It's on! Sea Shepherd has Japanese whalers on the run

[wardric]

I can understand your perspective and appreciate the need for a higher ground. That being said, the reason why Watson & crew evolved towards a more physical stance was out of sheer frustration. What do you do when you see a species vanish before your very eyes & you know no one (politically) gives a ____p. It was the Nixon/Ford/Trudeau era then.

X

Hundred of species vanish every day, some probably much more important in a global ecological point of view than the whales, and no one gives a rat's behind about them because they're not cute. By focusing on saving a single specie, humans are causing their own extinction by destroying the habitat of thousand of others. The planet will survive, Earth is tough, but we could soon be on the extinction list ourselves.

 

[drasher502]

i really agree with sea shepherds goal to protect the whales, but capt. watson is going to get his crew hurt or killed. he needs to aleast get a crew with experience. instead of ordering his crew to go do something he should lead by example and do it himself he doesnt because he knows it is risky.

 

[cdreamer]

For this year the whale wars are over:

Sea Shepherd Returns From the Whale WarsShare
Today at 3:25am
February 9th, 2009, 10:00 Hours (Sydney, Australia Time)

February 8th, 2009, 15:00 Hours (PST)

The Sea Shepherd ship the Steve Irwin and her crew have withdrawn from the Japanese whaling fleet to begin preparations to return with a faster and longer range ship.

"I have said always said that we would do everything we can short of hurting people to end illegal whaling in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary," said Captain Paul Watson. "We have done everything we could with the resources available to us this year. We have shut down their illegal operations for over a month in total. We have cost them money and we have saved the lives of a good many whales. And although we are willing to take the risks required, even to our own lives, I am not prepared to do to the Japanese whalers what they do to the whales and the escalating violence by the whalers will result in some serious injuries and possibly fatalities if this confrontation continues to escalate."

Captain Watson said that he has been operating at a disadvantage against three harpoon boats that are superior in speed and maneuverability to the Steve Irwin.

"We need to block those deadly harpoons and we need to outrun these hunter killer ships and to do that I need a ship that is as fast as they are and I intend to get one and I intend to return next year," he said. "We will never stop intervening against their illegal whaling operations and we will never stop harassing them, blockading them and costing them money. I intend to be their on-going nightmare every year until they stop their horrific and unlawful slaughter of the great whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary."

This year the crew of the Steve Irwin pursued the Japanese fleet from December 18th until January 7th for over 2,000 miles, shutting down their operations for a month. The crew returned and relocated the fleet on February 1st and pursued them for another 9 days during which time the whalers were only able to kill five whales. A pursuit of the Yushin Maru No.2 by the Steve Irwin on December 20th caused ice damage to the prop of the whaling ship and forced them out of operation for a month and a half. The harpoon vessel was denied repairs in Indonesia much to the embarrassment of Japan.

Confrontations between the Steve Irwin and the whaling fleet have resulted in numerous close calls and two collisions causing minor damage. The whaling fleet this year deployed Long Range Acoustical Devices (LRAD's) and high powered water cannons against the Sea Shepherd crew. No whalers were injured. Three members of the Steve Irwin's crew were injured with one man requiring five stitches above his left eye after being hit by a blast from the LRAD and knocked over.

Captain Paul Watson is dismissive of Japanese accusations that Sea Shepherd deliberately rammed their whaling ships.

"The whalers and their hired PR flunkies can say whatever they want now but we have over 1,000 hours of video footage documenting every moment of the campaign. Our story will be told on a weekly series on Animal Planet with the show Whale Wars. People can watch and judge for themselves. The camera is the most powerful weapon in the world and we intend to demonstrate that power."

On January 31st, the Japanese government dispatched a security vessel called the Taiyo Maru #38 from Fiji to intercept the Steve Irwin. The ship is believed to be carrying a special boarding unit and has orders to seize the ship and all video evidence, according to a source in Fiji. The ship is expected to arrive in the Ross Sea within days.

"We cannot allow this documentation to be captured by Japan," said Captain Watson.

The Steve Irwin will be returning to Australia and is expected to arrive within the next two weeks. The ship had only another four days of fuel reserves to remain with the fleet before being forced to return anyway.

"Another four days is simply not worth getting someone killed," said Captain Watson. "We are down here because we respect the sanctity of life. The whalers are down here to illegally destroy life. People can choose to side with life or with death, between the whalers and the whale defenders, and we have chosen to defend life, and for those who condemn us for what we are doing, all I can say is that we are not down here for them. We're down here for the whales."


Great job Sea Shepherd!! Thank you all!

 

[mikemill]

"The whalers and their hired PR flunkies can say whatever they want now but we have over 1,000 hours of video footage documenting every moment of the campaign. Our story will be told on a weekly series on Animal Planet with the show Whale Wars. People can watch and judge for themselves, after we edit out anything that might put us in a negative light. The camera is the most powerful weapon in the world and we intend to demonstrate that power."

Corrected his quote

 

[DennisS]

"We need to block those deadly harpoons and we need to outrun these hunter killer ships and to do that I need a ship that is as fast as they are and I intend to get one and I intend to return next year,"

He needs a bigger faster ship, let's all send him money to continue his lifestyle as a professional protester.

 

[andrejs]

For this year the whale wars are over:

Sea Shepherd Returns From the Whale WarsShare
Today at 3:25am
February 9th, 2009, 10:00 Hours (Sydney, Australia Time)

February 8th, 2009, 15:00 Hours (PST)

The Sea Shepherd ship the Steve Irwin and her crew have withdrawn from the Japanese whaling fleet to begin preparations to return with a faster and longer range ship.

"I have said always said that we would do everything we can short of hurting people to end illegal whaling in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary," said Captain Paul Watson. "We have done everything we could with the resources available to us this year. We have shut down their illegal operations for over a month in total. We have cost them money and we have saved the lives of a good many whales. And although we are willing to take the risks required, even to our own lives, I am not prepared to do to the Japanese whalers what they do to the whales and the escalating violence by the whalers will result in some serious injuries and possibly fatalities if this confrontation continues to escalate."

Captain Watson said that he has been operating at a disadvantage against three harpoon boats that are superior in speed and maneuverability to the Steve Irwin.

"We need to block those deadly harpoons and we need to outrun these hunter killer ships and to do that I need a ship that is as fast as they are and I intend to get one and I intend to return next year," he said. "We will never stop intervening against their illegal whaling operations and we will never stop harassing them, blockading them and costing them money. I intend to be their on-going nightmare every year until they stop their horrific and unlawful slaughter of the great whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary."

This year the crew of the Steve Irwin pursued the Japanese fleet from December 18th until January 7th for over 2,000 miles, shutting down their operations for a month. The crew returned and relocated the fleet on February 1st and pursued them for another 9 days during which time the whalers were only able to kill five whales. A pursuit of the Yushin Maru No.2 by the Steve Irwin on December 20th caused ice damage to the prop of the whaling ship and forced them out of operation for a month and a half. The harpoon vessel was denied repairs in Indonesia much to the embarrassment of Japan.

Confrontations between the Steve Irwin and the whaling fleet have resulted in numerous close calls and two collisions causing minor damage. The whaling fleet this year deployed Long Range Acoustical Devices (LRAD's) and high powered water cannons against the Sea Shepherd crew. No whalers were injured. Three members of the Steve Irwin's crew were injured with one man requiring five stitches above his left eye after being hit by a blast from the LRAD and knocked over.

Captain Paul Watson is dismissive of Japanese accusations that Sea Shepherd deliberately rammed their whaling ships.

"The whalers and their hired PR flunkies can say whatever they want now but we have over 1,000 hours of video footage documenting every moment of the campaign. Our story will be told on a weekly series on Animal Planet with the show Whale Wars. People can watch and judge for themselves. The camera is the most powerful weapon in the world and we intend to demonstrate that power."

On January 31st, the Japanese government dispatched a security vessel called the Taiyo Maru #38 from Fiji to intercept the Steve Irwin. The ship is believed to be carrying a special boarding unit and has orders to seize the ship and all video evidence, according to a source in Fiji. The ship is expected to arrive in the Ross Sea within days.

"We cannot allow this documentation to be captured by Japan," said Captain Watson.

The Steve Irwin will be returning to Australia and is expected to arrive within the next two weeks. The ship had only another four days of fuel reserves to remain with the fleet before being forced to return anyway.

"Another four days is simply not worth getting someone killed," said Captain Watson. "We are down here because we respect the sanctity of life. The whalers are down here to illegally destroy life. People can choose to side with life or with death, between the whalers and the whale defenders, and we have chosen to defend life, and for those who condemn us for what we are doing, all I can say is that we are not down here for them. We're down here for the whales."


Great job Sea Shepherd!! Thank you all!

Good news!

 

[Geoff_H]

Great news that the Steve Irwin has had to retreat and the threat to the whalers lives has receeded.

The explanation given "to begin preparations to return with a faster and longer range ship." is clearly ludicrous - it isn't going to take them 10 months to prepare a new ship. There is something else behind this, and Sea Shepherd is being disingenuous again.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

The preparations would be to secure the funding necessary to buy, outfit and register said "faster and longer range ship", and then buy, outfit and register said ship. That statement sound as genuine as any Captain Watson has ever made, although I will be happily surprised if he gets it done in 10 months.

 

[aquaman_06]

I don't think Sea Shepherd or Animal Planet can be accused of editing anything out of Whale Wars that did not show Sea Shepherd in a positive light. I watched the entire series and own it on DVD. I felt that a very large portion of the show portrayed Sea Shepherd in a negative light. It showed their crew as reckless, un-trained, and at times grossly incompetent. It showed Paul Watson as overly reckless and even dangerous at the helm of a ship. It also showed that Watson has a very inflated ego and cares little for the safety or lives of his crew.

Honestly Whale Wars greatly changed my opinion of Sea Shepherd. It was once very favorable but now is different. I totally agree with their mission and feel that Whaling needs to stop though I think that the tactics Whale Wars displayed are more then likely going to just get someone killed. I highly doubt any Japanese Whalers will be hurt, it's the lives of Sea Shepherd's crew that are in danger. The fact that the vast majority of their volunteers left as soon as they reached port displays what life on a Sea Shepherd vessel must be like.

Personally I feel that best way to stop Japanese Whaling is using U.S., Australian, English, etc Gun Boats and Cutters. If the Japanese felt a real threat of universal retaliation due to their whaling activities they might actually stop.

One thing to remember though is that the people on Sea Shepherd's vessel are volunteers. Paul Watson certainly did not hold a gun to anyone's head and force them to do anything.

At the end of the day, like them or not, Sea Shepherd and their radical and un-safe tactics have done more to damage illegal whaling then anything else. Greenpeace has created awareness and runs a campaign within Japan to try to discourage eating whale meat, though Sea Shepherd can actually count a number of whales saved each campaign. The Japanese culture is amazing since honor plays such an important role in their society. How honorable is it to sneak into another country’s Whale Sanctuary and start killing whales, violating an international moratorium your nation signed.

Again, until countries like the U.S. and Australia take action, even aggressive to enforce Whaling Laws it’s unlikely Japanese Whaling will stop. I assume in the scheme of things the tactics used by the Japanese in World War II and other conflicts make many nations rather afraid to confront them. Given that and their important role in the global economy it’s unlikely that we will see any government interference that would stop whaling.

 

[DennisS]

Great news that the Steve Irwin has had to retreat and the threat to the whalers lives has receeded.

The explanation given "to begin preparations to return with a faster and longer range ship." is clearly ludicrous - it isn't going to take them 10 months to prepare a new ship. There is something else behind this, and Sea Shepherd is being disingenuous again.

My guess would be that the LRAD was an effective deterrent. They were prevented from coming near the whaler ship.