Tensions mount between Sea Shepherd activists, whalers

The so-called Whale Wars saga involving Japanese whale hunters and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society activists appears to have reached a boiling point.

The crew of the Yushin Maru 3 on Friday issued a mayday signal, claiming it was under attack by the activists from the Sea Shepherd vessel Bob Barker. Sea Shepherd countered that the Bob Barker was seven miles away when the distress signal was issued, and accused the harpoon boat crew of trying to ram and destroy its smaller harassment boat.

“It was like staring death in the face when that steel hull suddenly turned into us. We just narrowly avoided being cut in half,” said Locky  MacLean, captain of the the boat, named Gojira.

The Institute of Cetacean Research, the group supporting the so-called scientific whaling missions, issued a news release stating that the assault continued for hours despite the mayday call, and that activists "deployed at least 10 propeller foulers and threw more than 80 butyric acid-filled glass bottles and at least five smoke bombs against the Yushin Maru 3."

The Yushin Maru 3, one of three harpoon boats involved in the Southern Ocean hunt, apparently had been tailing the Bob Barker in an attempt to prevent it from pursuing the factory processing ship, Nisshin Maru. Sea Shepherd stated that a Gojira crewman radioed the Yushin Maru 3 and said it would not be hassled if it stopped tailing the Bob Barker.

Sea Shepherd also claims that someone on the harpoon boat hurled a "bamboo spear" at an activist driving an inflatable vessel alongside the harpoon boat. Sea Shepherd posted video of that incident on its website.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo: Sea Sherpherd activists are fired upon by water cannons. Credit: Gary Stokes / Sea Shepherd

 Twitter: @Pete_Thomas

Comments

[Jennifer]

nice post thanks for sharing

[Logic Error]

Ah Japan... a funny country of old people homes, bureaucrats and gangsters. This whale hunt is typical Japanese stupidity. Flush a lot of public money down the drain for a small industry that generates no real value but protects a small set of bureaucrats, who can use nationalistic sentiment to distract from the turdfest the Japanese establishment has created. Keep it up Japan -- the Chinese are going to have a field day with y'all.

[Devon]

Every year Paul Watson makes the following statement- " Whaling will end this year or I will die trying" And every year Watson is back.

One bamboo stick is made into a spear attack.

Why is anything he says believed?

[Thomas]

@Gary

Money spent with Sea Shepherd is money wasted. They lost 5.5 million over the years they spent trying to save seals in Canada. They have since abandoned the seals effort and now focus on whales.

Year number four and nothing will change.

You say they "saved" a few whales last year?

"Postponed" is a better word and Paul "I-Was-Shot" Watson likes it that way. He's not seeking and end to whaling, just a shifting of baselines, every so slightly, so the effort will start fresh next year and next year and next year.

What happened to Operation Blue Rage in the Med?

Did they save any tuna?

What happened to The Cove?

Did they save any dolphins?

What happened at the Faro Islands?

Did they save any whales?

Sea Shepherd does not protect and save anything. They do collect and save your well meaning donations though, and not one red cent every gets lost in that ongoing effort!

[Andrew Keet]

Last I heard was that Australia had filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice over Japan hunting whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in June 2010, wonder what's happened to that. What I don't understand is why does not Japan just raise an objection as stated in Article V, Point 3 on The Convention and just withdraw from it completely. For those that want to learn more about whales, view: http://www.whales.org.za

[sidewinder]

The Japanese are poaching endangered whales in a whale sanctuary in complete defiance of a global moratorium on whaling all in the name of "Science" and guess what? The meat ends up on dinner plates, school lunch boxes and in the pet food aisle of supermarkets.

The Japanese are becoming increasingly desperate and dangerous. Unfortunately, we have to deal with a tidal wave of pro-whaling antagonists.

[Gary]

Yes, I see the pattern clearly. If it wasn't for Sea Shepherd, the ONLY conservation group in the world willing to risk all to stop the illegal whaling, Japan would be slaughtering whales by the thousands! I doubt if the whales are getting tired of Captain Watson and his crew's heroics! Go Sea Shepherd!

[Benjamin]

NOW we need a real Captain Nemo to stop the illegal whaling. Scientific research? No way!

[Brian]

Anybody care to explain what "research" Japan is conducting?

Of course we all know that the "research" is non-existent and only an excuse to market and sell whale meat.

[AnimuX]

Some pro-whaling antagonists believe Japan's abuse of Article VIII of the ICRW means it can ignore Article V of the ICRW which clearly states:

"The Commission may amend from time to time the provisions of the Schedule by adopting regulations with respect to the conservation and utilization of whale resources, fixing (a) protected and unprotected species; (b) open and closed seasons; (c) open and closed waters, including the designation of sanctuary areas; (d) size limits for each species; (e) time, methods, and intensity of whaling (including the maximum catch of whales to be taken in any one season); (f) types and specifications of gear and apparatus and appliances which may be used; (g) methods of measurement; and (h) catch returns and other statistical and biological records."

That would include protection status of whales that Japan currently hunts in place before the moratorium and sanctuary. Then the establishment of the moratorium on commercial whaling which Japan abuses Article VIII to sidestep. And of course the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

The fact of the matter is, Japan has historically violated size limits, species protections, seasonal limits, sanctuary boundaries, all manner of quotas, and even facilitated "pirate whaling" (that's front companies with foreign labor killing whales in secret without respect for regulations and then smuggling the unreported meat to Japan's markets - so much for tradition...). The current whaling operation is just another incident in a long pattern of criminal behavior on the part of the government of Japan and the whaling industry it supports politically and financially.

Japanese whalers annually kill:
Endangered Fin whales
Endangered Sei whales
Vulnerable Sperm whales
Bryde's whales
Common Minke whales (many from the vulnerable J-stock)
and Antarctic Minke whales (listed as data deficient but the IUCN has conflicting data that could indicate a significant decline in population)

Japan also imports the meat of Endangered Fin whales from Iceland.

[BB]

"Most people don't realize that Japan has been violating whaling regulations since the 1930s. "

I'd like you to tell me exactly what regulation Japan is breaking by whaling. The right of a member state of IWC to whale for the purpose of research is enshrined in Article VIII of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling.

http://iwcoffice.org/commission/convention.htm

Article VIII
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.
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.
Each Contracting Government shall transmit to such body as may be designated by the Commission, in so far as practicable, and at intervals of not more than one year, scientific information available to that Government with respect to whales and whaling, including the results of research conducted pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article and to Article IV.
Recognizing that continuous collection and analysis of biological data in connection with the operations of factory ships and land stations are indispensable to sound and constructive management of the whale fisheries, the Contracting Governments will take all practicable measures to obtain such data.

[Hideyoshi Toyotomi]

It looks like Sea Shepherd are getting more violent as they get more desperate. They haven't seen the factory ship, Nisshin Maru, for weeks. They are failing to deliver on their promise of shutting down Japanese whaling. They are yet again untterly ineffective. One would think a refund of all those donations they solicited with the promise of halting Japanese whaling is in order.

[Sink the Poachers]

Without Animal Planet? What a joke. Paul's been ramming poachers for 30 years, learn your history.

[AnimuX]

Most people don't realize that Japan has been violating whaling regulations since the 1930s. If those whalers get a chance to wreck a boat full of activists and call it an accident, they'll take advantage. Japan lost the vote on the moratorium in '82 and lost the vote on the whale sanctuary in '94.

Yet despite those decisions by the IWC, and multiple resolutions calling on Japan to stop killing whales, and the dogged interference by environmental groups and protest by millions of people, the government of Japan continue to fund and facilitate whaling. All of this is done to secure support for entrenched bureaucrats (amakudari) who ensure public funding for whaling and later leave their official positions to take high paying jobs in the commercial whaling industry they once oversaw.

[Thomas]

So called is correct. Does anyone see a pattern here?

Every season the same old thing end the season with some high drama.

Last year it was Peter B and his boarding of the Yushin.

The year previous it was Watson smashing his vessel into the side of the Yushin.

The year before...ah you get the idea. Let us not forget this is just reality television, without Animal Planet Watson has nothing except a fading main stream media who are becoming bone tired of his faux anger and glass bottle tossing.