Sea Shepherd Has Found the Japanese Fleet

[Keykeypie]

Sea Shepherd Has Found the Japanese Fleet

0420 Hours. February 9th, 2007 (0730 Hours, February 8th, PST)

The Robert Hunter is now 3 nautical miles from the Japanese whaling fleet. The Sea Shepherd helicopter Kookaburra has flown over the Nisshin Maru and three harpoon vessels and has identified the Japanese fleet 100%

The Farley Mowat is now 20 nautical miles from the fleet and moving towards their position.

The Japanese whaling fleet is 66 Degrees 46 Minutes South and 169 Degrees 52 Minutes East. 122 East northeast of Sturge Island. The seas are moderate. Visibility improving.

The Sea Shepherd ships are now in full pursuit of the illegal whaling vessels of the Japanese whale killing fleet.

The objectives of the Sea Shepherd vessels are to enforce international conservation law against illegal Japanese whaling operations in accordance with the principles established by the United Nations World Charter for Nature.

The Farley Mowat has a crew of 20 under the command of Captain Paul Watson. The Robert Hunter has a crew of 37 under the command of Captain Alex Cornelissen of the Netherlands.

The Sea Shepherd ships have been searching for the Japanese fleet for the last month covering thousands of square miles of ocean off the coasts of Antarctic
______________________________________

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UPDATE....the confrontation
http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_070208_2.html

[Fauxmage]

Wow! Thanks for that, Keykeypie.

[Charmagne]

Good work!!:yea: :colors:

[Gliondrach]

I hope they stop the scum.

[Fauxmage]

Activists Attack Japanese Whaling Vessel


By RAY LILLEY (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
February 09, 2007 11:50 PM EST
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Two activists attacked a Japanese whaling ship with a bottle of acid and a smoke bomb Friday, slightly injuring two crew members after the vessel helped rescue the protesters from the icy Ross Sea off Antarctica, officials said.
The activists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society protest ship Farley Mowat disappeared during a confrontation with the Nisshin Maru but were found after about seven hours, with members of the Japanese whaling expedition assisting.
John Gravois of Los Angeles and Karl Neilsen of Perth, Australia, were picked up in good condition from their Zodiac dinghy after its fiberglass hull had cracked, skipper Paul Watson told The Associated Press by telephone. The pair had been wearing survival suits and were carrying a GPS navigation system.
"They hunkered down, kept hydrated and waited to be found," said Sea Shepherd's international director, Jonny Vasic.
The pair had last been seen near the Japanese vessel after protesters in three Zodiacs confronted the whalers and caused them to abandon a chase for a pod of whales.
Watson said the two activists had gotten lost after fog, mist and drizzle blanketed the area.
The Nisshin Maru responded to call for help from the Sea Shepherd and joined in the search, Watson said.
Glen Inwood, a spokesman for Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research, said the Japanese whaling ships had turned back toward the protest vessels to help find the missing crew.
Watson said that when he thanked the crew of the Nisshin Maru for their help, "they were very professional. They just said they'd wait for us" to resume the protest.
"I said, 'I guess we're back on schedule, and we'll be pursuing you again,'" Watson said.
The protesters then again began their chase of the Japanese vessel and dumped foul-smelling butyric acid onto the whaling ship's deck, injuring two Japanese crew members, according to Takahide Naruko, the chief of the Far Seas Fisheries Division of Japan's Fisheries Agency.
They suffered facial injuries when the bottle of acid smashed on deck, sending shards of glass flying, he said. One crewman was hit by an empty container of acid and the other had acid squirted in his eye, he said.
Japanese broadcaster NHK said the protesters also threw a smoke bomb.
The injuries were not life-threatening, said Hideki Moronuki, the assistant director of the agency's whaling department.
"They're terrorists," Moronuki said of the activists who had been searching for the Japanese fleet for weeks. "They must stop these dangerous acts immediately.
"We rescued them from a humanitarian point of view, but they attacked the Japanese as soon as they were safe," Moronuki said.
The attack also drew criticism from Bill Hogarth, U.S. Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission, who cited a 2006 IWC resolution denouncing actions that risk human life.
"I'm disappointed Sea Shepherd took an action that risked lives," Hogarth said in a news release.
"The United States is extremely concerned that encounters like this could escalate into more violent interactions between the vessels. We still oppose Japan's research whale hunts, but the way to resolve this is through the IWC process," said Hogarth, who is the current IWC chairman.
New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter, a staunch whaling opponent, said the two activists were "very lucky to be alive."
"What they are doing is putting their lives at risk and ... I feel, compromising a very strong conservation message, because I think most fair-minded people would see it as extreme overreacting to put your life at risk," he told National Radio.
The Sea Shepherd's Web site described the 1 1/2 gallons of butyric acid that was dumped on the Nisshin Maru's deck as nontoxic, but foul-smelling enough so that it "stopped all work of cutting up whales."
Activists in Zodiacs also used nail guns to fasten plates over the Nisshin Maru's drain outlets, which spill whale blood into the sea.
Japan is considering what measures to take, including a possible lawsuit against the group, Moronuki said.
The Nisshin Maru left Japan in November for a six-month whaling expedition in the Antarctic as part of a scientific whaling program conducted within the rules of the International Whaling Commission.
Tokyo maintains that whaling is a national tradition and a vital part of its food culture, and is pushing for a limited resumption of hunts, arguing that whale stocks have sufficiently recovered since 1986 when a global moratorium on commercial whaling was introduced.
---
Associated Press Writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this story.
---
On the Net:
Sea Shepherd: http://www.seashepherd.org

[Oracl]

I think that all the people who go out on the Sea Shepherd ships are extremely brave and I support their actions 100%. :agree: :yea:

[Gliondrach]

'They're terrorists. They must stop these dangerous acts immediately,' said some Japanese fisheries bloke.

Yes. The whalers are terrorists and must stop immediately.

I don't believe any of the whalers were injured. Scum who slaughter other creatures are quite capable of lying through their teeth.

And scum government agents are quite capable of using illegal and murderous tactics - as the French showed twenty years ago.

[thevegantwins]

I think that all the people who go out on the Sea Shepherd ships are extremely brave and I support their actions 100%. :agree: :yea:
Wise Oracl, I agree. :master:

[Fauxmage]

I think its pretty obvious that the Japanese are conducting illegal activity in the Antarctic, and haven't got a leg to stand on. The "scientific research" excuse is a sham, at best. I dislike the characterization of the crew of the Sea Shepherd as "activists", and that they are "attacking". They have the law on their side, and they are enforcing it.
Not that I have a problem with activists. But the media is turning it into a dirty word, and warping its noble meaning, just as the word "vegetarian" got warped. :mad:

[Fauxmage]

Hey! Check out this great blog (http://www.rootsofcompassion.org/sarah/) everyone! :psing:

[Keykeypie]

AWSOME!!

What I see in my mind when I read that are brighteyed children living
in a much better world......they're at the feet of an old lady, listening in wonder at her stories of how, as a young woman, she went off to sea to help save the whales ......as I said, these "future" children live in a world where things like that no longer happen.

Thanks so much for posting this Fauxmage.....surrounding Sarah & all
the brave crew with white light & good energy

[Oracl]

What a great blog! :agree: Thanks Fauxmage. :nanakiss:

[Fauxmage]

AWSOME!!

What I see in my mind when I read that are brighteyed children living
in a much better world......they're at the feet of an old lady, listening in wonder at her stories of how, as a young woman, she went off to sea to help save the whales ......as I said, these "future" children live in a world where things like that no longer happen.

Thanks so much for posting this Fauxmage.....surrounding Sarah & all
the brave crew with white light & good energy
Aw, Keykeypie, I hope that dream comes true. :colors:

[Gliondrach]

I know it will come true.

[Keykeypie]

I read the entire blog.......I'm just so in awe of this young girl....she writes
really well so you can see & even feel her excitement at all the new things she's getting to see.....and yet.....no comments [except the one I just left] ......come on Naked Vegans....let's send her a few lines....OK?

[Oracl]

I've left her a comment. :)

I was going to post one before, no....really....I was, :agree: but I had not quite made the effort. :o Thanks for the nudge, Keykey! ;) :D

[Keykeypie]

I've left her a comment. :) ;) :D

Good......I'm glad, but worried now after reading the latest....it's getting
scary....

AR-News


Protest ship collides with whaler
Sinikka Crosland <t...@shaw.ca>


Protest ship collides with whaler
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,21212600-948,00.html
staff writers and wires


February 12, 2007 12:00pm


ANTI-WHALING activists say one of their vessels and a Japanese whaling ship have collided near the Ross Sea, sparking a distress call from the Japanese crew.


A statement from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society said the whaling vessel, the Kaiko Maru, issued the distress call, which the group had acknowledged, about 5.20pm (3.20pm AEDT) today.


Sea Shepherd leader Captain Paul Watson said the confrontation occurred when the conservation group's vessels, the Robert Hunter and the Farley Mowat, caught the Japanese ship bearing down on a pod of whales.


"At one point the Kaiko Maru turned to starboard and struck the Robert Hunter,'' Sea Shepherd said.


"The Kaiko Maru has issued a distress signal. We have acknowledged this distress signal but they refuse to say what distress they are in."


Earlier it had been reported that the Sea Shepherd activists were threatening to sacrifice a ship by ramming a Japanese whaler.


Captain of the Farley Mowat Paul Watson had said his vessel, was almost out of fuel and he was considering giving the Japanese whaler, the Nisshin Maru, a "steel enema'' by ramming its slipway .


Mr Watson said his boat, currently north of the Balleny Islands, west of the Ross Sea, was now seen as a pirate vessel, and he would rather lose it in defence of whales than to bureaucrats.


"I have spent 30 years of my life trying to protect whales. I am getting sick and tired of politicians doing nothing,'' he said.


He said he intended to take drastic action, probably in the next 24 hours, to slam his vessel into the Nisshin Maru's slipway, preventing it from hunting more whales.


"We would probably be stuck into them. They would have to go back to Tokyo with us sticking out of their rear end,'' he said.


"Perhaps it's time to give these cruel whalers a steel enema they will never forget.''


Mr Watson had said the move could be avoided only by a pledge from the New Zealand or the Australian governments to stop the "criminal operations'' by the Japanese.


"Perhaps it is time for a dramatic showdown after 20 years of illegal whaling activity in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary,'' Mr Watson said.


The Farley Mowat was rated a pirate vessel after leaving Melbourne on December 29, while the other Sea Shepherd ship, the Robert Hunter, will lose its British registration on February 19.


Meanwhile, Greenpeace anti-whaling protesters have still to find the whaling vessels.


Sara Holden, aboard their vessel the Esperanza, said they were enroute to try to locate the Japanese fleet.

[Charmagne]

Oh my....I hope they don't get hurt, arrested or worse!! :(

I sure admire his determination!

[Fauxmage]

Whaling Ship Catches Fire in Antarctic


By RAY LILLEY (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
February 15, 2007 12:48 AM EST
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Officials warned of a potential environmental disaster in Antarctica after fire erupted Thursday on a Japanese whaling ship, leaving it crippled and drifting near penguin breeding grounds on the frozen continent's coast.
New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter, whose country is leading efforts to help the stricken ship, said it was carrying 132,000 gallons of heavy oil and 211,000 gallons of furnace oil and was starting to list from water pumped aboard to fight the fire.
"It is a serious situation ... a ship badly damaged and full of toxic oil," Carter told National Radio.
No oil had spilled from the ship and it was in no immediate danger of sinking, officials said.
Japanese officials said the blaze that broke out in the below-decks area of the ship where whale carcasses are processed was under control.
Most of the 148-member crew of the 8,000-ton Nisshin Maru were evacuated Thursday to three other ships from the Japanese whaling fleet in the area, said Hideki Moronuki, an official with the Japan Fisheries Agency.
The Nisshin Maru sent out a distress call early Thursday after the fire broke out, said Steve Corbett, a spokesman for Maritime New Zealand.
Senior crew closed hatches to seal off the burning area - apparently a processing plant inside the ship - to prevent the fire from spreading, Moronuki said.
"The ship has lost all engine power," Corbett said. "The crew are still fighting it, but with 20 people on board they are confident it won't sink and the fire won't spread further."
Carter said the safety of the Nisshin Maru's crew was the top priority, but noted the ship was only 110 miles from the Antarctic coast.
"We are also gravely concerned about the environmental risk to Antarctica's pristine environment if the ship is sufficiently damaged to begin leaking oil," Carter said in a statement.
The Nisshin Maru was one of at least two Japanese whaling ships that have been harassed recently by activists from the conservation group Sea Shepherd, who have thrown foul-smelling acid and other objects at the ships to try to keep them from hunting whales.


I wonder what kind of "scientific research" requires carcass rendering. I should think they would want to be freezing the corpses intact if they are to be worth anything as scientific specimens. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :mad: :mad: :mad: Now they aren't just killing whales, they are endangering the entire ecosystem.

[Oracl]

Now they aren't just killing whales, they are endangering the entire ecosystem.
:(

[Fauxmage]

I just hope they don't find a way to blame Sea Shepherd for this. :crossfingers:

[Charmagne]

Me too!! I hope that oil stays contained.:(

[KRITER]

http://www.seashepherd.org/leviathan/

http://www.whalesafebeer.com/

[Charmagne]

I don't see anything when I pull up the first link. Does anybody else have trouble.

The second link is awesome. Look like they sustained quite a bit of damage. It is so icy out there - they may need to come back for repairs to be safe out there.

Thanks Kriter.

[Fauxmage]

No, the first link didn't work for me, either.

[KRITER]

Sory,dont kno wut I did rong

[Gliondrach]

Couldn't view the first one. It might be something to do with some versions of Inter net Expl orer, such as number 8, not being recognised by some sites. Or some such thing.

[Keykeypie]

Try this one.....

http://www.rootsofcompassion.org/sarah/

[Charmagne]

Thanks for that link KeyKey - but maybe I didn't read it right - why is the Robert Hunter being stripped of it's flag - because Japan said so?

[Keykeypie]

Thanks for that link KeyKey - but maybe I didn't read it right - why is the Robert Hunter being stripped of it's flag - because Japan said so?

I don't know either Charmagne....I don't understand what that means exactly.
But I just got a personal email [not a form letter] from the SSCS [Sea Shepherd Conservation Society] thanking me for a donation I sent. It was real nice of them to do that.

Anyway....here's a link that explains more about the ships (http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_070214_1.html)

[Oracl]

http://www.seashepherd.org/leviathan/

http://www.whalesafebeer.com/
I have fixed KRITER's first link. :) It should work now. :agree:

Thanks KRITER. :colors:

[Fauxmage]

Yes, it does. Thanks both of you. :agree: :)

[KRITER]

Thank you Oracl

[Fauxmage]

Young Japanese Lose Interest in Whaling


By ERIC TALMADGE (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
February 16, 2007 12:49 PM EST
OFF OKINAWA, Japan - Hiroshi Kobayashi has been hunting whales for three years now. He knows just where to look, and boasts that, in season, he has a close-to-perfect record of finding them. But he's never killed one - he captains a whale-watching boat for tourists. And he thinks whaling is, or should be, a thing of the past.
"They used to whale here in Okinawa," he said after taking out a group to see humpback whales migrating through the waters near this southern Japanese island. "It wasn't a problem because there were more whales then. But I really can't support killing them now."
Despite worldwide opposition, the Japanese government is battling to keep the nation's whaling fleet afloat. Now, it also faces a threat at home - a lack of interest among young people who grew up during an international whaling ban, have never eaten whale and see the mammals more as impressive living creatures than as a potential meal.
"It just doesn't seem right," said Kobayashi, who is in his 30s.
The government is unmoved by such sentiment. This week, Tokyo hosted a conference of pro-whaling nations aimed at galvanizing support for the lifting of an international ban on commercial whaling that has been in place since the 1980s.
Pro-whaling nations argue that the International Whaling Commission has abandoned its original purpose of managing commercial whaling and has in effect turned into a whale protection lobby. About half of the commission members - including the U.S. and Britain - boycotted the meeting.
A summary issued after the meeting, which ended Thursday, called the IWC "dysfunctional" and said the "criminalization of whaling should be removed."
Joji Morishita, Japan's representative at the conference, said the country will push for reforms at the next commission meeting, to be held in Alaska. But he warned that Japan won't wait forever.
"Unless we change the IWC's way of doing things, this international organization will be lost," he said, adding that Japan may pull out altogether.
In the meantime, the international commercial whaling ban hasn't stopped Japan from killing whales. Japanese whalers caught about 1,070 minke whales in 2006, as well as 170 Bryde's, sei, sperm and fin whales under the auspices of a research program that began after the IWC ban in 1986.
This year's hunt in the Antarctic may be called off early - a Japanese whaling ship was crippled by fire this week off the world's largest penguin breeding grounds. One crew member was missing, and although the fire was contained below decks it continued to burn, New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter said.
Japan's fisheries agency said the blaze could force an early end to this season's hunt.
The research whaling program is allowed by the IWC, which uses its data and approves its kill quotas. Japanese officials claim the kills are needed to gauge whale populations and to study their breeding and feeding habits. Marine biologists analyze bones from the dead whales and study their stomach contents.
Many environmental groups say the hunts are a pretext to keep Japan's tiny whaling industry alive. Meat from the catch is sold commercially. Canned or frozen whale can be found in most large Japanese supermarkets, and expensive restaurants specializing in whale meat are not uncommon.
But whale is no longer an important part of the Japanese diet.
Unlike older Japanese, who remember whale as a regular item on school lunch menus, many Japanese under age 40 have never tried the meat and, with other sources of protein such as beef more widely available, have little incentive to do so.
The Cetacean Research Institute, which is in charge of the research whaling fleet, hopes to change that.
"As part of our promotion campaign inside Japan, we are trying to have whales eaten for school lunches," said institute spokesman Gabriel Gomez. "It's important to actually try the food and to learn that it's actually good."
He said whale goes well with Japanese food.
"Since Japanese people eat rice, I think it's good for them to eat whales along with their vegetables," he said.
Winning back Japan's hearts and stomachs might be an uphill battle, however.
"My parents' generation may feel differently, but I feel sorry for the whales," said Mayuka Hamai, a college student who took Kobayashi's whale-watching tour. "I've never eaten whale. I'd rather look at one."


I hope this means the end is in sight. I thought things were bad in the USA, but to call an organization that hopes to force the Japanese to eat whales when they don't even want to a "Research Institute"??? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Oracl]

"My parents' generation may feel differently, but I feel sorry for the whales," said Mayuka Hamai, a college student who took Kobayashi's whale-watching tour. "I've never eaten whale. I'd rather look at one."
:yea:

[Fauxmage]

Japanese Whaling Ship Back on Even Keel

http://my.eimg.net/harvest_xml/NEWS/img/20070216/45d53a50_3ca7_15527200702161692127963.jpg (http://enews.earthlink.net/article/pho?guid=20070216/45d53a50_3ca7_15527200702161692127963&article_path=/article/gen&article_guid=20070216/45d68bd0_3ca6_15526200702171290877135)
In this photo released by Greenpeace, the damaged Japanese whaling ship Nisshin Maru center, is sandwiched by a refueling vessel, left, and hunter vessel in the Ross Sea in Antarctica on Saturday February 17, 2007. Daniel Beltra

By RAY LILLEY (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
February 17, 2007 1:31 AM EST
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A Japanese whaling ship stranded in Antarctic waters was on an even keel Saturday after pumps cleared water used to douse the fire that crippled it, a government official said.
Meanwhile, the body of a 27-year-old crewman lost in the blaze aboard the 8,000-ton Nisshin Maru on Thursday has been found, an official said Saturday as the crew continued to refuse a Greenpeace offer to tow the stricken factory ship from the ice-strewn Southern Ocean.
Kazutaka Makita's body was recovered, Japanese government-affiliated Institute of Cetacean Research spokesman Glenn Inwood said.
"It is very sad for the crew and everyone at the ICR," Inwood said.
Officials are still investigating and have not yet determined the cause of the blaze.
The Nisshin Maru is the only ship in the fleet able to process whale carcasses and the season may have to be abandoned if the ship is inoperable. The fleet planned to hunt up to 945 whales from mid-December to mid-March. It was not immediately known how many whales have been killed so far.
New Zealand officials and environmentalists have expressed concern that the Nisshin Maru - left without engine power by the fire and carrying 132,000 gallons of heavy oil and 211,000 gallons of furnace oil - could threaten the Antarctic's biggest penguin rookery at Cape Adare, about 100 miles away.
Overnight, Nisshin Maru crew pumped out the water used in the firefighting effort and a 3 degree list had been corrected, New Zealand rescue official Steve Corbett said Saturday.
He said because the ship was virtually dead in the water, the main worry was that it could founder if the sea became rough.It was secured to two other Japanese whaling vessels but they would have limited control if the seas rose, Corbett said.
For that reason, the New Zealand government, which is responsible for rescues in the region, wanted the stricken ship towed north away from the Antarctic coast.
The Esperanza arrived within sight of the stricken vessel early Saturday, but the Japanese had refused offers of a tow, Greenpeace spokesman Steve Shellhorn said.
Japan says its annual whale hunts, begun after the International Whaling Commission imposed a global ban on commercial whaling in 1986, are for research. Environmental groups say the hunts are a pretext to keep Japan's tiny whaling industry alive.


It seems to me that refusing to be towed out of a refuge when you are in immediate danger of causing an environmental catastrophe should be grounds for serious criminal and civil charges. They should be convicted of illegal activity and sued out of business.

[thevegantwins]

Can't the NZ government take any action ie force them to accept help? Guess the Japanese paid off too many high-ranking officials around the world for anyone to do anything.

[Fauxmage]

I really don't understand why Sea Shepherd is the only group taking action to prevent illegal whaling activity on the part of Japan. It is clearly illegal, and I think it stinks that the governments who have agreed that it is illegal aren't doing anything to stop it. :confused: :confused: :confused:

[Oracl]

It is clearly illegal, and I think it stinks that the governments who have agreed that it is illegal aren't doing anything to stop it. :confused: :confused: :confused:
It seems that the Australian Government puts its trading relationship (read 'money') with Japan ahead of its moral duty to stop the illegal whaling. :( However, it spends vast amounts of money trying to stop impoverished Indonesian fishing folk from plundering our waters north of Australia and even confiscates boats and detains the Indonesians. Two sets of rules, it seems. :rolleyes: :mad:

[Charmagne]

http://www.dailyveg.org/dailyveg/index.cfm/2007/2/25/Australian-Support-for-Sea-Shepherd

Thanks to Australia after all!!

[Oracl]

Thanks to Australia after all!!
Most Australians, yes, :agree: but not the Australian Government, I'm afraid. :no:

[Oracl]

Wednesday, February 28, 2007. 4:23pm (AEDT)

Japan abandons whale-hunting season in Southern Ocean: reports

Japan is set to abandon whale hunting in the Antarctic for this season after its main whaling ship was crippled by a fire two weeks ago, public broadcaster NHK has reported.

The Nisshin Maru, the 8,000 tonne flagship of Japan's whaling fleet, restarted its engines at the weekend after being stranded in frigid waters since the fire, which killed a crewman.

The Japanese fleet sailed out of Antarctic waters on Wednesday, environmental group Greenpeace said in a statement, adding that its own ship, the Esperanza, had followed the Japanese fleet.

A Fisheries Ministry official said on Wednesday he had no information on any planned withdrawal of the fleet from the area.

Officials at the Institute for Cetacean Research, a partly government funded body that oversees the whaling program, were unavailable for comment.

Japan's whale hunt, which Tokyo says is conducted for research purposes, had aimed to catch more than 900 whales.

The hunt has come under growing pressure from environmental groups, who say it is cruel and violates a 1986 global ban on commercial whaling.

The meat ends up in restaurants and on supermarket shelves.

The fire aboard the Nisshin Maru had also sparked concern that oil or chemicals could spill into the Southern Ocean, close to the world's biggest Adelie penguin breeding colony.

Japan, which says whaling is a cherished cultural tradition, has expressed increasing frustration with the International Whaling Commission in recent years.

Earlier this month Tokyo hosted a special meeting of the commission aimed at shifting its focus to whale management and away from the moratorium, but almost half the member countries boycotted the event.

- Reuters


Let's hope this is true! :crossfingers: :yea:

[thevegantwins]

Here's an article I just found:

February 28, 2007
Japan to Pull Whaling Fleet in Antarctic
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:09 a.m. ET

TOKYO (AP) -- Japan has decided to pull its whaling fleet out of the Antarctic and end this year's whale hunt early after a deadly fire crippled its mother ship, officials said Wednesday. The head of the institute in charge of the fleet also strongly condemned activities by an environmental group to disrupt the hunt, saying the ships were rammed and bombarded with smoke canisters.

The fire aboard the Nisshin Maru two weeks ago killed one crew member and left the vessel unable to sail under its own power for 10 days, prompting strong protests from the New Zealand government and from the environmental group Greenpeace over potential oil and chemical spills or damage to penguin colonies.

''This is the first time in 20 years that we've had to cancel our research :rolleyes:,'' said Takahide Naruko, the head of the Fisheries Agency's Far Seas Division. ''We are very disappointed.''

The six-ship fleet had been originally scheduled to continue its hunt through the end of March and return to Japan in mid-April. It had a target catch of 860 whales, and they killed 508 :mad:, Naruko said.

Naruko said the cause of the fire was under investigation. But he said he hoped the Nisshin Maru would be repaired in time for the next hunt, in the northwest Pacific in May, when they are planning to kill another 350 whales.

The fleet is part of a whaling program that Japan claims provides crucial scientific data for the International Whaling Commission -- which sanctions the annual hunts -- on populations, feeding habits and distribution of the mammals in the seas near Antarctica.

The program has long been the target of environmental groups, which claim it is a pretext for Japan to keep its whalers afloat despite an international ban on commercial whaling in effect since the 1980s. After researchers complete their studies of the killed whales, the meat is sold in Japan for food.

Naruko said that although the number of whales killed fell short of the target, it was still sufficient to conduct some scientific research -- and to distribute for sale.

''I don't think there will be a significant increase in the cost of whale meat,'' he said.

Greenpeace and other environmental groups claim the research could be done without killing the whales.

The protests, led by the Sea Shepherd group, were particularly heated this year.

Japanese officials on Tuesday showed videos of protesters aboard a Sea Shepherd ship -- flying a pirate flag -- launching smoke canisters, throwing containers filled with chemicals, and dropping ropes and nets to try to entangle the screws of the whalers' engines.

One video also showed a protest ship ramming one of the whaling vessels.

''Such vicious and reckless actions by the Sea Shepherd not only violate the international agreements established in order to prohibit piracy and guarantee the safety of navigation, they are inexcusable criminal acts,'' said Hiroshi Hatanaka, head of the Institute of Cetacean Research, which is in charge of the hunts.

The accident has been a major embarrassment for Japan, one of the main proponents of lifting the commercial whaling ban.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said Monday the Nisshin Maru -- carrying 343,000 gallons of fuel oil -- posed a huge risk to the pristine Antarctic environment and called it a ''disaster.'' Greenpeace offered to tow the ship into calmer seas.

The whalers declined the offer.

Japanese officials stress that no oil has leaked from the ship and said it has safely moved away from the Antarctic coast under its own power last weekend after floundering near the world's biggest Adelie penguin rookery.

:yea: Yeah, Sea Sheperd and :nahnah: to those murdering bastard whalers.

:( Those poor 508 souls who lost their lives to the murderers :(

[Soynut]

Captain Paul Watson rocks!!:blinkwave:

[Bowwowmeow]

Japan Pauses Whale Hunt During Standoff

By HIROKO TABUCHI (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
January 16, 2008 9:32 PM EST

TOKYO - Protesters scored a victory in a high-seas campaign to disrupt Japan's whale hunt in the Antarctic, forcing the fleet to a standstill Wednesday while officials scrambled to unload two activists who used a rubber boat to get on board a harpoon vessel.

The faceoff was a rapid escalation of the annual contest between the fleet that carries out Japan's controversial whale hunt in southern waters and the environmentalist groups that try to stop it.

The founder of the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling group, Paul Watson, told The Associated Press by satellite phone that the Japanese are targeting vulnerable whale stocks and said his organization will keep harassing the fleet.

"We will chase them until they stop their hunt," Watson said from the bridge of the Steve Irwin, a Sea Shepherd vessel. "As long as we are chasing them, they aren't killing whales."

Japanese officials said a Greenpeace boat also was shadowing the whaling fleet.

Watson claimed the two activists were being held as "hostages" on the Japanese harpoon ship Yushin Maru 2, but no Sea Shepherd boat had been sent to retrieve them.

Japan condemned the incident, calling the boarding of harpoon boat an act of "piracy" and accusing Sea Shepherd of stalling a handover of the activists to get publicity.

Japanese officials say they have made repeated attempts to contact Sea Shepherd to arrange a return of the activists, but the group has not responded.

"These people aren't hostages, they're unwanted guests," Japan Foreign Ministry spokesman Tomohiko Taniguchi said. "We want them off our ship immediately, but they're not giving us the chance."

Japan is contacting the Australian government for help in arranging the return of the two activists, said Hideki Moronuki, a spokesman for the Japanese Fisheries Agency's whaling section.

"It has become apparent that it will be impossible to hand the two trespassers back directly to Sea Shepherd, so our only option at this point is to make contact with another ship such as the customs vessel Australia dispatched," Moronuki said.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said officials were considering the customs ship Oceanic Viking as a means of transferring the two activists.
"Obviously one option in surrendering assistance is the use of the Oceanic Viking and that is one of the options we are currently considering," Smith told reporters Thursday in the western city of Perth.

Japanese officials said Sea Shepherd must agree not to attack the whaling vessel during any rendezvous to turn over the two protesters. Watson refused to comply, demanding an "unconditional" release.

"When people hold hostages and make demands, that's the behavior of a terrorist organization," he said. "I'm not going to acquiesce to their demands."

Smith called for caution on both sides.

"We're dealing with the great distance of the southern ocean. The capacity for adverse incidents is high, and the capacity for rescue or assistance is low," he said.

An official at the Japanese Fisheries Agency, Takahide Naruko, said the fleet would not resume its planned hunt of about 1,000 whales until the activists were handed over. He said there was "no telling what Sea Shepherd would do" if the fleet hunted with the activists on board.

The two protesters - Benjamin Potts, 28, of Australia and Giles Lane, 35, of Britain - jumped from a rubber boat onto the deck of the Yushin Maru 2 in the icy waters off Antarctica on Tuesday after a high-speed chase.

Sea Shepherd protesters earlier attacked the harpoon ship with bottles of acid and tried to entangle its propellers, both Japanese officials and Watson said.

Watson claimed the two activists were not involved in throwing the acid and said they intended only to board the ship to deliver a protest letter.
The men were detained and briefly tied up. Watson alleged the Japanese crew assaulted the activists, which Japanese officials denied.

"It is completely illegal to board anyone's vessel ... on the high seas," said Glenn Inwood, a spokesman for Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research, which organizes the hunt. "So this can be seen as nothing more than an act of piracy by the Sea Shepherd group."

Japan sent ships to Antarctica in November to kill minke and fin whales under a program that skirts an international moratorium on commercial whaling.

The ban allows limited hunts for scientific research, a loophole Japan has used to kill nearly 10,000 whales over the past two decades, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Opponents say Japan's program is commercial whaling in disguise because the meat is later sold on the market. Environmentalists say Japan's hunts are detrimental to vulnerable whale populations in the area.

Japan's top government spokesman defended the catch.
"The activists are obstructing what are legal activities in international waters, and in an extremely dangerous way," Nobutaka Machimura said.

"Japan strongly condemns these actions."

The whaling fleet's mother ship, the Nisshin Maru, has been chased 435 miles from the standoff scene by a boat belonging to the environmental group Greenpeace, Japanese officials said.

Despite the disruptions, Japan has no intention of calling off the hunt, said Taniguchi, the Foreign Ministry spokesman.

"It's clear the situation is very grave," he said. "But I can tell you, Japan has no plans to quit."

[Oracl]

This is the top news item here at the moment. :whale:

[thevegantwins]

I received an alert on Tuesday that there was a protest in front of the Japanese embassy in NYC yesterday. I just didn't have the money to get into NYC nor the time to take off of work but I do hope alot of people showed up. Bastards.

[thevegantwins]

January 17, 2008
Australia to Pick Up Whaling Activists
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:15 a.m. ET

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Australia said Thursday it would send a ship to pick up two anti-whaling activists who jumped on a Japanese harpoon vessel from a rubber boat in Antarctic waters, offering a solution to a tense, two-day standoff on the high seas.

The protesters from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society scored a victory with their stunt, bringing Japan's whale hunt to a standstill while officials scrambled to resolve the faceoff.

The Australian customs ship Oceanic Viking will pick up the two activists, an Australian and a Briton, and return them to their anti-whaling vessel as soon as the details can be arranged, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said.

The offer came at the request of the Japanese government, and the head of the activist group said he agreed to the transfer as long as there were no conditions requiring him to stop harassing the whalers.

''We want to get them back,'' Paul Watson told Australian Broadcasting Corp. However, he added, ''I'm not going along with any conditions.''

The two sides in the dispute have traded accusations of piracy and terrorism since the activists' boarded the harpoon ship Yushin Maru 2 on Tuesday. Smith urged both sides to end their acrimony to allow a safe transfer of the pair.

''The transfer of men from one ship to another, and then to a third ship in any circumstances is a potentially difficult operation,'' Smith said.

Getting the men off the Japanese ship would pave the way for the whalers to resume their plans to kill almost 1,000 whales this season under the country's disputed scientific research program.

Australian Benjamin Potts, 28, and Giles Lane, 35, of Britain jumped from a rubber boat onto the Japanese ship's deck in the icy waters off Antarctica after a high-speed chase.

Sea Shepherd said the pair wanted to deliver an anti-whaling letter and leave, and accused the whalers of taking their members hostage. Japanese whaling officials said the activists were acting like pirates.

The faceoff was a rapid escalation of the annual contest between the fleet that carries out Japan's whale hunt in Antarctic waters and conservationists who want the practice stopped.

Japanese officials said repeated attempts to contact Sea Shepherd to arrange a return of the activists had failed, and accused them of dragging out the dispute to generate publicity.

''It has become apparent that it will be impossible to hand the two trespassers back directly to Sea Shepherd, so our only option at this point is to make contact with another ship such as the customs vessel Australia dispatched,'' said Hideki Moronuki, a spokesman for the Japanese Fisheries Agency's whaling section.

Sea Shepherd said it had not been approached by any Japanese officials.

Australia, a firm opponent of whaling, sent the Oceanic Viking to the Antarctic Ocean last month to collect photo and video evidence that could be used in a possible challenge to Japan's scientific whaling program in international forums.

Smith said the Oceanic Viking was within sight of the whaling fleet Thursday, but that the operation would only go ahead if the captains of both ships, and the two activists, cooperated.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he was concerned that the operation would be dangerous.

''I would again urge restraint on the parties, full cooperation on the part of those involved to ensure the safe return of these two individuals,'' Rudd said.

Sea Shepherd chases the Japanese whaling fleet each hunting season, and vows to take any measures short of deliberately hurting the Japanese crew to stop them from killing the animals.

The two activists were briefly tied up after boarding the harpoon vessel. Watson alleged the Japanese crew assaulted the activists, which Japanese officials denied.

Japan sent ships to Antarctica in November to kill minke and fin whales under a program that skirts an international moratorium on commercial whaling.

The ban allows limited hunts for scientific research, a loophole Japan has used to kill nearly 10,000 whales over the past two decades, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Opponents say Japan's program is commercial whaling in disguise because the meat is later sold on the market. Environmentalists say Japan's hunts are detrimental to vulnerable whale populations in the area.

[Gliondrach]

It will have saved a few whales and shortened the time that the killers have left to operate.

[thevegantwins]

Long but interesting read. I'm glad Capt. Watson is exposing Greenpeace. Now we just need people to expose World Wildlife Fund, Sierra Club et al for supporting hunting. Here's the link: http://www.seashepherd.org/editorials/editorial_080205_1p.html

02/05/2008


The Other Whaling Industry
Cashing in on the Suffering and Death of the Great Whales


Commentary by Captain Paul Watson
On Board the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin


“It does not matter what is true, it only matters what people believe is true.”
— Dr. Patrick Moore, President of Greenpeace Canada 1981

As the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society struggles to borrow and raise enough funds to return to the Southern Ocean, we feel incredibly frustrated by the fact that tens of millions of dollars have already been raised to defend the whales yet this money is not being spent for that purpose and it will not help put fuel in our tanks to resume our defense of the whales.

Enough is enough. The Greenpeace fraud about saving the whales must be exposed. For years, I have been tolerating their pretense of action and watching them turn their ocean posing photo ops into tremendous profits from whaling. And now they say they can’t return to the Southern Oceans with their ship the Esperanza because they don’t have the budget for it and because they are going to direct their energies into lobbying for change inside Japan.

Yet they still continue to collect money to save the whales. Greenpeace has booked all online advertising in the major Australian and New Zealand newspapers. Their ads are splashed across the internet from Google to MySpace. Send money, send more money. Television ads, millions of pieces of direct mail.

Greenpeace International raised 127 Million Euros last year. Greenpeace Australia has about 18 million dollars in the bank. Greenpeace USA sits on tens of millions of dollars. Yet they claim they do not have the budget to return to the Southern Oceans yet they also claim they stopped the whalers for two weeks in January, and if such a claim is true then they should go back and stop them again.

But they will not. They have surrendered the Whale Sanctuary to the whalers yet the ads keep popping up and the contributions keep flowing into the Greenpeace coffers. It is incredibly frustrating to see stories about Sea Shepherd’s successful interventions against illegal Japanese whaling usually sprinkled with criticisms by Greenpeace about our methods. And right beside these articles pops up an ad asking the public to send money to support Greenpeace. Even if Sea Shepherd wanted to invest in these ads, we cannot because Greenpeace has booked all the ad space for three months.

Greenpeace makes more money from anti-whaling than Norway and Iceland combined make from whaling. In both cases, the whales die and someone profits. We continue to receive reports from people who have received highly emotional appeals from Greenpeace for money to save the whales including appeals to help refuel their ship.

This is simply out and out fraud.

Greenpeace ocean campaigners, are begging for money saying they will be fighting to help the whales escape and they claim that for every dollar donated they will be able to stay out another hour, another day, or another week “saving” whales. Their success will depend on YOU sending a donation NOW. Of course the word success means something different to Greenpeace. The Greenpeace campaign is not stopping whaling ships. Success to Greenpeace is about recruiting memberships and raising money.

What the fund-raising appeals do not say is that Greenpeace has already raised tens of millions of dollars this year to “save” the whales, and tens of millions of dollars the year before, and the year before that. In fact, Greenpeace has raised a mind-boggling hundreds of millions of dollars pretending to save whales over the years and yet they have not stopped the Japanese from killing whales.

Last year Nathan Santray described himself as the Action Director for Greenpeace. He reported that he was instrumental in saving the whales and that he would be heading back to the Southern Oceans to defend the whales again. BUT he can’t do it without your support so please send him a donation right away. They absolutely must raise $50,000 by the end of the year.

What he did not say was that Greenpeace raises more than $50,000 in donations every day. But Nathan assured us that he would be there “fighting to save every whale we can and we urgently need your help.”

Nathan and his crewmates maneuvered their little rubber Greenpeace boats into the path of the fire hoses where they were filmed being “attacked” with high power hoses. They did that for hours and it looked very dramatic. But it was all just ocean posing. My crew quite easily avoided the fire hoses. In fact, the only way they could have been hit would have been to steer directly into the path of the water. The Japanese whalers stupidly participated in the charade not realizing that they were playing right into Greenpeace’s hands. They haven’t realized yet that the best tactic to deploy against Greenpeace is to simply ignore them because they are harmless.

The Greenpeace pleas state that, “only Greenpeace stands between the harpoons and the whales.” And “Greenpeace is the only hope for the whales.” This, of course, is a direct slap in the face to my international volunteers who have been actually physically intervening against illegal Japanese whaling. Unlike the paid Greenpeace crew, the Sea Shepherd volunteers did not go down to the Southern Oceans to take pictures of whales dying, they went down to there to stop illegal whaling activities.

Greenpeace simply ignores the efforts of other groups opposing whaling including Sea Shepherd, the only organization to have actually shut down whaling operations. The fact that Sea Shepherd chased the Japanese whalers away last year while Greenpeace was filming the whales dying seems to have been forgotten. That was where Greenpeace turned off their cameras.

This year’s annual appeal to save whales by Greenpeace is just the latest public relations strategy in a global campaign to fleece money from people of good conscience. The Greenpeace Foundation, of which I was a co-founder back in 1972, is today simply a multi-million dollar feel-good organization. They are selling the illusion of making a difference to a gullible public.

Greenpeace is a major international corporation. Over the years, those of us who envisioned and founded Greenpeace way back when, have watched in frustration and anger as faceless bureaucrats turned ideals into profits, secure in their understanding that the media myth of Greenpeace cannot be tarnished irreparably within the mass media culture. For every person who gets wise to their scam, two more are recruited. Greenpeace is a massive direct mail publicity machine utilizing media and psychology to part people from their money.

Together many of us from the early days feel like modern-day Dr. Frankensteins. We created a large green corporate monster that has forgotten where it came from and is now busy feeding frantically at the trough of public guilt. Greenpeace has become the world's largest multinational "feel-good" corporation. People join to feel that they are a part of the solution and not part of the problem. So Greenpeace hangs banners, calls boycotts, knocks on doors, and sends out direct mail solicitations. Consequently, they haul in tons of cash, supporting an army of eco-bureaucrats and fueling a global public relations campaign which postures on the myth that Greenpeace is saving the world.

Greenpeace is posing and marketing the illusion of saving the planet and they have an army of gullible volunteers and paid canvassers who have been talked into believing that Greenpeace is really, really saving the environment and saving whales in particular. When I left Greenpeace in 1977, I could have set up another knock-on-the-door-direct-mail- telephone-soliciting group to chase the green dollars. The problem is that I left Greenpeace to actually do something and that meant taking to the high seas to directly intervene against the slaughter of whales and the destruction of the ocean. The last time I saw a whale die in agony before my eyes was on my last Greenpeace whale campaign in 1976. When Sea Shepherd shows up, the killing stops and the whalers run. We don’t look for photo opportunities; we look for opportunities to shut down illegal whaling operations. We have shut down whaling ships permanently in Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Iceland, and Norway. We’ve sunk nine of them without injuring anyone and without being convicted of a single felony. The reason is that our targets are criminal operations.

Greenpeace does not even oppose whaling. These are actual quotes from Greenpeace spokespersons: “Greenpeace is not opposed to whaling in principle.”

- John Frizell, Director of Greenpeace International. From the Greenpeace Policy Paper 1994. "As a natural scientist I cannot accept that Greenpeace is opposed to whaling. One must be allowed to harvest a renewable resource. To me, this is an important principle."

- Leif Ryvarden, former Chairman of Greenpeace Norway. From an interview with Dagbladet, August 2, 1991 "The 1993 Minke whale harvest did not constitute a threat to the stock."

- Ingrid Bertinussen, Greenpeace Norway Director. From an interview on Norwegian radio (NRK), October 22, 1993 "The Norwegian catch is not a threat to the Minke whale stock,"

- Kalle Hesstvedt of Greenpeace Norway in a remarkable interview with the Norwegian newspaper, "Nordlys" on May 21. Hesstvedt does not rule out the possibility that Greenpeace might accept commercial whaling when catch quotas are allocated by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). He repeated the statement on Norwegian radio (NRK) on the same day.

In 1997, I had Greenpeace investigated by the National Marine Fisheries Service of the United States for participating in a whale hunt. Greenpeace crew on the Arctic Sunrise actually towed a slaughtered bowhead whale to shore as a favour for the Inupiat whalers in the Bering Sea. In doing so, they violated both U.S. and international law. The incident was reported widely in the Alaskan media and the whalers used the incident to ridicule Greenpeace at the 1997 International Whaling Commission meeting in Monaco.

And it is not just whales that Greenpeace is betraying. Melanie Duchin of Greenpeace Alaska who also sent out a personal appeal to raise money to “save” the whales said last year that Greenpeace is not opposed to the hunting of polar bears. She was quoted in the Alaskan media as saying, "If the species of certain populations against the backdrop of global warming can sustain a commercial hunt, than we're not going to oppose it."

And Greenpeace raises millions of dollars from people concerned about the cruel slaughter of seals in Canada, yet Greenpeace has not opposed the Canadian seal hunt in more than two decades. The official Greenpeace position on the harp seal slaughter, the largest massacre of marine mammals on the planet is that the hunt is “sustainable.”

There are many who lament that it is a sad thing that different groups cannot work together. Sad though it might be, it is a fact. The objectives of an organization with highly paid executives is far different from an organization of volunteers. We have different objectives. While we look for whaling ships, Greenpeace looks for memberships.

Nonetheless, I have approached Greenpeace for years with offers to work in cooperation with them. They responded with insults or simply ignored us. They even tried to deny that I was a co-founder of their own organization.

A volunteer organization like Sea Shepherd is in business to put ourselves out of business. A large eco-corporation like Greenpeace is in business to keep itself in business, and whaling, sealing, over-fishing, global warming, and other assorted issues are simply the raw material that Greenpeace uses to turn people’s concerns into profits.

I know that I am taking a risk in publicly exposing Greenpeace as a fraud. I know it shatters people’s illusions, but some illusions need shattering. The real strength of the environmental and conservation movements lies in the diversity of individual activists and small grassroots organizations that large corporate organizations like Greenpeace parasitically rob energy and support from.

In my opinion, it is completely immoral for organizations to be paying six-figure salaries to desk-bound bureaucrats sitting in multi-million dollar office buildings as real, dedicated activists struggle in the field to rescue injured animals or to try and stop the horrific slaughter of seals, dolphins and whales. This entire movement is held up on the blood, sweat, and tears of tens of thousands of individuals struggling for ecological justice with minimal resources while a small, elite group skims the vast amounts of money from the public purse to be spent on large salaries, public relations posturing, and fund-raising.

It’s obscene, and it is high time that people woke up and saw Greenpeace for what it really is - a high-powered public relation machines designed to fleece the public. Greenpeace has secured their story and photos for this year. No need for them to return. It would not be a cost effective strategy for them to do so. They will accuse us of being eco-terrorists for intervening to defend the whales as they continue to spend mega-bucks on TV ads, direct mail appeals, and internet banner advertising. All this as the whales continued to die in horrific agony, choking on their own blood as Greenpeace cameramen record every emotional tear-jerking moment to beam back to the head office to aid in the never-ending quest for money, money, and more money.

And to add insult to injury - when Sea Shepherd returns, every news story that gets posted online will be accompanied by Greenpeace ads asking for money. Why return to the Southern Oceans when Sea Shepherd will be available to generate stories to keep the online ads popping up.

As the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin prepares to return to the Southern Ocean alone to resume the pursuit of the Japanese whaling fleet, Greenpeace will be making trips to the bank to deposit millions of dollars raised under the false pretense of saving whales. It is obscene, fraudulent and scandalous. Yet as long as whaling continues Greenpeace will continue to milk the issue as a cash cow.

All the more reason for Sea Shepherd to shut down the Antarctic whaling operation. We need to put the whalers out of business and we need to put the people profiting from whaling out of business also.

[Oracl]

I'm glad Capt. Watson is exposing Greenpeace. Now we just need people to expose World Wildlife Fund, Sierra Club et al for supporting hunting.
:agree:

[Gliondrach]

That's a powerful piece. It's usually the same with big organisations - once the money comes rolling in they get taken over by parasites. Or the people they are campaigning against try to take them over by infiltrating them.

[Gliondrach]

They're going to make a film about Cap'n Watson.

[thevegantwins]

:thumbsup:

[Soynut]

Interesting article, TVT. It's sad, but true that Greenpeace has become this mega multi-million corporation made up by mostly eco-bureacrats. I think people are much better off supporting small grassrots environmental and animal organizations.
When you see a Greenpeace bumper sticker next to a "Honor student" one you know it's time to question the organization.

[thevegantwins]

When you see a Greenpeace bumper sticker next to a "Honor student" one you know it's time to question the organization.

:rofl::agree:

[Bowwowmeow]

I think people are much better off supporting small grassrots environmental and animal organizations.

Yes, I think so too.

[Tails4wagging]

Recently I received a free gift of an umbrella from IFAW which I didnt ask for and its obviously emotional blackmail.

If they can do that sort of thing and afford to make and send umbrellas, they dont need my donation.

[Gliondrach]

All I ever get from charities are pens and the occasional 10p piece. They must think I'm in a bad way if they think they have to send me money. It's very nice of them but I would rather have more than such paltry sums.

[Soynut]

I recently received a cheesy looking dog blanket from an animal rights organization that I'm not even member of (but always get mail from). I just wish they could send them to animal shelters instead, they NEED warm blankets there. I also get writing pads and name stickers weekly from different charities. Please, save the money for the animals!

[thevegantwins]

From an alert I received this morning:

Subject: Paul Watson shot in his chest, saved by his vest


This is on CNN as I write. Capt. Watson was opening his shirt to show the dent in his vest.

The matter has now escalated from killing whales to attempted murder of a human. Had Capt. Watson not been wearing a vest, he would have suffered severe lung damage and most likely been killed. There is more than adequate cause to put Japan on trial for attempted murder in an international court. Japan will likely deny the shooting, and the shooter may have chucked the weapon into the ocean, but forensic science would be able to determine the type of weapon used by analyzing the bullet extracted from Capt. Watson's vest. Japan cannot categoricall denial the type of weapons used by the Japanese Coast Guard and stocked in the Japanese whaling fleet.

Even if this case doesn't go to court, Japan now has acquired a new reputation over and above "pseudoscientific whale killer" - "failed assassin".

Those f***ing whalers are getting more and more scared because they know that many people are listening to Paul Watson. I'm not surprised they tried to murder him as it has already been proven that they have no qualms murdering innocent beings. :mad:

[Gliondrach]

The filthy scum on those Japanese whalers are the heirs to the war criminals who murdered millions of people, mostly civilians, in the Japanese occupation of Asia, and who conducted vivisection experments on prisoners in places like Unit 731.

[Oracl]

Those f***ing whalers are getting more and more scared because they know that many people are listening to Paul Watson. I'm not surprised they tried to murder him as it has already been proven that they have no qualms murdering innocent beings. :mad:
So true. :mad:

[thevegantwins]

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/green-pirates-claim-victory-on-whaling/

2008, 4:50 pm
Green Pirates Claim Victory on Whaling
By Mike Nizza


Paul Watson and the crew of the Farley Mowat, a Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship now held by Canadian authorities. Enlarge This Image (Photo: Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, via Getty Images)A day after our post on Indonesia’s declaration of victory against pirates, environmentalists who cultivate their own pirate image were claiming a victory over Japan.
The Japanese whaling fleet returned after a 5-month hunt with only half of what they hoped to catch, ostensibly in the name of science, though the meat ends up in the market. But this was no unlucky-fisherman tale, as a Japanese official told CNN. “This year’s mission was disrupted intensively by Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd, who use violent means for disturbance,” said Hajime Ishikawa, chief of Japan’s whaling mission.
A day later, the head of Shepherd, Paul Watson, sounded trumphant. “I think it is safe to say that the Sea Shepherd crew seriously affected their profits this season,” he said in a news release. “My crew and I are elated that 484 whales are now swimming free that would otherwise have been viciously slaughtered. And we are especially pleased that not a single Fin or Humpback died, and that is a complete victory.”

The Nisshin Maru, a factory ship in a Japanese whaling fleet, injured a whale with its first harpoon attempt in January 2006. (Credit: Kate Davison/Greenpeace)His deputy, Peter Hammarstedt, promised another round. “We hope to hurt them even harder next year,” he said.
This year, Japan reported several nasty attacks on its boats as they were whaling in Antarctic waters. In March, the government labeled Sea Shepherd as a “terrorist group” after an attack involving more than 100 bottles of smelly acid. The Japanese crew responded to another attack around that time using flash grenades.
But the Japanese ships were apparently not rammed by the Sea Shepherd’s vessels, Mr. Watson’s “signature tactic,” according to an excellent New Yorker profile. Statements by Mr. Watson and Mr. Ishikawa suggested that it wasn’t for lack of trying.
In January, Mr. Watson threatened to ram the Japanese whalers but was unable to catch up with them. “I think they’re running scared, really,” he told Agence France-Press. “When we found them originally, they were down by the icebergs, and as we were moving in, they started running, and they’ve been running ever since.”
Today, Mr. Ishikawa suggested that the Japanese mariners were not intimidated, just trying to avoid anyone getting hurt on either side: “Putting aside our own safety, their action put their own lives in danger,” he said of the Sea Shepherd crew. “Therefore, we had to stop whaling a total of 31 days.”
In the past, Japan accused Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace of piracy, a charge that Mr. Watson sarcastically accepted in a January op-ed article in the British newspaper The Guardian:
I stand in honorable company as a modern-day pirate, though I’ve not shot anyone, burned any ships, looted any cargoes or kidnapped anyone. We are also pirates with a sense of humor and a moral code of non-violence. In 30 years of eco-piracy we have never injured a single poacher, though we’ve sent nine whalers to the bottom. Instead of cannon balls, our guns shoot coconut cream and chocolate pie-filling. We toss stink bombs instead of grenades and we are so non-violent we don’t even eat meat or fish on our ships. No fish, fowl or mammals have died in the making of our high seas campaigns.
What we do is defend the whales from illegal slaughter by ruthless and merciless killers. If people want to call us pirates for that, we’re proud to be so. We have whales to save and Japanese ships to attack.
They are pirates all right, he intimated, but far from the ruthless kind that plague ships off Somalia and Nigeria these days

The comments are interesting. Most are pro-Sea Shepherd but there are a few idiots out there who think vegan=terrorists.

[my3labs]

They should use dynamite at the whaling ships.

If I won the lotto I would send sea shephard a huge donation.
The things we could do with money, eh?

[Gliondrach]

Arrgh! Them Sea Shepherd folks be right brave.

A purple pox on them scurvy whaler swabs! They be yeller-bellied scurvy curs with bilge water instead o' blood.

[Oracl]

Uh oh! Warning! Warning! Pirate talk alert! :blabber: :D

[Gliondrach]

What be ye land lubber a complainin' about? Arrgh!