Ady Gil sinking

Maritime New Zealand decides that the masters of the Shona Maru II and Ady Gil are equally responsible for the collision:

A Japanese whaler did not deliberately ram and sink a Sea Shepherd protest boat during a high-seas confrontation in Antarctic waters early this year, New Zealand investigators found Thursday.

There was no evidence either the whaler Shonan Maru II or Sea Shepherd's Ady Gil deliberately caused the January 6 collision, which sheared the bow off the militant environmental group's hi-tech trimaran, Maritime New Zealand said.

Instead, the government agency blamed poor seamanship on both sides for the accident, which occurred as Sea Shepherd boats harassed Japanese harpooners in a campaign to prevent whaling in Antarctic waters.

"(It) appears to have resulted from a failure by both masters and the crew of both vessels to appreciate and react appropriately to the potential for the collision," the inquiry found.

But had Sea Shepherd vessels not been pursuing and harassing the whaling fleet there could have been no collision. Thus the ultimate responsibility for the collision must rest with Ady Gil master Paul Bethune.