Whale Wars

[xariatay]

I am gg to borrow the Whale Wars from the library this evening, after reading the excerpt of Whale Warriors at The Cove's website. The Cove Movie: Whale Warriors
"We paddled past the rock corner and looked into the inlet. It was all blood. Thick and red, like paint. The dark bodies of two pilot whales floated in it, washed into the beach. And then I saw them: twelve or fifteen of the little whales pressed in panic against a far net......"

The volunteers for Crew At Sea for Sea Shepherd have to be more than 18y-o. Isn't that legal age?? Imho, all the youngsters understand & are brave enough to undertake the risk because they believe that they are helping the cause they believe in... These youngsters & the future generations will have to clean up the (our) mess & hopefully they are not all talk, no action... Maybe in the future, there won't be the need to talk, when the whales become extinct...

PS. Go watch The Cove, it is very good!

 

[DennisS]

Trust me there are many "non-hippie" babes too. I mean the ones who take regular showers.

Hey we'll be there for a noble cause like those guys and gals. It may not seem noble to them, but to us it is( Stopping Piracy)...

Stopping piracy in Luxury

Luxury Pirate-Hunting Cruise - Maggie's Farm

 

[Sinbad the Diver]

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.

What's even funnier in a hypocritical way is when they attack one of the ships, throw lines to foul their props, try to throw acid on the deck then act all incredulous when the people on the ship throw bolts at them as they approach and start talking about the violence of the whaling crew. That's like saying someone is violent because they punched you after you "non-violently" kept trying to slap them.

The Capt of that disaster of an effort should be in prison IMO. As others have said, his motives are good, but there are courts and legal remedies for things like this. But, also keep in mind that much of what you see is TV sensationalism. Those people know the cameras are there, they are playing to them and the end result is edited for TV. I know from several experiences that Discovery and it's other versions create "reality" that's not very indicative of the reality that happened. I suspect there is an editorial attempt to show the galantry of the poor underfunded, inexperienced seasheppards against the mighty power of Japan and all it's evil. Makes good TV and in the end the SeaSheppards end up protected (the whalers know the cameras are there, thus the restraint they show) and they get to show people how little power they have and they need help (good propaganda). In the end, decent ratings for Discovery and a PR win for Paul and his band of misfits for acting like clowns for a couple weeks.

 

[diverdoug1]

When Watson called the press after he rammed the harpoon ship, he lied and said that the harpoon ship turned in front of him. The multiple videos show that Watson was deliberate in his effort to turn starboard into the harpoon ship. He lied about what he did, because he knew that what he did could get his chit revoked. The men working on the whaling ships should not have their lives put in peril by anyones ecological agenda. Sure, go ahead and film the whaling activities in all their gory detail. Use that footage to bring pressure aginst the owners of the whaling ships. Don't try to hurt their employees. Watson has me pulling for the whalers!

 

[drdiver1952]

Sure, go ahead and film the whaling activities in all their gory detail. Use that footage to bring pressure aginst the owners of the whaling ships

This has been done for years. It doesn't work. People that don't want to support direct intervention against whaling, dolphin killing, shark finning, cyanide fishing of reefs, etc. should acknowledge the fact that when they say they are against these things that their opposition is limited to what leaves them feeling comfortable. Comfortable and ineffective. As Edward Abbey said, "If the end doesn't justify the means, what does?"
Paul Watson has many flaws (as I know very well as I spent a year researching Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace for the book), but he's out there and he does have some effect, not what's ultimately needed for sure, but more than has been done from years of hand-wringing protests by armchair environmentalists. It's easy to criticize, not so easy to do something.

 

[diverdoug1]

Don't care if it is not easy, don't do anything if all you can do is endanger the lives of those sailors. If they can't come up with a better way of getting the whalers to stop, that does not justify risking the lives of others! And you betcha', it sure is easy to criticise these reckless actions of Watson and his crew. Also, when you suggest that if we don't suppport direct opposition of activities such as shark finning / whaling/ ect....that somehoe our convictions are not as deep as others, you are way of base. We just draw the line at attempted murder to save the whales. YOU DON"T RAM ANOTHER SHIP IN THE Antarctic TO SAVE A F_CKING WHALE!!!! Activism is good, but not taken to this extreme.

 

[fcg_vi]

This may be a better way: Earthrace-Sea Shepherd/ .. should be an interesting season 3 at least!

 

[TheScubaBOB]

I have to say that I've really enjoyed the last season of Whale Wars.

I DO NOT CONDONE INDUSTRIAL WHALING by any means but...

Paul Watson claims to be too extreme for Green Peace and yet I don't see his RIBs being placed between the harpoon ships & the whales.

He actively plans pirate attacks on the Japanese ships and cries foul when they defend themselves. How I wish they had tried to use a sharpened grappling hook to rip the netting on the Japanese ships, I would have got a good laugh when they instead popped the RIB with their own hook. Of course Paul would have called the media and claimed that the Japanese shot the RIB!

He's a pirate and doesn't even follow the mandates of the Dutch Government (under whose flag he sails).

Even before the cameras were placed on board the Japanese demonstrated restraint as is evidenced by the fact that Paul has lived long enough to get old, gray & fat.

 

[khacken]

To say that other methods are not working does not justify violence and destruction of property. They are no better than the terrorists in Afganistan. The only difference is that Sea Shepard has not killed anyone, yet...

 

[Tigerman]

They are the only people out there doing anything that is even remotely working. And yes, they often look pathetic, but most are volunteers with few boat skills.

And whaling is on the increase. Iceland is doing it again. The Russians are thinking about it.

And Norway has been doing it for years. One of the main problems with the whole "whaling or not whaling" discussion is that people assume that all whales are endangered, which is not correct.