Sea Shepards ram Japanese whaling ship

[Spike88]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

I know Discovery has a whale wars program. It is all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Until then we will make millions.

I wouldn't be surprised if Discovery gave some/ a lot of money to the Sea Shepherds for creation of their "stealth" boat.

Which looks like something out of Batman in my honest opinion.

Originally Posted by Spike88

People like that guy who was banned for insulting people in the other whaling thread. I believe his name was Contact.

Boo hoo. And he was subsequently keelhauled.

[August]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

Looks to me the protesters got their stealth boat type deal much to close to the larger vessel thus getting it crunched. However, I see the Japanese were using water cannons! Who heck finances these guys to go out harrassing whalers anyway?

The video is very telling.

It looks to me like the pilot of the stealth boat hit forward instead of reverse and caused the crash, which as one of my friends commented, fits the skill set the SS people have displayed so far.

[Dowly]

Yes, the boat definitely was moving forward just prior to the impact.

[longam]

They might want to put some duct tape on that little hole.

[Jimbuna]

If I was the skipper of the bat boat I wouldn't be getting too near something 50 or more times bigger.

Batman will be well pi$$ed when they return his boat

[Ducimus]

Can't say im much on greenpeace styled activists. They're mostly a bunch of Ecowhacko's that took a long walk of a short pier.

Having said that, i find myself wanting to turn a blind eye to these wacko's when Japans involved. From a sportfisherman's point of view, the Japanese REALLY need to start having A LOT less seafood in their diet. They've pretty much been raping the oceans for all its worth. Many years ago those c**ksuckers came off the Californian coast with Gill nets and I don't think the Tuna population has ever been the same since.

[MothBalls]

If I was the skipper of the whaling ship and they tried to tangle my prop or throw chemicals on my ship I wouldn't use the water cannon, I'd use a regular cannon. If unarmed, I would have sprayed fuel at them then start shooting flares in their direction. You start playing those types of games in the middle of the ocean then it's game on, and for the little boat, game over.

If the problem needs to be fixed (I don't know enough to have an opinion) then it needs to be fixed here:

Japan abandoned commercial whaling in 1986 after agreeing to a global moratorium but international rules allow it to annually kill hundreds of whales under the auspices of a research programme.

If the rules need to be changed then go through the process. There has to be a proper channel. Attacking or interfering with any large vessel in the open sea is not an acceptable method, period.

I would have zero tollerance for it. Mess with the bull.........

[razark]

Originally Posted by MothBalls

Attacking or interfering with any large vessel in the open sea is not an acceptable method, period.

Wouldn't that be one definition of piracy?

[Lt.Fillipidis]

Im not some ecowhacko or treehugger but am i the only one who wouldnt hesitate implale a few of them on their own harpoons?
I mean, this isnt just dolphin and whale "fishing".

So , why is it these lot only go after the Japanese? ,there's a large number of countries that hunt whales http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling and in the same quantity's as the Japanese and that are outside of the IWC!

[CaptainHaplo]

I totally agree with Mothballs on this one - go through the proper channels. The Australian PM, Kevin Rudd - seems to agree as well:
http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/austral...llenge-3283925

However, you commit criminal acts of aggression against a ship in international waters, your asking for a response. I am amazed the Japanese haven't sent a single FF out with the fleet - and as soon as someone tries to foul a prop detain the lot of em and charge them as pirates.... or just sink them. When they first approach, first warn them away, and if they persist, let em do something criminal, and let em get what they have earned.

As for the question of whaling - the main target is Minke whale. Now - in 1985 the IWC estimated the Southern Hemisphere Minke whale population at 761,000 - with a 95% confidence rating on that estimate. The low and high numbers were 510,000 and 1.14 Million respectively. The Japanese have never taken more that 1100 whales in any recent year. That means if you use even the lowest estimate - the 510,000 number - the MOST they have taken amounts to 0.2% of the population....

This amount is definitely sustainable by any standard - so the idea that they are "raping the ocean" in this particular case is not factual. There may have been other instances where they did - but this is not one of them.

Also - its interesting to note that President Reagan closed American waters to Japanese whaling in 1988 over this issue....

They went looking for trouble, and they found it.

So far it is fortunate that their stupidity has not cost any lives.
It would be a positive developement if any insurance company involved found the little boat's actions to be neglegent, and withheld any compensation therefrom.

It would indeed be interesting to learn who is financing this potentialy deadly activity.

[Neptunus Rex]

I said it before on the other thread. These nuts are committing piracy on the high seas and should be dealt with. At the very least, Australia and New Zealand and any other nation should bar entry to their ports.

[Skybird]

Japanese whaling, all in the name of science. Yeah sure, science.

The real grim joke is that some years ago the Japanese government spend millions on avertising campaigns to make the eating of whale meat more popular with young Japanese, becasue whale meat consummation had broken down and threatened the industry. Because many young Japanese - do not like the taste of it. for the Japanese traditionalists, it is more about demonstrating their national sovereignity by giving piss about international whale protection, then it is about solid economic interest.

Once tasted whale meat myself, in Japanese kitchen preparation. Tasted terrible, like rotten. Two bites, and I almost had to vomit. Had nothing to do with the taste of Sushi (which I also do not like: raw fish, and cold, and glibbery). No wonder: whales are no fishes, but mammals, and eating raw mammal is not to everybody's taste. Not even to the taste of the latest models of Japanese consumers. but the damn tradition must be upheld. Like slaughtering hundreds of pamnicking dolphins on the beach, too, for tradition. I would participiate in that bloodshed, but it wouldn't be the dolphins I go after, but stupid big apes.

(I hold Japanese - as well as Chinese - culture for the most in high respect, and my mentor, trainer and teacher was Japanese, so don't even think of accusing me of blind racism when expressing my anger abiut some certain barbaric habits. I would find the same clear words about the Spanishs' perverted love for bull killing).