Breaking news from the whale wars

[Hockeynut]

I remember the episode last year where the Japanese were throwing bolts or nuts at the SS crew on one of their speed boats. They were all pissed because they threw stuff at them, right after they were throwing stuff at the Japanese.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Probably no point in me repeating that I think both sides share responsibility.

Investigation by an unbiased body...

New Zealand has announced they will investigate because it involves a New Zealand boat... does that make them Unbiased?

Australia has announced they will investigate because it occurred in their area of responsibility for search and rescue and involves what they have declared a Whale Sanctuary. They have been campaigning to stop the Whaling and are threatening legal action in World Court so doesn't make them look unbiased.

Japan is going to investigate.. *umm* no brainer there about bias

What about the International Whaling Committee.... *umm* :headscratch: another no brainer!

Maybe we better hope the people monitoring their computers for extra terrestrial communications better put out an appeal for investigators... IMHO finding an Unbiased body to do this investigation has a relationship to the chances of finding a snowball in hech I give up IMHO there are more bodies and testosterone than brains on both sides

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

So bowlofpetunias, you seem to be saying the 4 probable investigations will turn out SS 3, Whalers 1. I like your odds, and perhaps all parties have significant stock in Animal Planet so the games will continue.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

So bowlofpetunias, you seem to be saying the 4 probable investigations will turn out SS 3, Whalers 1. I like your odds, and perhaps all parties have significant stock in Animal Planet so the games will continue.

Naw I think it is more likely to be SS 2 Whalers 2

Japan and IWC who issued the "license for scientific research" in one corner

Australia and NZ in another......

:daydreaming: wonder what the aliens will say:daydreaming:

I don't see IWC siding with SS.... NZ

 

[KOMPRESSOR]

It would be interesting to see the SS around our waters. Our Coast Guard is manned by the Navy, with experience from rounding up pirates off the east African coast...

 

[Hockeynut]

It would be interesting to see the SS around our waters. Our Coast Guard is manned by the Navy, with experience from rounding up pirates off the east African coast...

Thats why they won't go there.

 

[ScubaSteve]

IMHO there are more bodies and testosterone than brains on both sides

ABSOLUTELY!!! Right or Wrong really does not matter. Both sides did something stupid and both are now subject to scrutiny that they were not before the "accident". All this because of misplaced aggression.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Naw I think it is more likely to be SS 2 Whalers 2

Japan and IWC who issued the "license for scientific research" in one corner

Australia and NZ in another......

:daydreaming: wonder what the aliens will say:daydreaming:

I don't see IWC siding with SS.... NZ

As far as I can find, the IWC does not and has never issued a license for lethal scientific research; Japan issues itself the research permit (in essence, due to the Government subsidies). :depressed:

I do not ever intend any use of Wikipedia as absolute reference, but the following linked and quoted page gives a good primer for anyone with an open enough mind who needs a starting point for further in depth study of this issue.

Whaling in Japan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Japan would later make heavy use of one particular article of the ICRW despite the condemnation of environmental organizations and anti-whaling nations.

Article VIII
1. Notwithstanding anything contained in this Convention any Contracting Government may grant to any of its nationals a special permit authorizing that national to kill, take and treat whales for purposes of scientific research subject to such restrictions as to number and subject to such other conditions as the Contracting Government thinks fit, and the killing, taking, and treating of whales in accordance with the provisions of this Article shall be exempt from the operation of this Convention. Each Contracting Government shall report at once to the Commission all such authorizations which it has granted. Each Contracting Government may at any time revoke any such special permit which it has granted.

2. Any whales taken under these special permits shall so far as practicable be processed and the proceeds shall be dealt with in accordance with directions issued by the Government by which the permit was granted.

In 2005 the IWC passed a resolution specifically requesting Japan either modify its JARPA II proposal to use only non-lethal methods or drop the proposal completely.

International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations may impact Japan's whaling programs in the future. In Antarctica, the use of heavy fuel-oil will be banned, new ice-resistant standards for hull design will be imposed and the dumping of whaling related waste may be forbidden.

The research is conducted by the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), a privately-owned, non-profit institution. The institute receives its funding from government subsidies and Kyodo Senpaku, which handles processing and marketing of byproducts such as whale meat. Japan carries out its whaling in two areas: the North-West Pacific Ocean (JARPN II) and the Antarctic Ocean (JARPA) Southern Hemisphere catch. The 2007/08 JARPA mission had a quota of 900 minke whales and 50 fin whales.

JARPA II
Like its predecessor, the research whaling program takes place near Antarctica. Starting in 2005 and continuing to the present day, objectives include monitoring the Antarctic ecosystem, modeling competition between whale species, recording changes in stock structure and improving future management of Antarctic whales. The program calls for 850 or more Antarctic minke whales, 50 fin whales and 50 humpback whales per season. (a quota for humpback whales has not yet been implemented due to intense international opposition)

Disagreement over the value of the research, the use of lethal methods and the sample sizes continued in both the scientific committee and the commission. In 2005 and 2007 the commission passed resolutions by majority urging Japan to stop all lethal research in JARPA II.

In 2000, 2001 and 2003 more resolutions were passed by the IWC urging Japan to cease issuing special permits for whaling and limit research to non-lethal methods. The most recent Scientific Committee review was conducted in January, 2009.

In 2007 the IWC passed a resolution asking Japan to refrain from issuing a permit for lethal research in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary - the main Japanese whaling area.

After a visit to Tokyo by the chairman of the IWC, asking the Japanese for their co-operation in sorting out the differences between pro- and anti-whaling nations on the Commission, the Japanese whaling fleet agreed that no humpback whales would be caught for the two years it would take for the IWC to reach a formal agreement.

After the collision last year the IWC asked SS to refrain from dangerous actions and condemned any risk to human life, so it is possible if the Australia and New Zealand investigations find the Whalers endangered human life that the IWC might condemn the Whalers more than they condemn SS.

On March 6, 2008 members of the International Whaling Commission met in London to discuss reaching an agreement on whale conservation rules. Japanese whalers and anti-whaling activists clashed in the waters near Antarctica on March 7, 2008, with each side offering conflicting accounts of the confrontation. The IWC called upon the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to refrain from dangerous actions and reiterated its condemnation of any actions that are a risk to human life and property in relation to the activities of vessels at sea.

All footnotes redacted.

 

[Sas]

1. Similar wave/current conditions were faced by all vessels.
2. You have 3 reference points on the video I noted. I think that the Whaler's actions are obvious.
3. I believe they had time to turn and believe they in-fact did, turning starboard and ramming the SS vessel.
4. If the course could not be corrected, the colliding vessel should have attempted to avoid the collision. If a collision couldn't be avoided how about sounding a collision alarm?
5. Lend assistance to those in-need after the collission (not just spray the potential wounded with high pressure ice water.

To me it looked like the Japanese ship was turning to avoid the ship, expecting them to act like a normal boat and continue on its path. What the Ady Gil did, was slow down for impact and then speed up at the last minute. Either they did it deliberately or they have no seamanship skills. Either is inexcuseable in the unhospitable environment they were in. But yea who really knows exactly for sure what either captain's intentions are. Neither is to be trusted but yea if you are heaps bigger you are going to win so the SS captain put their crew in a huge amount of danger whether the Japanese did it deliberately or not.

The actions of SS have led to more whales being killed than would have otherwise been. Japan doesn't need the meat anymore but who would admit defeat to a bunch of "smelly hippies in little boats" (as I am sure they are viewed as)?

 

[Doc Harry]

Is everyone discounting the testimony of experienced captains who are saying the movements of the SM2 are unlikely to be responses to helm commands?

These ships have turning circles of hundreds of metres, not a dozen yards. You're not going to see them spinning on a sixpence to a helm command to outmanoeuvre a fibre glass racing boat with a top speed over three times that of the whalers.

You can analyse the video footage as much as you like, but over such a short timespan the pitch and yaw of the waves is going to impact the short term direction regardless of commands from the helm

I don't think so.

I was a naval officer and spent many years at sea, and commanded vessels the size of the SM2. (Once I was even put in command of a Zodiac in port to interfere with Greenpeace boats circling our warships).

The SM2 didn't turn because of "waves." The SM2 made a radical turn to starboard and rammed the Ady Gil because the SM2 helmsmen turned the wheel.