Founder of Sea Shepherd Arrested in Germany

[Seismosaurus]

And I (and many, many others) would be equally satisfied at watching the whaling ships sink to the bottom.

Well there are always those on the wrong side of any issue.

 

[PhantomWolf]

Well there are always those on the wrong side of any issue.

True, and those that support the going into a declared sanctuary belonging to another country and poaching the wild animals there for the resturant market are on it.

 

[NoahFence]

Well there are always those on the wrong side of any issue.

How about we come to an agreement...

Send the whaling ships down to the bottom of the sea, with their leaders not with John and Jane Doe worker who are just trying to make a buck.

 

[NoahFence]

True, and those that support the going into a declared sanctuary belonging to another country and poaching the wild animals there for the resturant market are on it.

My favorite thing about this latest bout of high-seas road rage by the Nisshin Maru is when the captain told the Australian Flagged ship to get out of Australian waters.

 

[Travis]

'Cuz yea. Being proactive in saving whales and other creatures of the sea is pretty much exactly the same as holding tankers and freight ships hostage with AK-47s until you can get ransom money.

What an absolutely stupid thing to say.

Whilst I'd have a general sense of satisfaction if Japan sent a warship down there and just sunk the Clowns of the Sea once and for all, it would be almost as satisfying if somebody funded some sort of "direct action" group that used all the Clowns own methods and justifications, only against them.

They could take a documentary film crew along and do a show called "Whale Wars Wars"!

One of these days someone is going to flip, climb aboard the Sea Shepherd ship and gun everyone down mercilessly.

And I won't stop laughing at it.

Whaling will eventually be stopped by international treaty. Not by anything those morons do.

If they want to do something worthwhile I say they go vigilante on dog fighting rings which is a much bigger problem than a few whales dying.

 

[NoahFence]

Whaling will eventually be stopped by international treaty.

Now THAT'S funny.

 

[Magenta]

I think you will find that the Japanese are complying with international law with respect to whaling.

The Environment Minister disagrees:

TONY BURKE: Well the Australian Government view is regardless of where they are in the Southern Ocean, they are acting in breach of international law. That's why we've got the action in front of the International Court of Justice which is now getting closer to its full hearing.

Link

 

[Seismosaurus]

How about we come to an agreement...

Send the whaling ships down to the bottom of the sea, with their leaders not with John and Jane Doe worker who are just trying to make a buck.

Nah, I prefer leaving them to get on with it and sinking the Clowns of the Sea instead. But I will settle for letting the Clown Leader go down with his ship whilst his idiot minions get rescued.

 

[Cleon]

How about we come to an agreement...

Send the whaling ships down to the bottom of the sea, with their leaders not with John and Jane Doe worker who are just trying to make a buck.

Nah, I prefer leaving them to get on with it and sinking the Clowns of the Sea instead. But I will settle for letting the Clown Leader go down with his ship whilst his idiot minions get rescued.

I would prefer finding some way to get the Japanese to stop whaling and the Sea Shepherd people to stop acting like morons without getting anyone else injured or killed.

But that's just me. I'm weird like that.

 

[Seismosaurus]

I would prefer finding some way to get the Japanese to stop whaling and the Sea Shepherd people to stop acting like morons without getting anyone else injured or killed.

But that's just me. I'm weird like that.

We all have our foibles.

 

[Noztradamus]

he should be thrown in jail and his captain's license pulled permanently.

Heh! he's a "captain" in the 16th century sense. A commander who happens to be on a ship, and who needs a sailing master to actually sail the ship. His official status with maritime licensing boards is "deckhand"

 

[Cain]

Someone today (weirdly) criticized anti-whaling animal rights activists for boarding a ship, shooting the captain in the stomach, and then lighting it on fire (no one died). I turned to my imaginary friend and said, "no, that's what the anti-colonists did to the Gaspee," which was totally OK because taxes are way, way worse than whale-killing. Now it's celebrated and commemorated in Rhode Island, where people burn effigies of the Gaspee.

 

[StankApe]

Heh! he's a "captain" in the 16th century sense. A commander who happens to be on a ship, and who needs a sailing master to actually sail the ship. His official status with maritime licensing boards is "deckhand"

ahhhh, I just assumed he had a captain's license.

 

[Ryokan]

You'll have my whale burgers when you pry it from my cold dead hands....

 

[PhantomWolf]

Nah, I prefer leaving them to get on with it and sinking the Clowns of the Sea instead. But I will settle for letting the Clown Leader go down with his ship whilst his idiot minions get rescued.

So by this I assume you are prefectly fine with animal poaching and going into the territories of other countries to do it?

 

[rwguinn]

So by this I assume you are prefectly fine with animal poaching and going into the territories of other countries to do it?

It ain't poaching if you have the landowner's permission or otherwise are legally on the property, have a license, and obey the laws relative to what you're after...

 

[PhantomWolf]

It ain't poaching if you have the landowner's permission or otherwise are legally on the property, have a license, and obey the laws relative to what you're after...

Something tells me that they don't have permission.

TONY BURKE: Well the Australian Government view is regardless of where they are in the Southern Ocean, they are acting in breach of international law. That's why we've got the action in front of the International Court of Justice which is now getting closer to its full hearing.

And paying off a whole lot of countries to prevent them voting for a total ban so you can then give yourself a quota in someone else's waters is not morally, or according to both the Australian and New Zealand Governments legally right either.

 

[mortimer]

In some cases yes. There is no justification for the slaughter of whales, they are NOT needed for food, and most Japanese don't eat whale anymore and wouldn't miss it. Even those that do still eat it don't need it.

There is no particular species of animal that is needed for food. What makes whales so important to protect over, say, chickens? There is a limit on how many whales can be taken per year, and the whales that are taken are not in any way endangered.

 

[Magenta]

Apparently at sea fueling is not allowed by treaty below 60s however a fuel ship being below 60s is not illegal in and of itself as long as it's not carrying heavy fuel oil. That's only because since 2011 there are supposed to be no ships at all below 60s that carry or are using heavy fuel oil.

The question I would ask is why the whalers couldn't head north ~50 miles to refuel in waters where it is allowed. My guess would be that the Sea Shepherds were blocking them by staying north of their position with the intention of making them run out of fuel. I'm also guessing that it's not illegal to refuel using diesel fuel when it becomes a safety of ship issue (running out of fuel is most certainly a safety of ship issue no matter where you are).

ETA: Panama is NOT a signatory member of the treaty and as such it was not illegal for them to be there even with heavy fuel oil.

The new rules concerning using heavy fuels (and I believe refueling in general) didn't take effect until 2011 if I'm reading it correctly so it doesn't matter.

I'm slowly working my way through the different conventions. The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) applies here, specifically Annex I (Regulations for the Prevention of Pollution by Oil).

• Chapter 3 Regulation 15.4 prohibits any discharge into the sea of oil in the Antarctic area (i.e. below 60 degrees) subject to exceptions in
  Regulation 4. Sea Shepherd are alleging this occurred during the refuelling operation.
• Chapter 9 was added to Annex I in 2011 and prohibits the use or carriage of certain oils in the Antarctic area. Sea Shepherd are alleging the Sun Laurel is carrying Heavy Fuel Oil. Chapter 9 doesn't mention refuelling.

The full text of the different annexes and amendments can be downloaded from the AMSA website.

According to Wikipedia, Panama is a signatory to MARPOL.

In Australia, the legislation which gives effect to MARPOL is the Protection of the Sea (Prevention of Pollution from Ships) Act 1983. As the spill and passage of the Sun Laurel are alleged to have occurred in Australian Antarctic Territory, there are reporting requirements and a prosecution might be possible if offences can be proven.

Regarding the Antarctic Treaty, Annex IV to the Protocol on Environmental Protection deals with marine pollution. It more or less mirrors MARPOL and does not specifically mention refuelling.

 

[PhantomWolf]

There is no particular species of animal that is needed for food. What makes whales so important to protect over, say, chickens? There is a limit on how many whales can be taken per year, and the whales that are taken are not in any way endangered.

The so called limit is whatever the country taking them decides it to be. There is no International oversight of that quota. And even this only exists because Japan uses foreign aid money to bribe poor African and Pacific Island nations into voting against a full ban each time the IWC meets and so allows them to retain the status quo.

Besides, what gives the Japanese the right to come down and take them from our waters just because they cleaned their waters out? Who gives them the right to come into an area where they are being conserved, a sanctuary where there is supposed to be no whaling, and just take what they want?

Also there is conflicting data on if they are rare or not. The Japanese claim they aren't. Other groups claim they are still endangered, and we do know that the Japanese want to expand their operations to include the endangered ones such as Blue Whales.