’s the video released by the Sea Shepherd team (warning – cursing in video)…
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(17 votes, average:3.82 out of 5)
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It would help if the Australian Government stopped allowing whaling in its waters. The Japananese are currently doing nothing wrong. Its Australia and Japan that are whaling.
We would like to congratulate Sea Shepherd and Animal Planet on a fantastic staged event for television – perhaps one of the best staged disaster moments of 2010.
As production people ourselves we know the hazards and very real dangers of staging live disasters for television. It’s a highly technical world only professionals can effectively operate in.
Multi-million dollar staged disasters are often canceled at the last minute due to OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) non-compliance or studio fears of death and dismemberment. Sea Shepherd on the other hand have found a way to circumvent all of the requirements for staged disaster television by only allowing volunteer crews and staging the events against non-paid, non-union, Japanese whalers.
By-passing all clean environmental requirements for television productions by producing this man made disaster in the Antarctic ocean was another master stroke. The clean up of several thousand gallons of bio diesel spilled by the Ady Gil and retrieval of the vessel from the sea floor would have cost Sea Shepherd and Whale Wars Productions millions if this disaster had been filmed in the USA.
Brilliant!
Managing to move Sea Shepherds $2 million dollar vessel Ady Gil into the path of Japanese whalers was a quirk of nautical timing by a seasoned captain who knew his vessel and the direction wind, waves, and engines were carrying it. Catching the whole thing on video from the Bob Barker at just the right angle was pure reality television.
We were doubly impressed with the witty and show branding quote from SSCS Paul Watson immediately after the stunt, “Now we’re in a Real Whale War!” reminding the global audience that this is, after all, Must See TV!
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society have clearly evolved from earlier staged productions such as Paul Watsons being shot by Japanese whalers. In terms of production quality and emotional leverage that earlier staged event was not one of the top three of the 2007 reality television season.
Kudos to Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Paul Watson, and Animal Planet for once again bravely leading the way into a new decade of reality television firsts. The televised disaster staging they have created together keeps getting better and better, and their complete and ongoing circumvention of all production norms and safety regulations allows their organization to literally shoot-for-the-moon.
We’re looking forward to more man made disasters in the coming months!
Stop it, Japan.
I don’t think it was staged, that man lost his 4 million dollar boat, he was crying. It is possible though.
I love Whale Wars, I wish the Japanese would stop whaling. Whales are beautiful animals. They live in pods or families for their whole lives and I believe they grieve when one of their pod dies. But do we care? Not really. Most people could care less. If it was staged, then kudos to them. I wish I was younger and healthier I”d love to go, course I’d probably get sea sick and puke the whole time .
I applaud them for having the balls to do such dangerous work and for caring about whales.