weather-wise with~

Sea Shepherdの追跡船の船体に亀裂が生じたそうです。この記事ではweather-wise with iceという表現が気になりました。どんな意味なのでしょうか。temple gateさん、生きていますか。（ゼミ生 Pear）
Huge waves damage Sea Shepherd boat during chase
NATIONAL DEC. 29, 2011 - 04:20PM JST ( 110 )

Anti-whaling activists chasing the Japanese harpoon fleet suffered a major setback Thursday when the hull of one of their ships cracked in massive seas, forcing a second to divert to its rescue. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society said the Brigitte Bardot’s hull split when it was struck by a “rogue wave” as it tailed the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru in six-meter swells some 2,400 kilometers southwest of Australia. “The crack has been getting wider as the seas continue to pound the vessel,” the activist group said. Sea Shepherd spokesman Paul Watson said lead vessel the Steve Irwin was en route to the troubled Brigitte Bardot, which has also suffered severe damage to one of its pontoons, but warned it would take 20 hours to get there.

The Bardot’s captain, South African-born Jonathan Miles Renecle, was “confident that the ship will stay afloat until the Steve Irwin arrives” he added. “This is disappointing but these are hostile seas and we have always been prepared for situations like this,” Watson said. “Right now the safety of my crew on the Brigitte Bardot is our priority and we intend to reach the crew and then do what we can to save our ship.” The incident means just one Sea Shepherd vessel, the Bob Barker, is now tailing the Japanese fleet, which it intercepted on Sunday with the help of a military-style drone.

Watson said all the crew were safe and uninjured and the Bardot, Sea Shepherd’s scout vessel, was “repairable.” “We’ll be bringing it back to Fremantle and then the Steve Irwin will return to support the Bob Barker,” he told Sky News via satellite phone from the Southern Ocean, estimating that it would be a five-day trip. “It’s a setback, but you know, when you come down here you’re facing a number of dangers, not just the Japanese whaling fleet but also the very remote area, it’s a hostile area weather-wise with ice,” he added. Watson said it was Sea Shepherd’s eighth season pursuing the whalers and it was “inevitable something (like this) is going to happen sometime, we’ll just deal with it and carry on.