They said on the news that both boats were 'equally' responsible, but I don't see how the Japanese whalers can be held responsible. First up, the boat they hit was a pirate boat. Obviously safety goes out the window when pirates are trying to attack you. Second, they say the whaling boat should have stopped sooner, but then what should it have done? Usually the idea is to stop until the danger passes, but the other boat was not going to pass, it was going to stay there and keep getting in it's way. While it is reasonable to demand that a boat stop in such a dangerous situation, it is not reasonable to expect them to stop forever and starve to death because a pirate boat won't get out of the way. The anti-whaling pirates were fully responsible because they went out of their way to deliberately create a dangerous situation. The whaling boat on the other hand would have been more than happy to keep a safe distance and went to great effort in attempting to do so, short of never going anywhere.

Renewed call to block anti-whaling ship in NZ

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/1392951

A collision between a Japanese whaler and an anti-whaling protest ship in frigid Antarctic waters has sparked renewed calls for the New Zealand and Australian governments to block the Steve Irwin from refuelling in the two countries.

The Sea Shepherd conservation group ship Steve Irwin was trying to prevent the transfer of a dead whale up the slipway of the factory ship Nisshin Maru this morning, when the Japanese harpoon vessel tried
to block it, making the collision unavoidable, said Steve Irwin Captain Paul Watson.

No one was injured in the collision, which caused minor damage to the stern of the Japanese ship, the hardline anti-whaling group said.

But Japanese authorities said it was an "act of violence and unforgivable".

"It could have been much worse - people could have been killed," New Zealand based spokesman for the Institute of Cetacean Research Glen Inwood said.

Japan repeated a call for the two governments to show responsibility for safety at sea and block the Dutch ship from ports in Australasia, he said.

Mr Inwood said the Steven Irwin would run out of fuel shortly and have to head back to either New Zealand or Australia to restock, while the six Japanese vessels had enough supplies to spend another six weeks at sea.

The Netherlands government should also order the Dutch-flagged Steve Irwin to stop its criminal activities interfering with legal whaling operations, Mr Inwood said.

The annual Japanese whale hunt is aimed at catching about 900 whales.

Although Japan officially stopped whaling under a 1986 global moratorium, it continues to take hundreds of whales under a loophole allowing whaling for research purposes.

Much of the meat ends up on supermarket shelves and dinner tables.

Mr Inwood said the Japanese had not yet released figures on how many whales had been killed in this season's whaling mission, or how many whales the Steve Irwin might have saved from their "lethal research".

After the ramming, crew from the Steve Irwin threw bottles containing butyric acid (produced by rancid butter) at the Yushin Maru No. 2 and the Nisshin Maru.

Most of the bottles just ended up in the Antarctic waters, according to the whalers.

The crew aboard the Steve Irwin had also attempted to entangle the propellers of Japanese vessels, which could potentially pull the propeller shaft out and sink the ship.

Capt Watson said the Japanese responded by blasting his crew with a water cannon, hunks of metal and a "military grade" noise weapon that can cause deafness and vomiting.

The protesters set off from Australia in early December for the remote and icy Antarctic Ocean, chasing the whaling fleet before stopping two weeks ago in Tasmania to refuel.

The group found the whalers again on Sunday and resumed their pursuit.

Excellent.

Sooner or later one of these retards is going to get themselves killed. Our government needs to restore law and order on the high seas, for their own protection.

Ady Gil sinks after whaling skirmish

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/08/2787921.htm



The Sea Shepherd's anti-whaling speedboat Ady Gill has sunk after it was sliced in two by a Japanese whaling vessel during a clash in the Southern Ocean on Wednesday.

Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson told ABC News Breakfast the Ady Gill went down shortly before 3:30am AEDT while it was being towed to a French research base by the group's Bob Barker boat.

"I think they were towing for about six or seven hours," he said.

"Even the act of towing was taking more water on. The Japanese vessel had cut the vessel completely in half and made it unseaworthy."

Six Sea Shepherd crew members were almost thrown overboard and one crew member suffered broken ribs when the Japanese whaling security ship, the Shonan Maru 2, ploughed through the bow of the high-tech Ady Gill on Wednesday.

Both the Japanese whalers and the Sea Shepherd crew blame each other for the incident, which happened in Antarctic waters.

But Mr Watson has defended his crew and says the risk of dying on the high seas is worth it if it allows the group to save whales.

"My crew are well aware of the risks that we have to take to protect whales down here. I think those risks are worth taking," he said.

"I can tell you now that if the oceans die, civilisations collapse and we all die.

"People die everyday to protect oil wells and real estate and we call them heroes and pin medals on them. I think protecting the diversity of oceans... is a far more noble cause."

'Harassment and attack'

But Glenn Inwood from Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research says Mr Watson has a dangerous attitude.

"Paul Watson has said before that he's willing to give any Japanese vessel what he calls a steel enema by ramming his ship into the stern of any Japanese vessel," Mr Inwood said.

"He also proudly displays the number of vessels he's sunk on the side of the Steve Irwin.

"You can understand why the Japanese have put security vessels down there.

"To say Japan has broken maritime laws can't be justified in this instance when you're under constant harassment and constant attack from these ships."

Mr Inwood says Japan's whaling program is internationally recognised as legal.

"The International Whaling Commission (IWC) have sanctioned it. The New Zealand government recognises its legality, and many members of the IWC do as well," he said.

"Sea Shepherd is trying to prevent Japan from conducting what is a legal operation under the rules of the IWC."

Yesterday Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard asked the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) to investigate the incident and said the findings would be made public.

She says the Government reserves the right to take international legal action if diplomacy with Japanese officials fails, and has warned that evidence has already been collected to launch such action.

New Zealand is also investigating the incident because the Ady Gil was registered there.

'An act of war'

Mr Watson says an insurance payout on the Ady Gill is unlikely because the incident was a deliberate act.

"It's a $1.5 million loss for our organisation," he said.

"I think the Japanese deliberately took that vessel out; they saw it as a threat and they were under orders to take it out.

"It would be an act of war so there wouldn't be any insurance on it."

Mr Watson says two Japanese harpoon ships were nearby but did not offer any help after the incident.

"They were responsible, they destroyed the vessel ... I think they should have offered some sort of assistance but they refused to acknowledge any distress signal," he said.

Mr Watson says they were able to remove all the fuel from the speedboat to prevent any pollution.

Mr Watson is urging the Federal Government to take a tougher action against Japanese whalers.

"In the six years that we've been doing this, we've never caused an injury to anyone, we've never broken a law... and now they have sunk one of our vessels," he said.

"[Federal Environment Minister] Peter Garrett has become the master of restraint. He made a campaign promise to end whaling; now let's see him [do something]."

Mr Watson says the Government should send a boat to Antarctic waters, where the Sea Shepherd's other boats - the Steve Irwin and Bob Barker - are continuing to pursue Japanese whalers.

Mr Watson says the boats are chasing the Japanese fleet and the whalers have not killed a whale in two days.

Diplomatic approach

Meanwhile, New Zealand officials have met with representatives from the Japanese embassy in Wellington to discuss the situation.

The ABC understands that at the Wellington meeting, Japan said it regarded the incident as "regrettable" but a "low-key event".

This morning a spokesman for the New Zealand Foreign Minister, Murray McCully, said contrary to media reports, Japan had not lodged a stern complaint with the New Zealand Government.

He said Japanese officials agreed with New Zealand that their citizens needed to have better regard for people on the high seas.

The spokesman said legal action over the collision had not been discussed, because it still had not been established who was at fault.

Maritime New Zealand has launched an investigation

Quote:


Even if that is so, does that mean that most Australians approve of the disgusting tactics employed by your organization?

Well.. I hope not.

Yes Soren, I know you like to build your entire view of someone from as few words as possible. I suppose it saves you having to think.

I think Soren has a point. Politicans should not be trusted or encouraged...

As for Sea shepard and the whalers... They know the stakes of their little war, and should not drag others into it.

freediver wrote on Feb 20^th, 2010 at 2:54pm:


Stepping onto a boat is a choice, whether you've been told the full story or not...

freediver wrote on Feb 20^th, 2010 at 3:30pm:


How did you come up with that from what I wrote?

I just guessed. You aren't making a lot of sense.

Peter Garrett fails to stop cull

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/peter-garrett-fails-to-stop-cull/story-e6frea8c-1225741677450

JAPANESE whaling is set to resume in the Great Southern Ocean after Australia failed to get the numbers atthe International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting to stop the so-called "scientific" slaughter.

Diplomacy will stop Japanese whaling - Stephen Smith

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/breaking-news/diplomacy-will-stop-japanese-whaling-stephen-smith/story-e6frea73-1225810320499

AUSTRALIA will exhaust all diplomatic efforts to stop Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean before resorting to legal action, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says.

We'll take Japan to court: PM

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/well-take-japan-to-court-pm/story-e6frg6nf-1225832387230

KEVIN Rudd has vowed to take Japan to the International Court of Justice if it doesn't agree by November to stop Antarctic whaling, but a behind-closed-doors deal could blow a big hole in his case before then.

A proposed compromise in the International Whaling Commission that allowed Japan to continue so-called scientific whaling, on a more restricted basis, could wreck Australia's claim that the practice is illegal under international law.

The Prime Minister yesterday demanded Japan reduce its Antarctic research quota to zero, from this summer's maximum 985 whales.

"If we don't get that as a diplomatic agreement, let me tell you, we'll be going to the International Court of Justice," Mr Rudd said.

Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, who meets Mr Rudd in Sydney today, said last night he wanted to know exactly what yesterday's comments meant.

"I would like to ask him directly what his real intention was from his comment," Mr Okada said.

"However, I understand he addressed that comment with discretion, making the precondition `if we don't get that as (diplomatic) discussion', so I do not see a big difference."

Liberal environment spokesman Greg Hunt criticised the ultimatum for postponing beyond the federal election a promise Mr Rudd first made as opposition leader in 2007: "He made the promise; he hasn't kept it."

Following a series of hazardous clashes with a Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel, activist Peter Bethune leapt on to a Japanese vessel on Monday and is being taken to Tokyo for possible criminal charges.

Meanwhile, a "support group" of a dozen nations, including Australia and Japan, is trying to negotiate a compromise on the question that threatens the IWC's existence. The group is rumoured to be working privately on a deal limiting, but not halting, Antarctic scientific whaling and allowing commercial whaling in Japanese waters.

Whaling case hangs on IWC ruling

ANALYSIS: Does Australia have a viable case against Japan's whaling? That depends on what happens at the International Whaling Commission in June.

If the IWC adopts a compromise that in any way legitimises scientific whaling, it will become tough to mount the case that Japan is whaling illegally.

Kevin Rudd says the case would go to the International Court of Justice, though there is also the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

Both countries accept the binding nature of the ICJ's jurisdiction, so Japan would be obliged to accept an adverse finding. Also, at the ICJ, Australia can argue the heart of its case: Japan is behaving illegally under international law.

At the tribunal, the main question would be whether marine conservation provisions of the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea are being breached. Australia had initial success there with its 1998-99 case against Japan's huge "experimental" bluefin tuna catch, before losing on a jurisdictional point.

A popular Australian anti-whaling argument is that the killing happens in "our" waters -- but that's unlikely to work in an international court.

Canberra's claim to an exclusive economic zone covering waters extending from the Australian Antarctic Territory is just that -- a claim.

Your right of course, but money is the world's religion. A person willing to do anything to feed a starving family because money enslave people, counts as a form of brainwashing. In the end though, these 2 organizations are just pawns of a bigger organization...

freediver wrote on Feb 20^th, 2010 at 4:19pm:


Global Corporatocracy...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporatocracy

It is annoying when they equate environmentalists with animal libbers. It would still be a great victory for the environment, because the whales were brought back from the brink of extinction. It would just be a blow for animal libbers, who had finally been in a position to tell people what they can and cannot eat.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthcomment/geoffrey-lean/7273258/Japan-gets-the-nod-to-kill-whales-again.html

Commercial whaling may soon resume, after being banned for nearly a quarter of a century. Secret talks, to be held in Florida at the beginning of next month, look like finalising a deal to allow Japan to begin killing the leviathans for gain once more. The deal would go to the International Whaling Commission for approval in June.

World governments agreed to a moratorium on hunting in 1982, after species after species had been driven to the brink of extinction. The halt began five years later, but Japan has exploited a loophole that allows "scientific" whaling, ostensibly for research. It kills about 1,000 great whales around Antarctica annually.

The deal remains under wraps, but is expected to allow the country to whale in its coastal waters. In return, Japan would slightly scale back its Antarctic hunt, but – in another victory for its government – that hunt might be legitimised. Iceland, which also conducts scientific whaling, and Norway, which legally exempted itself from the ban, may also agree to scale back their very much smaller operations.

The idea is that fewer whales would be killed and an anarchic state of affairs brought under control. But conservationists fear that – apart from conceding a principle that represents one of their greatest international victories – the agreement would lead to other countries starting hunts in their coastal waters, and to a worldwide revival of officially sanctioned whaling.

I like whales, and dolphins, and would prefer if japanese people chose something else to eat.

My preference in meat is for it to emanate from the dumb end of the food chain, so naturally I have right wing conservatives as my primary protein source.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/1017431/rudd-govt-urges-end-to-whaling/?r...2/26/2010.

Japan has described an Australian proposal calling for an end to commercial whaling as "extremely regrettable", while maintaining its annual whale hunt is for scientific research.

The Rudd government has presented a proposal to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) calling for an end to whaling in the Southern Ocean within five years.

The proposal also calls for the practice of so-called scientific whaling to be abolished by bringing all whaling under the control of the commission.

But Japanese officials responded to the Australian proposal by stressing the legitimacy of their research, conducted using a loophole in an international moratorium.

"It is extremely regrettable that such a proposal was made," State Secretary of Foreign Affairs Koichi Takemasa said.

There are also concerns the tension over whaling could harm diplomatic relations.

Last week, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced his government would take international legal action against Japan if it did not agree, by November, to end whaling in the Southern Ocean.

Japanese Senior Vice-Minister of Agriculture Akira Gunji defended the annual hunt for whales as "a legitimate activity based on an international treaty".

"We have to work hard so that the whaling issue will not affect the friendly Japan-Australia relations."

The Rudd government's proposal says ending scientific whaling remains a "major priority".

"Australia needs to see an immediate end to unilateral so-called scientific whaling," the proposal said.

Currently, commercial whaling is banned but countries can hunt whales in the name of science. Up to 1900 whales are killed each year.

The proposal also calls for all other whaling, other than aboriginal subsistence whaling, to be phased out and that no new whaling be permitted on species or populations not currently hunted.

It also calls for an immediate end to the hunting of vulnerable species and that no whaling take place in sanctuaries.

"Australia will continue to argue vigorously that whaling should be phased down to zero, with total and permanent elimination of all whaling (other than current aboriginal subsistence whaling), within a reasonable timeframe," the proposal said.

"However, the government recognises the significant difficulties to be overcome to meet this outcome and acknowledges that it may not be possible to achieve these goals immediately."

Australian officials will push their case at a meeting of an IWC working group in the United States next week.

Quote:


No not at all. I'm probably just being a bit negative about how the statement may be perceived and how I perceive it. Nothing would be worse than people not saying what they think or believe.

I don't really agree with Mandella's statement either. Give an individual some instant power and see how they will weild the axe. They will embrace power, they will love it, because they have always craved it.
Nope, I don't think that people are scared of being top of the heap, they just don't want to take the risk of failing, myself included of course.

If I had the power, I would save the whales from the japs. In fact, I'd gun down any jap vessel that comes uninvited within 1000 kooees of our shores. Didn't we sort that lot out in the world wars? Obviously not.
Keep those Nipon densoes away. They have already displayed their propensity for destruction and nothing has really changed except for the laws that they have been forced to live by.
They'd hunt the majestic whales to extinction if they had their way.  They're a stuffed up unempathetic lot those japs.

Quote:


I'm pretty sure they'd prefer to hunt them forever.

freediver wrote on Feb 26^th, 2010 at 9:49pm:


Wouldn't you expect, with all the scientific research the Japanese have been doing into whaling, that they could prove by now that the calamitous depletion of fish stocks in fisheries around the world has been caused by increasing numbers of whales eating up all our fish?