Japanese whaler ship rams conservationist boat
 

Looks like deliberate and unprovoked. What is with whaling? Is it very lucrative or what?

Japanese Whalers Ram Sea Shepherd Ship Ady Gil - Sea Shepherd

YouTube - Ady Gil rammed by Shonan Maru No. 2, view from MV Bob Barker

How about posting a less one-sided source?

Ady Gil sinks after whaling skirmish - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Whaling war turns violent

There are always two sides to every story.

How can you say it is deliberate and unprovoked. Who knows what happened in the moments before this very short video. I am not saying the Japanese ship is right, I am saying there is more to the story we don't know.

I'm only talking about what that particular video shows. I obviously left it up to others to post "fair and balanced" links full of backstory opinion quotes. But the events in the incident are obvious; who is to blame is another story. But for example, you see that video, then some are trying to say that it's obvious the batman boat got in the bigger ship's way, when no such thing is so. That sort of argumentation makes that side look very weak.

My main question remains, is whaling lucrative enough to spit in the face of conservationist efforts? Does it compare to the oil and coal industries or is it an isolated case of a little town somewhere making a living? Wouldn't it be easier enough (or at least less violent) for a whaling industry to spin out some pseudo-science a la climate denial?

I'd hardly use the word "unprovoked". The Sea Shepherd's other ships have rammed, and even sunk other ships in the past (they've rammed Japanese boats, and both rammed and sunk Norwegian vessels). So finally they get hit back and apparently it's all the whalers' fault?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly for whaling, but Paul Watson is both a danger to his cause and his own crew; the stunts he has pulled with his crew of inexperienced volunteers on the high seas is absurd.

I find the difference between the video shown in Japan and elsewhere quite interesting.

The Japanese video shows the SMALLER, much more maneuverable boat coming up and basically stopping in the way of the LARGER, much less maneuverable ship... And surprise surprise, the Japanese ship is unable to swerve out of the way in time.

Really, it looks more like a ploy that a real crash. Like someone stopping a car in front of a train, and then throwing a fit that the train deliberately "rammed" them. Like it could turn or avoid it.

Ask anyone who actually owns a ship - the smaller vessel is responsible for moving out of the way. There is just TOO much time and distance required for a large ship to do so.

Of course, I`m not at all surprised that Sea Shepard would do this. I`m surprised they didn`t let someone on their ship die so that they could jump and call the other ship murderer too...

So you are saying that a first person downward scope pointing only at the water proves the smaller boat moved in front of it? It's relative motion, and smells like nationalist delusion to me; I can recognize it well being so familiar with the US. The other video from a 3rd spot, which seems stationary, clearly shows who's moving and turning where based on the sky. Now, I'm not saying that is for sure, but to deny that with the certainty that the opposite actually occurred is not so much interesting as it is droll. But I digress. My main point remains in the air.

These whalers are ignoring international discourse and are not in waters they have dominion over. The conservationists believe they're protecting something. So is it a free for all? Because to argue the security boat was provoked by preceding incidents certainly isn't citing a case of innocent party vs attack.

So you purposely posted a one-sided link? I am a little lost.

Nothing about the event is obvious to me. Including who is to blame.

If you saw in my second link there are pics of people from the "Batman" boat holding bazooka looking projectile devices. The Japanese boat said it was being attacked. If that were to be true, are their actions not merited?

I wish I knew the answers to these questions.

Do you have a link to the Japanese video?

Interesting you use the word "discourse" rather than "law".

I really do feel for the little whales,

not only do they get grenades detonated inside thier body and then have to deal with an increadible cruel and painfull death
(make no mistake if you killed a single cow in the same manner in any normal country - including Japan - you would end up in prison under animal cruelty laws)

but the only people they have protecting them are peace-nick hippies who have no clue about what they are doing!

(i mean your gonna spend a couple of mill on shiny boats, and not spend a couple of hundered dollars on some RPG's and Semtex?? (current blackmarket prices - of course that may upset the french [ for some reason] - RE: rainbow warrior)

not to mention the plethora of hi teck sollutions (GPS scramble, electromagnetic compas confusion, sonar scramble, radar jamming etc.)
all legal in international waters too (or rather not illigal :cool: )

and the wide range of low tech sollutions, one could simply be infornt of a large vessel trailing a floated steel cable/net, that gets wrapped in the prop.......bye bye ship not moving, also engines/gearbox need overhaul.

although Japan is only whaling for "scientific" purposes right?
so how can they be allowed to sell the meat?

if i were to care enough about this issue to take direct action i would personally do the following.

1. buy a nippy sea worthy boat with a machine gun (lsw type), and a sonar speaker.
then go find pods of whales, transmitting your unique sonar beacon the whole time, pepper the pods with some bullets (this will hurt but not kill the whales), keep doing this, eventually (and it wont take long) the whales will assosiate your sonar noise with getting machine gunned and pain. thus will keep away and avoid this noise.

then all you have to do is have boats shadow the whalling boat transmitting this noise, whales know where the threat is and stay away.

or 2.
Japan says they whale for science but we all know that bollards. its for profit. thus shadow the whaling ship, wait till the have harpooned the whale, and inject the dying whale with a dangerous and highly toxic compound (or perhaps enzyme/virus/bacteria) that would render the meat unfit for human consumption. (even better a virus that would be very harmfull to humans - though i would not go as far as any pathogen capable of aerosol infection - i'm not too up on WMD legislation but pretty sure thats gonna upset someone somewhere :P )

lets see how long they can keep whaling if they are unable to sell the meat.

or 3 the russian aproach,

blackmail

4. the chinese apraoch

make a friend on the whaling ship, and have him commit sabotage. (there are so many ways this can be done without the operative being caught)


ultimatly

you dont need to stop the whaling ships, you just got to stop them making a profit, once that is done. it will stop.

and it really should.

if someone can invent a way to shoot the whale and kill it dead, then go right ahead, but as it stands, the current method of killing a whale is very cruel.

According to a statement from the skipper of the Steve Irwin, the Ady Gil (little speed boat) was deliberately rammed by the Japanese whaling ship. The statement said that the Ady Gil was trying to back out of path of the ship when it was hit.

Unfortunately for the Steve Irwin and the Ady Gil, the video shot from the Japanese ship shows that the Ady Gil was not backing up, and was in fact accelerating into the path of the ship. The video proves the skippers of both the Steve Irwin and the Ady Gil are liars, and deliberately ran their boat in front of the whaling ship to provoke an incident.

Such an action is inexcusable, and it shows that the Sea Shepherd group is dishonest and without integrity.