Facing charges for causing unnecessary danger or risk
Two ship captains appeared in court Wednesday in the New Zealand port of Tauranga, each facing the same charge but in very different cases.
The two seamen, both 44, are each charged under the Maritime Act with operating a ship in a manner causing unnecessary danger or risk and could go to prison for 12 months.
But their cases, and their boats, have little else in common.
One is the Philippine skipper of the 47,000-ton cargo carrier Rena, which ran aground on a reef as it sailed into the east coast port of Tauranga in the early hours of his birthday on October 5.
The Filipino has been accused along with his navigation officer of causing an oil spill that has polluted nearby beaches and killed nearly 1,300 seabirds.
The court has ruled to keep their identities secret to protect them from angry locals.
In the other case, Maori fisherman Elvis Heremaia Teddy, captain of the 12-metre San Pietro, faces the same charge for obstructing a ship prospecting for oil in his tribe’s traditional fishing waters.
Teddy was arrested April 23 after setting his nets in front of the chartered survey vessel off the East Cape, telling its crew they were not welcome.
‘We will not be moving,’ he said. ‘We will be doing some fishing.’
The Te Whanau-a-Apanui tribe, which owns Teddy’s boat, has been joined by the environmental organization Greenpeace and other conservationists in opposing a government decision to give Petrobras International Braspetro BV a five-year permit to explore for oil and gas covering 12,333 square kilometres of ocean.
The contrast between the captains’ cases has not been lost on campaigners.
‘Elvis has reportedly been charged with the same offence as the Rena’s captain and second officer, but Elvis was trying to prevent deep sea oil drilling, spilling and killing of our coastline,’ said a tribe spokesman, Dayle Takitimu.
‘Those running the Rena caused what we have tried to prevent,’ he said. ‘Oil spills, whether from the Rena or from a deep sea oil well, are a threat both to Te Whanau-a-Apanui’s way of life and to the way of life of all people up and down this coast.’
Hone Harawira, a Maori legislator and leader of the Mana Party, told a crowd outside the court, ‘They should give one [captain] a gold medal and hang the other bugger.’
Both skippers were ordered held until another court hearing.
Source: DPA
