Like the Antarctic ocean, the law is a sea of grey.
Watson makes a pretty good case. He also attacked the Sieera Clib for being sell outs to the left and Democrat Party for pushing open-borders etc.
Watson is an arrogant jerk.
At an animal rights convention in 2002, Paul Watson was also quoted as saying, “There’s nothing wrong with being a terrorist, as long as you win. Then you write the history.”
There is another option, blow them out of the water.
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I wish the Japanese would sink them.
This are terrorists and pirates. If the Japanese sank them and refused to pick up survivors, it would be a gray area also, but legal.
Respond to that terrorist sympathizer!
I can’t believe that FR is now seeing pro-leftist ecco/enviro-nazi posts.
But I won’t resort to insults.
The Japanese fleet is operating under international law that allows them a strict quota of whales. They are following the rules given to them. What is so hard to understand?
The Sea Shepherd organization not only interferes with legal operations, but engages in intentionally dangerous and provocative attacks (including intentional ramming of their vessels into the Japanese ships, dragging prop-fowlers which can disable a ship. They engage in throwing objects with no regard to safety of the workers on the Japanese ships, indeed hoping to cause physical harm.
Just because one many not agree with what the Japanese whaling fleet is doing, does not automatically give anyone the right to cause harm or damage (or endanger human life) to try to stop the action. What if an enviromentalist nut job decided that he didn’t like the kind of car you drove? He decides to run you off the road. You think that is ok?
Or the crazies who burn down new subdivisions because their view was that it stepped on mother nature...
Or if some crazy decides to run me off the road on the way to go deer hunting - because I am going to shed that poor innocent creature’s blood... Or maybe they just hurl butyric acid or some other irritant or caustic material on me. Or maybe they just slit my tires. Or...
Even the extremist groups like Greenpeace don’t like to associate with the Sea Shepherd organization for a reason - they are WAY outside the law.
The resource being utilized is monitored by the international community. The quota set is well below what the population can endure.
Let one of those crazies try to stop me next time I go to the grocery store after some steaks...
Oh please...assaulting the Japanese ships with butyric acid, ramming the japanese ships with the Steve Irwin, boarding a vessel at sea without permission (season 1), interfering with the search and rescue operations of a Japanese sailor who fell overboard, putting the lives of his incompetent crew at risk, wanton endangerment, the list goes on and on. Australian officials have boarded the Steve Irwin more than once in port and are hopefully building a case against these eco-terrorists.
The Japanese whaling is legal and within reason. The species they hunt are already overpopulated. They do research then sell the rest of the whales for food. Big freaking whoop.
Maneuvering to obstruct a working fishing vessel is a violation of maritime law. Boarding a vessel without permission is a violation of maritime law. Maneuvering to collide with another vessel is a violation of maritime law.
Capn Watson makes a big deal of being a “pirate”.
He should be treated like one.
I haven’t spent any time arguing that the Sea Shepherds are breaking the law, but it’s great fun to watch the incompetent hippies try to get themselves killed.
Ole Watson keeps bleating that he's willing to die for the whales, well, he's had plenty of opportunities and has chosen instead to maintain the Vulcan Death-Grip on the Mother Ship Coffee Mug and let his Keystone Cop Crew go out to foil the Harpooning Harpies.
Legal arguments? “Like the Antarctic ocean, the law is a sea of grey.”
“Given the lack of any evidence that Japan is bringing its whaling activities into conformance with the recommendations of the IWC, I am directing the Secretary of State under the Packwood-Magnuson Amendment to withhold 100 percent of the fishing privileges that would otherwise be available to Japan in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. Japan has requested the opportunity to fish for 3,000 metric tons of sea snails and 5,000 metric tons of Pacific whiting. These requests will be denied. In addition, Japan will be barred from any future allocations of fishing privileges for any other species, including Pacific cod, until the Secretary of Commerce determines that the situation has been corrected. [50]
U.S. President Ronald Reagan, 1988”
The Japanese are commercial whaling. Reagan knew it. Greenpeace knows it. The Sea Shephard folks know it. The Japanese have never stopped whaling. You can Google Japanese whaling or the pictures of the meat on sale in the Japanese markets.
You can argue all you want about whether the greenies are pirates or terrorists or whatever. You can argue that who does what to whom is right or wrong. But for all involved here, cut the crap. The Japanese are hunting whales for commercial purposes. You are lying to yourselves and others if you argue otherwise.
This isn’t a defense of the greens. For all I know the populations are recovered enough to allow hunting. This isn’t a defense of what the greens are doing on the high seas either.
“But facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
John Adams
Thank you, you can continue.
The Japanese whalers are sots ...they use a loophole for 'research' to commercially hunt (if it was research the quota would be far less than a hundred- in some years the quota for 'research' is 300 plus) and sell the meet. The factory ship is a floating meat processing plant, not a 'scientific' vessel. It is a farce.
HOWEVER the SeaSheperd kooks are terrorists! Rather than mounting a legal offense they instead engage in tactics that can lead to damaged property, injury and/or even death in a region that is exceedingly inhospitable ifsomething goes wrong. These nutjobs play chicken in an environment that is unforgiving, and engage in tactics such as ramming ships, chemical assaults and lately the use of lasers that can damage retinas. Sooner or later someone will die ...a given.
Thus, even though I do not support the Japanese 'research' (ha ...that would be like the Chinese commencing on 'Tiger Research,' where they kill 150 tigers each year to 'check stomach contents' ...then lo and behold sell the pelts and the bones for multi millions ....), but allthe same the SeaShepherd kooks are terrorists.
The problem is that from a legal perspective neither of the two seem to be touchable! The Japanese hide behnd their research spiel, while the terrorists seem impervious to a whole hock of legalities that have been thrown their way without any sticking. The best solution might be if they all sink each other.
International waters: not exactly anarchy, but not exactly contained within civilization either. Whether they’re breaking the law or not; they’re definitely engaged in endangering human life for the sake of a stupid whale. They deserve no respect for that. How someone can enjoy a good steak or a chicken breast and then complain about someone eating a tasty cetacean is beyond me.
Every whale killed saved 50 million plankton and 34,00 chickens.
I don’t miss an episode of Whale Wars. I ALWAYS cheer for the Japanese whalers. The end of last season saw the Steve Irwin ram one of the Japanese ships. The Sea Shepherds own video of the incident showed Paul Watson directing the SI into the Japanese ship. When they get that close, I believe the Japanese have every right to use whatever force is necessary to keep the SI away from them. If that means blowing a hole below the water line or whatever it takes so be it.
The Sea Shepherd Society is an organization that has taken the law into its own hands. They are vigilantes. What if someone did that on the streets of New York or L.A.?? They would not be held up as heros.
I'll throw a party the day these pirates drown after the Japanese sink them.
L
The Japanese may be using a loophole to harvest whales for human consumption but consuming whales is something they’ve done for many decades and the whales they are taking are not endangered.
The Japanese are not endangering human lives with their actions. The Watson nut cases are endangering human lives and are nothing but common pirates and should be treated as such, it is surprising to me that anyone here at FR would support their criminal actions.