The Greenpeace New Zealand boat Taitu has “intercepted” the world’s largest seismic blasting ship, the Amazon Warrior, AKA “The Beast”, about 50 nautical miles off the Wairarapa coast, reports Greenpeace News.

Greenpeace NZ executive director Russel Norman is on board and has made a call through to the master of the Amazon Warrior.

Norman demanded that the Amazon Warrior cease seismic blasting, informing them of the widespread opposition to oil drilling in NZ waters by local councils, iwi and large numbers of New Zealanders.

He also told the Amazon Warrior that he and Taitu would act consistently within the principles of non-violence at all times but were there to take action to protect “our common future”.

Amazon Warrior’s seismic search for oil would contribute to “cataclysmic climate change”, Norman said.

Taitu was crowdfunded by Greenpeace in just seven days specifically to venture out and confront the oil exploration that was being carried out on behalf of Chevron and Statoil, Greenpeace News said.

“The captain from the Amazon Warrior has asked us to move away and we’ve asked him to stop blasting for new oil,” Norman was quoted by Radio New Zealand as saying.

“The facts around this are really straightforward, science tells us that we can’t continue afford to burn half of the existing fossil fuel, so it’s absolutely completely insane to be out here looking for deep sea oil off the coast of New Zealand if you want a stable climate.”

• Greenpeace’s live feed from the Taitu
• New Greenpeace boat key to oil industry battle

Our message it clear! Rise up. End oil. The Taitu crew are flying a giant banner from a kite and streamers that carry anti-oil exploration messages from New Zealanders. Follow the action here: www.greenpeace.nz/taitu #greenpeace #oil #taitu #statoil #chevron #ocean #sea #clouds #picoftheday

A post shared by Greenpeace Aotearoa NZ (@greenpeacenz) on Apr 9, 2017 at 12:53am PDT