whale wars on Discovery

[polo2k]

So im watching a bit of TV, while having my supper last night, and I caught "Whale Wars" on discovery.

For anyone that doesnt know, this program is about people who are defending wales against capture for "reasearch". Now this program isnt one I usually watch, but last night there was a crash, so on it went!

Basically there was another boat helping out called the "Ady Gill", they passed the other boats (and the whaling ships) and then while having a short rest, they got rammed by a whaling boat.

Before:


After



Now, they were 20 miles off the antartic coast and got rammed by a ship many times larger than themselves. I was seeing things as they were reported (i.e. siding with the boat that got rammed) until I spotted whats printed on the back of their fleeces:

http://www.travelblog.org/Photos/1153096

The ship that rammed the carbon boat (Ady Gil) was the Shunyo Maru 2.

While I realise that it was a stupid move and shouldnt have happened, and where applicable, people should be punished for risking life. WHY ON EARTH do they think its ok to Ram/Sink whaling ships, then get in a tizzy when they retaliate.

Vigilantes eh? 



(For the record, im all for defending whales and not making whale burgers etc, but I just thought the whole situation was a bit backwards!)

[Duncan83]

Love Whale wars, Im a big supporter of what they do.

If anyone wants to see what they are about here is a link to there web site
http://www.seashepherd.org/

[zwilnik]

I'm also a big Sea Shepherd supporter.

Despite their aggressive stance, Sea Shepherd's never injured anyone (or tried to) and all those sunken whalers were empty and sunk in port (the entire Portuguese illegal whaling fleet was scuttled by its own captains when Sea Shepherd offered a reward for any crewmember that would help sink them. As they were crewed entirely by underpaid immigrant crewmembers, they couldn't trust their own crew not to scuttle them at sea!).

In all this time, nobody from Sea Shepherd has been convicted of any crime (Paul Bethune, captain of the Ady Gil was acting independently when he boarded the Shonan Maru to try and arrest its captain for the destruction of his ship and was detained at sea for 6 months and tried on trumped up charges).

On the other hand, the illegal Japanese whalers have attempted to kill and maim at every opportunity. Apart from the deliberate ramming of the Ady Gil, they've attacked with flensing knives, concussion grenades, rifles and even try to use their LRAD (long range accoustic weapon) against the Sea Shepherd helicopter to try and make it crash.

Sea Shepherd do p**s people off that don't agree with their tactics, but that's just them doing their job.

[MikeDunn]

this program is about people who are defending wales against capture for "reasearch".

Didn't they used to burn cottages back in the 80s   

[EtchedPixels]

Oddly enough no.. despite years of digging all the police ever turned up for almost every incident was an insurance scam by owners wanting to cash in on the "story".

Alan