Secrecy over Bay protester

A Mount Maunganui man who was on board the Ady Gil when it was struck by a Japanese whaling boat has little contact with the outside world and is unlikely to be home for several weeks.
Michael Smith - a firefighter with the Mount Maunganui Fire Brigade - spoke  to his partner, Amy Taylor, on Wednesday night but could not give her much new information, including the current location of the crew. 
"A lot of it is top secret. The last I heard they were heading west from Commonwealth Bay, south from Hobart in Antarctic waters, but that was a week ago.
"They are still chasing the Japanese whaling fleet.
"He does want to come home but is hopeful that their efforts will finally put an end to whaling."
Prime Minister John Key said this week that the Government had drafted a deal that would see an end to commercial whaling over an undisclosed timeframe.
The deal  would be put on the table at  an International Whaling Commission meeting later this month in Honolulu.
But just how long it would take to stop whaling and what New Zealand would concede to the Japanese remains unclear.
Mr Smith, 39, was one of six crew on the Ady Gil,  and secured his place after becoming friends with the skipper, Pete Bethune.
Ms Taylor said a satellite phone link meant the couple's phone calls were infrequent, and while Mr Smith now had access to email, their  communications were being closely monitored by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
Ms Taylor said it was her understanding the Australian Antarctic Division - being a government department - would not let the  society, which has been involved in conflicts with the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctica, drop the crew off at their base for a ride home.
They were now having to work out alternative arrangements which was proving difficult.
Mr Smith, who is now travelling on the  society vessel Bob Barker, may not be home for six weeks.
Ms Taylor described her partner as a lover of the ocean, a "mad keen" surfer and someone who had only recently got into boating.
In September, the couple had travelled to Tonga and gone whale watching, viewing some of the whales that frequented Antarctic waters.
Ms Taylor said Mr Smith was due to be home now and his absence was something that wasn't planned.
He has already been away from home for six weeks.
Just prior to the bow of the Sea Shepherd's trimaran, Ady Gil, being sheared off, when it and a larger Japanese ship collided, Mr Smith was waiting for a crew change to occur in Hobart.
The whaler, Shonan Maru No2, suffered no apparent damage but the Ady Gil sunk.
 Both sides blame the other for the collision, which occurred as the Ady Gil
 was harassing the Japanese fleet.
The Sea Shepherd has filed a complaint with the New Zealand police, accusing the crew of the Japanese-owned Shonan Maru of attempted murder.
"They were waiting to be refuelled but, in the meantime, the Ady Gil was hit," Ms Taylor said.
"It's an unpredictable situation and it started out like that.
"He was meant to begin his journey in Perth but it was changed to Hobart at the last minute."
Ms Taylor said while Mr Smith was desperate to be home  he was making light of the situation as best he could.
"He joked he'd joined the pirates and now they're making him walk the plank."