By Nerijus Adomaitis
OSLO, April 1 (Reuters) – An environmental activist vessel deliberately collided with a Norwegian krill harvesting vessel near Antarctica on Tuesday, damaging its hull, the vessel’s owner, Aker QRILL Company, said on Wednesday.
The company said the Norway-flagged trawler Antarctic Sea was deliberately struck by Bandero, a 65-metre (213 ft) vessel operated by the Captain Paul Watson Foundation.
Aker QRILL said Bandero struck near the stern of its vessel, where its diesel fuel tank sits, causing minor damage.
“If the steel plates … had ruptured, it could have caused a spill. It was probably just luck that it didn’t cause more damage,” Chief Executive Webjoern Barstad said.
Before the collision, activists unsuccessfully attempted to damage the fishing nets of another krill harvester, Antarctic Endurance, he added.
FOUNDATION NOW SAYS COLLISION WAS DELIBERATE
The foundation said initially on Wednesday it was “an accidental collision” and it was committed to “lawful, responsible, non-violent action in defence of marine ecosystems.”
Later it sent another statement saying its ship “made deliberate contact” with Aker QRILL’s vessel after issuing prior warnings.
“The action was taken solely to deliver a clear and targeted message: we will actively oppose and disrupt operations that threaten vulnerable marine ecosystems,” it added.
The Captain Paul Watson Foundation, set up in 2022 by Canadian anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, said it was trying to disrupt krill fishing in the feeding grounds of whales, seals and penguins.
“Krill are a foundational species, serving as the primary food for most marine life. Without krill the entire food chain would collapse,” it added.
The foundation said Aker QRILL was the largest harvester of Antarctic krill, accounting for more than 60% of the total catch quota.
Barstad, however, said industrial vessels harvest only a small fraction of krill stocks.
The incident occurred more than 500 miles (805 km) from the southern tip of Argentina. Nearly 60 crew members, including from Norway, Ukraine and the Philippines, were on board the trawler, the company said. No one was hurt.
Aker QRILL is owned by U.S.-based American Industrial Partners and Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Roekke. On its website it says it is “the world’s leading krill company.”
(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; editing by Barbara Lewis and Chris Reese)
