Japanese Whalers.....

I agree with you kwicko, though the smaller boat was stationary at the time and it appears to me that the Japanese ship veered towards them at speed at the last instant. A very deliberate and dangerous attack.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Calhoun:
I agree with you kwicko, though the smaller boat was stationary at the time and it appears to me that the Japanese ship veered towards them at speed at the last instant. A very deliberate and dangerous attack.

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The accident would not have occurred but for the reckless and irresponsible behaivor of the protestors against a legal and legitmate business.

I don't support whaling any more then I support smoking, but both are legitimate and legal businesses with long histories that played vital roles in the development of various nations and cultures. Unlike smoking I agree with many folks that whaling should be illegal. Japan has chosen to disagree and it is their soveriegn right to engage in the practice. I support pressuring Japan to change its laws. I support protesting through reasonable means any outdated practice that I disagree with.

Ultimately, however, it is the responsibilty of the protestors to avoid dangerous confrontations and accidents on the high seas. Protestors have no right to attempt to disrupt, delay, or interfere with these Japanese whaling ships. If they do then they are being dangerous and irresponsible at best and at worst they are committing an act of criminal violence on the high seas (ie piracy).

H

"Hero. I have come to respect you." "I am forced to agree with Hero here."- Chrisisall, 2009.

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Only savages need to harvest whales. Interesting that the largest animals on the planet are also the most gentle creatures God graced us with.

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There was a crew of semi-anarchic "pirates" a while back who took on illegal drift-netters out there by ramming the equipment that hauled in the net and then weighting the nets down and sinking them, something I considered maybe more of a hazard than necessary - but anyhows, they did take some footage, including being shot at and having knives and stuff thrown at em by the targets, who of course couldn't exactly make official protest without admitting they were doing something illegal as hell.

I dunno about whalers, but there's a couple folk out there with a gripe about others conduct on the sea and the means to do something about it - that was what started the Somali pirates off in the first place, other nations illegally dumping waste and fishing their waters, which if ya do it in the same place is kinda triple stupid, innit ?

-F

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Oh dear, I'll have to refrain from ranting here, because this one just makes me wanna Thank you for starting this thread; I heard about it and have been seething ever since.

I played my own small "part" in stopping commercial whaling back in the '70s and '80s, working at the time with Greenpeace and the IWC (International Whaling Commission) when many nations still hunted whales. The IWC's got no "teeth", it's nations only agree not to whale; those taking whales for "scientific purposes" actually do so commercially, and any nation can leave the IWC whenever it wants to.

A moratorium was declared by the IWC back in 1982, except for aboriginal subsistence whaling which is permitted from Denmark (Greenland, fin and minke whales), the Russian Federation (Siberia, gray whales), St Vincent and The Grenadines (humpback whales), and the USA (Alaska, bowhead and occasionally off Washington, gray whales). Canada is not a member of the IWC. The annual whale catch by these groups is probably less than a dozen each. So now we got 12 nations that still kill whales legally.

We went ape shit when the moratorium was declared, it was one of the most exciting "victories", along with the tuna boycott being semi-successful. But in environmentalism, it's never a true victory; we can stop/slow down activities, but it's a continual battle...unless "they" win, in which case whatever we were trying to save is lost forever.

The IWC allows whaling for "scientific purposes," Since 1986 only Norway, Iceland and especially Japan have been issued whaling research permits. Norway lodged a protest to the zero catch limits in 1992 and is no longer bound by them. Iceland left the IWC in 1991 but rejoined in 2002. In addition the Faroe Islands, a non IWC nation, kills around 1000 Long-finned Pilot Whales in the annual whale "grind," where the fishermen drive the whales ashore, cut their arteries and allowed to bleed to death.

Japan has made the largest catches under the IWC "scientific" permit. The extent of 'science' in the catch can be demonstrated by the fact that the majority of Iceland's 'scientific' catch is sold to Japan, Norway sells to Iceland and the Faroe islands and would sell to Japan if the Japanese were not concerned with pollution in the Atlantic. So they're not involved in any "legal and legitimate" business, Hero; they hunt commercially under the guise of "research".

So you have four nations that still have active whaling industries. The Faroe Islands, actually an autonomous region of the kingdom of Denmark, with about 1000 a year, all Long-finned Pilot Whales, actually a large dolphin.

Nations that hunt larger whales;

Iceland with about 100 in 2004.

Norway with about 600 in 2004, but Norwegian Parliament voted to increase the number to 1,800 animals per year by 2006.

Japan with about 800 in 2004, but actively working to remove restrictions.

Back when I was actively involved, it was Greenpeace which was doing the protesting; long since, the Sea Shephard Conservation Society ha taken over and has been active ever snce in harrassing whales and attempting to put the Japanes commercial enterprise out of business.

As to the Adi Gil, it wasn't an accident, trust me. The whalers have tried many ways of "dissuading" the protesters for years, from water cannons to lasers and more. There was no "crossing" of someone's bow, Mike: The SSCS's Australian director, Jeff Hansen, said in a telephone interview that the trimaran “was pretty much at a full stop” and that the Japanese ship had deliberately run into it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/world/asia/07whales.html?partner=rss
&emc=rss

Thank gawd The Bob Barker was close enough to fish them out, and of course it won't stop them from trying to halt Japanese whaling. Believe me, they know all too well the danger they're in, and are willing to risk

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