After suffering the total loss of our ship the Ady Gil, Glen Inwood, the public relations mouthpiece for the Japanese whaling industry, issued a very bizarre media release.

Inwood accuses Sea Shepherd of lying about the Ady Gil sinking. He accuses Sea Shepherd of polluting the Antarctic marine environment with a fuel spill. And he accuses Sea Shepherd of having bows and arrows on board the Ady Gil insinuating the intent of the Ady Gil’s crew was to kill the whalers.

“This is one of the most absurd media releases I have seen this clown issue in years,” said Captain Paul Watson. “Inwood has pictures of a bow with arrows floating near the submerged hulk of the Ady Gil. I suppose the only reason for this is that guns don’t float and he needed a ‘smoking gun’ but had to settle for a ‘floating arrow’.”

The Sea Shepherd crew on the Bob Barker did not lie about the sinking of the Ady Gil. In fact they notified the Australian maritime authorities that the Ady Gil had to be abandoned because it was partially submerged, its engine room and all compartments flooded, and was slowly sinking. The Ady Gil is a total loss and has officially been declared sunk. The Australian maritime authorities issued a notice to mariners warning of a sinking hulk in the positions indicated.

The day before, the Australian maritime authorities had advised Sea Shepherd that the only obligation the crew had was to rescue all crew members and personal items from the damaged vessel. They advised against re-entering the vessel. Despite this the crew risked their lives to re-enter and to pump all oils and fuel from the Ady Gil in an effort to protect the marine environment from pollution in the likely event of a sinking. Every drop of fuel and oil was removed. When the Bob Barker left the Ady Gil there was not a drop of fuel escaping. Sea Shepherd suspects that the pictures of a spill taken by the Shonan Maru No. 2 while trailing the Bob Barker were set up.

“It only takes a bucket of diesel thrown over the side of the whaling ship to provide the ‘evidence’ the Japanese are providing, “ said Captain Watson.

It is also totally absurd that the Japanese, who deliberately rammed and destroyed the Ady Gil and refused to offer aid and in response to its distress signal, are now accusing Sea Shepherd of polluting the sea because they (the Japanese) cut the Ady Gil in half.

“In light of the damning documentary evidence of the Shonan Maru No. 2 ramming and destroying the Ady Gil, it is utterly ridiculous to now see the Japanese claiming that the Ady Gil has not really been sunk, that Sea Shepherd caused an oil spill and that weapons meant to kill whalers just happened to be floating around the submerged hulk of the Ady Gil,” said Captain Watson. “Does Glen Inwood really believe that the people of New Zealand and Australia are so stupid as to swallow this codswallop?”

What is really absurd about these ridiculous claims is that on January 5th, the Japanese tanker Hiyo Maru refueled the whaling mother ship Nisshin Maru south of sixty degrees latitude in violation of the Antarctic Treaty that prohibits refueling in the Antarctic Treaty Zone. The refueling took place off Cape Denison in Commonwealth Bay only 15 miles from a large Adelie penguin colony.

It is absurd that the Japanese, who put tens of thousands of penguins in danger and who deliberately rammed and split a conservation ship in half, are now making this ridiculous claim that Sea Shepherd’s actions are a threat to the environment.