Whale Wars Heats UP!

[ZigZagMarquis 9]

Not to excuse the fact that the Japanese whaler rammed these guy’s spiffy new speed boat, but THIS from the same “conservationists” that have:

- Over the years, repeatedly used their vessels to ram other whaler's vessels.

- Admittedly have “projectile launching devices” on-board their vessels AND have been seen using them on national television. Heck, they had a cannon on one of their ships!

- Have also been shown to trail ropes or wires behind their vessels intended to foul the screws or rudder of whalers when trying to pull a “crossing the T” maneuver.

- Have mounted "rams" on the bows of some of their vessels for the express purpose of causing damage to whaler's vessels, if they just happen to bump into each other? Duh!

THEY’RE crying “piracy”!??


Sentiments aside about whether whaling is "okay" or "not", you keep doing stuff on the high seas like these guys are and what do you expect to happen!?


I think I’ll get a bowl of popcorn and see how this story goes. It could be entertaining!

I wonder if anyone will charge them with creating a hazard to shipping after abandoning their disabled vessel, the Ady Gil. Wouldn't the international maritime laws allow it to be up for salvage now to whom ever finds it?

I dig the last part of the article... turn-about is fair play!



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Saturday , January 09, 2010

A conservationist group that lost one of its ships in a clash with Japanese whalers off Antarctica has filed a piracy complaint in the Netherlands against the captain and crew of the whaling vessel, one of the group's leaders said Saturday.

The filing comes after the bow of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's Ady Gil was sheared off in a collision Wednesday with the far larger Japanese ship — the most serious clash in what has become an annual confrontation off the frozen continent. A Sea Shepherd volunteer suffered cracked ribs.

The whaler, Shonan Maru No. 2, suffered no apparent damage. Both sides blame the other for the crash, which occurred as the Ady Gil harassed the Japanese fleet.

On Friday, Sea Shepherd lodged a piracy complaint with the Dutch prosecuting authority, Sea Shepherd Deputy CEO Chuck Swift told The Associated Press by satellite phone from his ship, the Bob Barker. The ship is named for the former TV game show host, who donated $5 million to buy it.

A copy of the complaint translated from Dutch to English by Sea Shepherd officials was provided to the AP. It argues the whalers are guilty of piracy because they served on a vessel that was used to commit an act of violence. The complaint urges Dutch authorities to take action within two weeks.

"They have certainly proven that some of them have as much disregard for the law and human life as they do for the law and whale life," Swift said. "We could have had six dead."

The group chose to file the complaint in the Netherlands because one of the Ady Gil crew members is Dutch and the Sea Shepherd's main ship, the Steve Irwin, is registered there, according to the complaint.

Sea Shepherd is also considering filing charges of attempted murder in New Zealand, where the Ady Gil was registered, Swift said.

Glenn Inwood, the New Zealand-based spokesman for Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research, which oversees the whaling fleet, dismissed the filing as a publicity stunt.

"They have no real basis here for filing any claims at all, especially of piracy," Inwood told the AP. "The chances of them winning anything, the odds are well against it — noting that they were in the wrong for the incidents to start with."

Given the circumstances, a piracy charge would be difficult to prosecute, said Don Rothwell, a professor of international law at the Australian National University who wrote a recent report for the government on Antarctic whaling.

An act of piracy usually requires that a vessel be boarded or seized, that goods be taken from the vessel or that a person is held on the vessel, he said.

While Sea Shepherd could claim that an act of violence justifies a charge of piracy, such a charge requires that the act of violence occurred for private means, Rothwell said. The whaling fleet would likely be considered public vessels under government control, he said.

Japan kills about 1,200 whales a year in Antarctica under what it says is a scientific program allowed by the International Whaling Commission, despite a moratorium on commercial whaling. Critics say the program is a front for illegal whaling, and Sea Shepherd sends ships to Antarctica each season to try to stop the hunt — an effort portrayed on the Animal Planet TV series "Whale Wars."

After Wednesday's clash, the Bob Barker began towing the Ady Gil toward French research base Dumont d'Urville, 185 miles to the south.

But the tow rope snapped en route, so the Ady Gil was left to sink and the Bob Barker resumed its pursuit of the Japanese whalers, said the Bob Barker's first officer, Peter Hammarsedt.

Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett on Friday ramped up pressure on Japan to end whaling by threatening legal action if diplomatic efforts do not show results before the next International Whaling Commission summit in June.

Australia says it could argue that Japan's whaling is illegal before the International Court of Justice or the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

The whaling is conducted in international waters, but usually within the huge patch of ocean that is designated Australia's maritime rescue zone and that Canberra considers a whale sanctuary.

The whalers have changed tactics this season, sending boats to tail the Sea Shepherd vessels and reporting their positions so the main fleet can keep its distance.

[warpedskydiver 0]

I could fuck up the spy vessels elctronics gear so fast they would never know what hit them.

They might be able to make it back to port though.

Think carbon fibers.

[JohnMitchell 16]

I think it's hilarious that the Japanese kill 1200 whales a year for "scientific research." What exactly are they researching, various cooking methods?

I think the timber industry in our country could follow this tactic. "We're going to log 1200 old growth giant redwood trees a year from the protected forests. This is being done only for scientific research.

[ZigZagMarquis 9]

Quote

I think it's hilarious that the Japanese kill 1200 whales a year for "scientific research." What exactly are they researching, various cooking methods?

You bring up a good point!??

What does whale go best with?? Baked potato or rice pilaf?

[rushmc 23]

Quote

Quote

I think it's hilarious that the Japanese kill 1200 whales a year for "scientific research." What exactly are they researching, various cooking methods?

You bring up a good point!??

What does whale go best with?? Baked potato or rice pilaf?

Escargot would be the appetizer but, I have no idea what the correct side dish would be. Hence the "research"??

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[ZigZagMarquis 9]

Quote

Escargot would be the appetizer...

EEEEeeeeuuuuwwweee!

Research Over!!!



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Anyway... I was thinking... Japan does still have a Navy. A couple of gun boats escorting their "research" vessels may discourage these folk.

[shropshire 0]

Quote

Quote

I think it's hilarious that the Japanese kill 1200 whales a year for "scientific research." What exactly are they researching, various cooking methods?

You bring up a good point!??

What does whale go best with?? Baked potato or rice pilaf?

White Rhino jus and Tiger steaks with Panda Hearts

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[rushmc 23]

Quote

Quote

Escargot would be the appetizer...

EEEEeeeeuuuuwwweee!

Research Over!!!



----

Anyway... I was thinking... Japan does still have a Navy. A couple of gun boats escorting their "research" vessels may discourage these folk.

I dont think I could eat them either

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[Guest]

Quote

I think it's hilarious that the Japanese kill 1200 whales a year for "scientific research." What exactly are they researching, various cooking methods?

Nah, it's research to find better methods of making tennis rackets. Look it up.

mh
.

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[millertime24 8]

Quote

Quote

Quote

I think it's hilarious that the Japanese kill 1200 whales a year for "scientific research." What exactly are they researching, various cooking methods?

You bring up a good point!??

What does whale go best with?? Baked potato or rice pilaf?

White Rhino jus and Tiger steaks with Panda Hearts

Lets not forget to add a side of baby seal both tenderized and killed in one fell swoop.

Muff #5048

[ferdberfel 0]

Commercial whaling has been banned by international treaty for a long time. Japan and Norway are signatories to the treaty, as in, they agree to abide by the terms of the treaty. Due to their lobbying efforts when the treaty has been negotiated, and re-negotiated, and exemption for "research" whaling has been present in the treaty.

You can buy canned whale meat off the shelf in Japan. New cans, recently produced. The meat is popular with older citizens. If the whale take was for research, why does the Japanese government allow the meat to be sold commercially? Any rational person should come to the reasonable conclusion that the "research" whaling is actually commercial whaling, for profit.

There has been no physical challenge to the commercial whaling by the Japanese by any of the signatories to the treaty. Quiet complaints that fall on deaf ears have been the miniscule response. Nothing of any real substance has been done to stop the illegal whale harvest, except by the Sea Sheperd organization. Fouling the decks and trying to disable the whaling ships by fouling the propulsion systems are reasonable tactics to take against criminals.

The Sea Sheperd organization is shining the glare of publicity on this illegal commerce. The signatories to the treaty aren't doing any real enforcement of the treaty. Enforcement of the terms can, and should, be taken up by private organizations. That is what Sea Sheperd is doing.

There is a very simple step that could be taken by the Japanese government. That step would be to ban the sale of whale meat. All whale meat. Their commercial whaling industry would disappear, as it was supposed to happen under the treaty. It is a FACT that they have not done this. That makes makes crystal clear that their whaling activities are a commercial operation that is a flagrant and "in your face" violatition of the treaty.

It is clear that the criminals in this matter are the Japanese. The Sea Sheperd organization are the good guys. The Japanese are the bad guys. The Sea Sheperd people need to keep up the good work of shining the glaring spotlight of publicity on the Japanese government's disdain for international treaties. The Japanese will come around when they are shamed into compliance.

[skycop 0]

A deck gun for the such and such Maru would go a long way.........

"Just 'cause I'm simple, don't mean I'm stewpid!"

[lawrocket 3]

I cannot help but wonder why there is so much focus on Japan when Norway is no better. Last year, Norway increased its self-quota of whales to hunt by 45%. Yet Japan takes the heat.

Am I impugning some of the base motives? Why yes, I am. They won't pick on Norway or even Iceland. They prefer to set sights on Japan.

What's the deal?

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[Southern_Man 0]

What sorts of whales are they hunting?

Are these whales endangered at all? There are a number of species of whales that are doing quite well.

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[lawrocket 3]

War on whaling isn't about endangerment anymore. It's about killing large sea mammals being wrong.

It's not helpful to the cause to go after the Norwegians. They are too photogenic. The Japanese? Go get them!!!

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[FlyingJ 0]

I'm not a fan of the whaling and admire that there are people out there putting themselves in harms way to try and stop it, but at the same time my response to Sea Shepard is a big ole "Suck it up, Cupcake!" Go out and about your business as you choose to, but don't go crying to mommy when the guy you've been harassing decides to turn around and give you a taste of your own medicine.

Killing threads since 2004.

[ZigZagMarquis 9]

Quote

...but at the same time my response to Sea Shepard is a big ole "Suck it up, Cupcake!" Go out and about your business as you choose to, but don't go crying to mommy when the guy you've been harassing decides to turn around and give you a taste of your own medicine.

Thanks Flyin,
My point exactly.

[billvon 3,006]

>A deck gun for the such and such Maru would go a long way........

Better yet, have Sea Sheperd switch to UAV's and fuel them with compressed hydrogen. More environmentally friendly, and the first time one of them got rammed by a whaling ship would probably also be the last; the whalers would give them a wide berth after that.

[PLFXpert 0]

Quote

Fouling the decks and trying to disable the whaling ships by fouling the propulsion systems are reasonable tactics to take against criminals.

The Sea Sheperd organization is shining the glare of publicity on this illegal commerce. The signatories to the treaty aren't doing any real enforcement of the treaty. Enforcement of the terms can, and should, be taken up by private organizations. That is what Sea Sheperd is doing.

My sentiment exactly.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[Andy9o8 2]

Quote

War on whaling isn't about endangerment anymore. It's about killing large sea mammals being wrong.

It's not helpful to the cause to go after the Norwegians. They are too photogenic. The Japanese? Go get them!!!

Shit, when I say that, the wing nuts come out of the woodwork to scream "Race card!!" at me.
You 're right, by the way.

[mnealtx 0]

Quote

Shit, when I say that, the wing nuts come out of the woodwork to scream "Race card!!" at me.

Thereby demonstrating the difference between use and abuse.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[SkyBastard 0]

whaling. right on. fuck sea shepered what a bunch of wankers i'm glad the whaling ship attempted to murder them by ramming.

you prick.

Dude #320
"Superstitious" is just a polite way of saying "incredibly fucking stupid".
DONK!

[ZigZagMarquis 9]

nice.

[SkyBastard 0]

if you post about an emotive issue expect an emotional response.

i find your stance fucking disgusting.

Dude #320
"Superstitious" is just a polite way of saying "incredibly fucking stupid".
DONK!

[ZigZagMarquis 9]

That illegal acts are "okay" if they're done in counter to illegal acts?