AN anti-whaling activist has quit the Sea Shepherd environmental group, accusing it of deliberately sinking one of its own ships as a publicity stunt.
New Zealander Pete Bethune labelled Sea Shepherd's leadership “morally bankrupt” for allegedly ordering the hi-tech trimaran Ady Gil to be scuttled after it collided with a Japanese whaling vessel in the Southern Ocean earlier this year.
Mr Bethune, the Ady Gil's skipper, said Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson ordered the ship's sinking to “garner sympathy with the public and to create better TV” in the publicity battle against Japan's Antarctic whaling program.
“It was definitely salvageable, it was still rock solid from the engine room back,” he told Radio New Zealand today. Read more.
New Zealander Pete Bethune labelled Sea Shepherd's leadership “morally bankrupt” for allegedly ordering the hi-tech trimaran Ady Gil to be scuttled after it collided with a Japanese whaling vessel in the Southern Ocean earlier this year.
Mr Bethune, the Ady Gil's skipper, said Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson ordered the ship's sinking to “garner sympathy with the public and to create better TV” in the publicity battle against Japan's Antarctic whaling program.
“It was definitely salvageable, it was still rock solid from the engine room back,” he told Radio New Zealand today. Read more.