Whale Wars

[DennisS]

and I would disagree with both Jeff_Toorish and OfftheWall1.

I think bording a ship on the open sea is piracy and pirates should be shot-being adrift on a raft and attempting to come on board is a poor example as the boat and its crew have an obligation to provide aid. I think Offthewall is a bit wrong in assuming that only governments can enforce laws. I have never thought that civilized people surrendered their rights to enforce laws simply because they elect to have a professional military/police force...but the thing to remember is that while the whalers might be breaking the spirit of the law they are still acting legally-perhaps unethically but within the law.

The ship being boarded has no idea what the people coming onboard are going to do. Are they going to leave a bomb onboard, start shooting, pollute the ship with butyric acid ( what sea shepherd calls butter bombs), the captain of the ship has no idea what these fanatics are going to do. He has every right to repel boarders and protect his ship. What do you think Watson would do if the Japanese tried to board his ship?

Sea Shepherd really didn't like them using the acoustic devices to keep them away from their ships last year.

 

[SkimFisher]

I don't know if this is really scuba related, but it is very close.

I have been watching the series "Whale Wars". While I greatly sympathize with motives and ultimate goals of the Sea Shepards, they seem to be befuddled and almost almost incompetent, giving their cause a bad name.

I have felt that way for quite some time now. That show makes my skin crawl. Their cause is noble but I think that several of them are buffoons - most of all the captain. He's great at putting other people at risk - just not himself directly. He's going to get someone killed one day. He reminds me of a Jim Jones type of character.

I've seen them do some things on that show that put the Japanese crews well within their rights to shoot someone. Not to mention that everything they do and say is just so dramatic and over the top that it's hard to take it seriously.

 

[OldNSalty]

The ship being boarded has no idea what the people coming onboard are going to do. Are they going to leave a bomb onboard, start shooting, pollute the ship with butyric acid ( what sea shepherd calls butter bombs), the captain of the ship has no idea what these fanatics are going to do. He has every right to repel boarders and protect his ship. What do you think Watson would do if the Japanese tried to board his ship?

Sea Shepherd really didn't like them using the acoustic devices to keep them away from their ships last year.

Yes, we agree. Jeff had attempted to argue the point that simply boarding a ship was not piracy and gave the example of a survivor on a life raft boarding a ship. I was saying that his was a poor example as the crew encountering the life raft has an obligation to help-not shoot. The life raft is entirely different then someone jumping on a zodica, coming to your boat and attempting to climb on-by all mean, let the lead fly if you feel those actions are threating. I probably would.

In fact, I would have considered the 'Steve Erwins' attempts to foul my props a pre-cursor to an illegal boarding and fired them up at that point...but that's just me.

I in no way endorse whaling btw.

 

[SteveAD]

I really LOVE the sea shepherds hypocrasy. While in front of the camera giving an interview they're all saying "I'm prepared to give up my life to save the whales" but let the small boat take a wave wrong and somebody gets a facial lac and it's a critical injury and they have to abort the run to get them to medical help.

 

[jswantek]

Boarding a ship under way, on the open ocean, without permission and without knowledge of intent sure can be considered piracy. Intentionally ramming another ship under way on the open ocean certianly shows hostile intent. These 'activists' belong in jail, not in command of a ship.

If their cause is so noble and so globally respected, why do some members of the crew feel it necessary to hide their faces while on camera?

Should whales be protected? Yes, they should. Should it be done by the high-seas terrorists (yes, I said terrorists) of the Sea Shepherd? No. They have no authority to enforce international law.

One has to wonder if these terrorists were put on television to try to stop whaling or try to stop the Sea Shepherds?

 

[drdiver1952]

Boarding a ship under way, on the open ocean, without permission and without knowledge of intent sure can be considered piracy. Intentionally ramming another ship under way on the open ocean certianly shows hostile intent. These 'activists' belong in jail, not in command of a ship.

If their cause is so noble and so globally respected, why do some members of the crew feel it necessary to hide their faces while on camera?

Should whales be protected? Yes, they should. Should it be done by the high-seas terrorists (yes, I said terrorists) of the Sea Shepherd? No. They have no authority to enforce international law.

One has to wonder if these terrorists were put on television to try to stop whaling or try to stop the Sea Shepherds?

Couple of points here, yes, it could be considered piracy, and actually likely is.
Secondly, there isn't "international law" to protect the whales. It's a voluntary moratorium by the members of the IWC. There isn't anyone to enforce "international law" on the oceans even if there was one. Activism like this is often the only thing that gets thing changed. Is there hypocrisy in the Sea Shepherds? Absolutely. There was in a lot of movements that produced positive changes--civil rights movements, labor movements, and other conservation movements. That doesn't make them wrong--it does make them human.

 

[Desert_Diver]

Couple of points here, yes, it could be considered piracy, and actually likely is.
Secondly, there isn't "international law" to protect the whales. It's a voluntary moratorium by the members of the IWC. There isn't anyone to enforce "international law" on the oceans even if there was one. Activism like this is often the only thing that gets thing changed. Is there hypocrisy in the Sea Shepherds? Absolutely. There was in a lot of movements that produced positive changes--civil rights movements, labor movements, and other conservation movements. That doesn't make them wrong--it does make them human.

What bothers me, Doc, is that Watson is quite willing to put his crew at risk. And even worse, will manipulate them into "volunteering" for dangerous assignments when they don't fully perceive the ramifications. He, on the other hand, protects his own precious butt at all costs. I find that distasteful.

I would like to see an end to whaling, at least until the populations are stable and solid. But I would rather not see a bunch of kids get hurt of killed just to keep Watson's ego pumped up.

Governments do get involved in high seas law when they want to. Canada and the US got into some fishing wars within my memory that had the US Navy and the Canadian Navy pointing big guns at each other. They can do whatever they want to given the political will to suffer the consequences.

Art

 

[drdiver1952]

This is true. But you can say the same about a lot of other leaders of protest movements. Watson is however on the boat too and if anything serious happens he'd end up in some cold, cold water in a small boat too, hoping the Japanese would rescue him.

As far as governments getting involved, within territorial waters this does happen, but within the vast expanse of the oceans, you can pretty much do whatever you want and countries do. The U.S. government isn't going to lift a finger to do anything about whaling in the Antarctic, especially since it's being done by an ally. They haven't done anything about Norway and Iceland either. Whether the Japanese will stop whaling because of economics is unclear. What may happen is that the Japanese will confine their whaling to Japanese waters (where Sea Shepherd doesn't effectively protest). There's some history on protests in territorial waters that I won't go into here. Whale meat is still being sold in Japan and in fact being exported. The fact that Russians are seriously considering it means that in all likelihood whaling will be expanding as the ravenous horde of humans seeks more protein and calories to live.

 

[OldNSalty]

Saw a good quote today for whale wars and how I feel...

"No matter what side of the argument you are on, you always find people on your side that you wish were on the other."
-Jascha Heifetz

 

[Capt.JimDavis]

OK here's my proposal :

Let's contact the whaler's and tell them that if they pay us we will get a boat and block the sea shepherd's efforts to block them.
I'll be the new anti-shepherd boat Captain
I need a crew of 10-15...
We'll get paid good money. Cruise the oceans. Most of our activities on board will be scuba diving, photography, tanning, eating and sleeping.
And we will call ourselves Anti-Piracy Soldiers.
It will be like a loooong vacation.
Who's in?