Greenpeace Interupts Whaler Refueling
SYDNEY - Greenpeace said on Tuesday it had prevented Japan’s main whaling ship from refueling in the icy Southern Ocean by driving an inflatable boat between the factory ship and its refueler.
Japan’s six-ship fleet has been prevented from whaling in the past week by anti-whaling protesters. Greenpeace has been trailing the fleet for several days, while Sea Shepherd protesters boarded a Japanese ship forcing it to stop whaling.
“Activists from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza today blocked the fleet’s factory ship Nisshin Maru from being refueled in Antarctic waters by the Panamanian-registered vessel Oriental Bluebird,” Greenpeace said in a statement.
“The activists … placed their inflatable boat between the factory ship and refueling vessel, preventing them from coming alongside to refuel.”
Japan’s whaling association and fisheries agency both said they were not aware of the reported incident.
The militant Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has vowed more confrontations with Japan’s whaling fleet, after two of its activists were held for two days after boarding the Yushin Maru No.2. The men were eventually released to an Australian fisheries ship and transferred back to the Sea Shepherd’s Steve Irwin ship.
Japan and Sea Shepherd activists accused each other of “piracy and terrorism” during the two-day stand-off last week.
Steve Irwin skipper Paul Watson last year threatened to ram the Japanese flagship and collided with a harpoon vessel.
Japanese whaling officials have said they plan to try and exhaust the fuel supplies of the anti-whaling ships before they resume whaling. The Sea Shepherd ship has about two weeks of fuel left. Greenpeace won’t say how much longer their ship can last.
Japan plans to hunt almost 1,000 minke and fin whales for research over the Antarctic summer, but has abandoned the cull of 50 humpback whales after international condemnation and a formal diplomatic protest by 31 nations.
Despite a moratorium on whaling, Japan is allowed an annual “scientific” hunt, arguing whaling is a cherished cultural tradition and the hunt is necessary to study whales. Its fleet has killed 7,000 Antarctic minkes over the past 20 years.
Reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by Bill Tarrant
© Reuters 2008
“Steve Irwin skipper Paul Watson last year threatened to ram the Japanese flagship and collided with a harpoon vessel.”
That’s a great logic they have there. I don’t like what you do, and to force you to do things my way I will ram your ship. And this is supposed to win people over and build sympathy for your cause exactly how?
As I stated in a previous thread, I applaud the GOAL of stopping whaling….I think it should be stopped….but not by these threats, intimidation and ramming ships!
Japan wants to catch 1000 whales for “research”???? Unless Their scientists are a bunch of bungling incompetents, this is a complete farce - and Tokyo knows it.
Greepeace has called for diplomatic intervention, but Washington depends on Japan to support our conquest of the Persian Gulf.
We’ve tried economic boycotts, but Americans keep buying Sonys and Toyotas as fast as they can refinance their homes.
Efforts to appeal to reason and compassion have had no effect. To the Japanese the animals are just “fish”.
We have no leverage over Japan. Threats of violence are the only thing standing between 1000 whales and the sushi bar.
Note the “Research” words on the sides of the murdering ship.
It takes bravery to put your life on the line to protect whales. The news of this action can hardly be ignored by the Corporate Media.
It is cowardly to sit at the computer and hurl criticism at the brave men and women of Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd’s Steve Irwin who are doing more to save the whales than anyone else.
Where is the highly touted Japanese honor in that?
Japan aggressively, and contrary to international law, continues to slaughter whales. They have declared war on these creatures and plan to hunt them to extinction. I applaud Greenpeace in their measures to stop them. Governments aren’t standing up to Japan, it’s up to the people.
It appears as if the Sea Sheperd Conservation Society & Greenpeace have figured out the only way to stop outlaw capitalism (the Japanese whale hunt is to supply their domestic market, not scientific research) is to confront them while they are doing their dirty work. Not only are they to be commended, but emulated.
I see the conesus here is that “the ends justify the means”. That’s good to know, my life will be much easier now that I know this philosophy is apparently acceptable.
qwijibo; If you applaud the GOAL ; STOP whaling, Why would you take issue with there tactics. The article referred to Paul Watson as a militant;he uses any means necessary to stop Whaling . In most instances these operations are illegal. Hes destroyed ships in port making them unable to go on illegal whaling operations,he was;nt arrested. Hes put his life on the line many times ; put himself and willing crew in the path of harpoons to save the unnecessary killing of whales. Militant? I consider him a great warrior. He takes ACTION. Sounds like 50 humpbacks have been spared;read between the lines ; scientific in parenthesis. ? I;m sure there is lots of people out there that know of Paul Watson more than I; just read a little and heard him talk; the impression I got is hes not trying to win people over or build sympathy; I think he cares more for whales than he does people,or as much as.Mabe someone can convince me that we don;t need warriors fighting and risking there lives for the innocent living creatures on this planet. Besides is;nt it the radicals that help draw more positive attention to those of us trying to achieve a goal in a less radical way; qwijibo How should the Whaling be stopped? SLZ
Sea Shepherd is great. They believe whales have rights and act as any abolitionist would.
if you witness a woman being raped in a country where its legal, would you just say: oh! you shouldnt do that-or would you physically intervene?
The end doesnt justify the means?
Come on!
Its not like they are aiming guns at them.
The sealers in Northern Canada physically attack the people with cameras.
And the Canadian government and police defend the sealers.
Gandhi-like tactics dont always work.
You have to want to stop it more than than your opponents want to do it. That’s why SHAC was so effective against Huntingdon life Sciences.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Watson has a lot of boast but he is way more consistent than Greenpeace.
His group opposes all whale slaughter and doesnt make exemptions for so called traditional whalers like the Makah–who I might add, used to have a slave class. Funny enough–they dont want to resume that tradition.
Greenpeace is doing something and that’s great but they make exemptions–they also stopped protesting the baby seal hunt because they didnt want to offend their Inuit supporters. When lifestyle trumps life we have a problem Houston.
Japan is just taking the vivisection argument to the seas. They know that people defend absolute barbarism in the name of science and they are using that.
But its like hunting in North America, most people are against it but the minority does it. Ditto for Japanese whaling.
Lets see…I don’t like deer hunting too much either. Perhaps my new policy should be to wait in a parking lot in my car, then ram the first car of anyone who goes deer hunting. After all, if I saved the deer, it makes it all OK.
Perhaps there’s a militant vegan out there. They should just go smash the ovens of meat-eaters every Thanksgiving to save turkeys. Hey, after all, the ends justify the means!
There are those who blow up abortion clinics, but how many would say the end justify the means in that case?
Now that I think about it, I think I’m gonna like this way of doing things….really frees me up to do anything I like.
Kelmer,
To compare this to rape is a false argument…as much as I care about this issue, a whale is not equivalent to a human.
Beautiful? Yes…Important? Yes…Worth protecting? Yes……..but equivalent? No.
qwijibo; the ends justify the means. I never said that. But if your sincere about stopping dear hunting; Why would ramming someones car stop that hunter from killing a dear. What Paul Watson would do if that dear was a whale would be to put himself between the rifle and the deer. Try that ; i don;t think the hunter could get a good shot off .
qwijibo; worth protecting; but not equal? OK are u saying that human rapist murderers war mongers have more rights than creatures that do no harm,to us. I envision the future of your ideals; a would full of aggressive humans that control everthing and passive slaves that can;t fight for justice; I guess there can be peace without justice. Anyway; i ask you again seriously; how can we stop the unnecessary killing in the world. ?
As is amply demonstrated by the impotence of the international community to prevent US excesses on the global stage, talk achieves nothing.
On an international scale, playing nicely and being accomodational achieves nothing.
Go Greenpeace. Go Shephard.
first off,
kudos to the Sea Shepard Society and Greenpeace for raising hell with the Whale killers.
I always find it amusing when folks decide they don’t like “property destruction” in the name of a cause. How about the Boston Tea Party? Or the Underground Railroad? Don’t like those either? Those incidents involved vandalism and theft (remember in the early days of our illustrious nation Africans were considered “property” so freeing them constituted theft).
property destruction is a time honored and effective way to deal with a political opponent. Don’t like it? Don’t do it. Stay on your couch and do nothing. Afterall, that’s what all the cool kids are doing.
as for not liking deer hunting, that’s wierd and quite frankly ecologically incorrect at this point in the natural history of eastern North America. just in case you didn’t get the memo, White-tailed deer are overpopulated over much of the eastern half of our beautiful little continent. And since we are nation of cowards who can’t deal with living with predators, we long since wiped out the natural predators of deer. So the hunters are actually doing the trees, shrubs and wildflowers a favor by taking out a few deer here and there. Do i wish all of ‘em would hunt for food and not trophies, yes. Do I wish they would mimic nature and take out the weak, yes.
but the Deer hunt has to happen or the woods will be become like some of those in central Pennsylvania with nothing but a few species of trees and what looked like one species of fern ’cause the dang deer ate everything else.
So please pause and think about the big picture before you knock deer hunting.
Of course with whales the ecological tale is a bit different. Their natural predators have run amock and hunted most of ‘em to the brink of extinction. So they need to be saved and allowed to repopulate the ocean to the point that the Indiginous and traditional cultures can get a few here and there for dinner. With Ocean ecosystem disruption in full swing from climate change, over fishing, industrial pollution, etc… the Whales need and deserve a break. Sorry, but their needs are a bit more important than anybodies traditions or “research” or sensibilities regarding how to deal with Outlaw nations that wantonly rape and pillage the Oceans and their inhabitants.
Too extreme for ya? too bad. You try lobbying the Japanese, Icelanders, Norwegians, etc… and see how far that gets you.
Stop whining about property destruction. We all watch a million tons of more violent crap on TV every night, we all buy tons of plastic crap that is produced in an arguably violent economy (you try working for 10 cents an hour), we all allow the American Government to kill with impunity, so whining about a dented Ocean raper’s ship is just a tad pathetic.
And I would suggest that any Americans who don’t like property destruction should leave as our country was founded by political property destroyers.
Have a nice day.
Money not only will talk, it is the main thing that does the talking with any capitalist country.
I let Toyota know why I wasn’t buying a new vehicle of theirs. (Their response was that they have no control over whale and dolphin killing but if many people choose to hit them in the pocketbook they will show that they do.)
I have written and e-mailed the Canadian Department of Tourism letting them know exactly how much my not going to Newfoundland has cost their tourist industry there, and how not buying a thing in British Columbia and Yukon has cost them every year that I go to and from Alaska (I take the ferry from Bellingham, WA to Haines, AK and from there can make it northwest to AK proper on a tank of gas — but I could fly too if I so wished). I also toured Vancouver Island last fall on one tank plus one can of gas bought right before I crossed the border and brought all my supplies with me.
My doing these simple things and a few others has cost Canada and Japan thousands of dollars and not affected my travel or its enjoyment at all. I give them an accounting of this every year. It makes me feel I’ve accomplished something and I hope others will follow suit in similar ways so that the dollars they are not getting add up to a critical mass for action.
Funny how the products of this research end up on dinner tables instead of in scientific journals. The UN must close the loophole so cynically exploited by the Japanese.
As far as I’m concerned, the whales are already dead. They were killed when Bush took office, stopped electric cars, under-funded and stopped renewable energy programs, helped subsidize more coal plants, and made sure America and the rest of the world was reliant on oil at any cost.
These policies accelerated climate change to the point where some things are inevitable in the next few decades. One consequence of the added greenhouse gases we put into the air this decade, is that the oceans will turn acidic. No matter what we do now, within the next few decades the oceans will be too acidic for most ocean life. When that happens, most of the plankton will die. Since whales eat plankton, all the whales will die.
Although most ocean life has no hope of survival in the future, it’s still not too late to save land-based animals, including us. That’s why I think it’s silly Greenpeace sails around chasing whaling ships, instead of stopping people from burning coal, oil and fighting for more sane energy policies.
The whales are already dead. You can’t ’save’ them.
Greenpeace stopped a shipment of coal to Canada’s biggest coal fired power plant this past summer in Toronto.
Well not exactly stopped it but they did bring attention to it.
They are doing a great job bringing some important issues to the rest of us.
It’s up to each and every one of us to “join in when you know the words”.
Feel free to stop shopping ,turn your back on the government,and quit being a mindless consumer.
We’re gonna need any and all constructive ideas to stop this slid into the abyss.
Nuke the Whales!
Seriously, those bastards piss me off, lording their blowholes over us like some magic talisman! Sure, look at me, I’m a cool whale that can hold my breath. Big freaking deal, when you can evolve a thumb, give me a call!
7,000 Antarctic minke whales killed in 20 years is a staggering figure. With this rate of slaughter, it is amazing that a single whale remains in the ocean. The Greenpeace activists are the ultimate heroes in my book. I can’t think of a single environmental group that brings attention to its causes as effectively as Greenpeace, or that accomplishes as much as Greenpeace.
The slain whales end up as the Japanese version of bologna. Anyone involved in this despicable practice is a criminal.
qwijibo - I see you haven’t tried to stop whaling from happening or watched to see how successful the fight has been. Every law breaking whaler is in the sea. All the others have stopped. What are you some Human lover thinking man is just the best thing out there because you are one? That is the most stupid thing a human can say due to the fact MANKIND doesn’t even know himself for the killer he is. Man cannot control himself nor does he try. Don’t put on airs like some high school girl. Look at the world man has killed and is in the process of making uninhabitable. GET OUT OF THE CRACKER BOX!
YO YO HO HO yourself out somewhere else, put that thumb to work!
May God bless those that work for his/her/its/their(unknowable) creations.
Confucius says ‘Whitey comes in many colors!’
All crackers come in a box or you get them in a bag!
“I don’t like what you do, and to force you to do things my way I will ram your ship. And this is supposed to win people over and build sympathy for your cause exactly how?”
It’s not supposed to win people over and build sympathy. It’s supposed to stop these ships from whaling. Which it sometimes does. I think it’s called “direct action”.
Correction it’s on the Sea Shepherd site.
And how qwijibo compare legal deer hunting with illegal whaling?
I say give Paul Watson a badge and a bigger ship!
IVRICH
what a bloody good idea. well done and yes, more people should write letters letting the governements/corporations know how much money they are losing by actions such as yours. signing petitions helps too sometimes.
I was not suggesting that deer hunting was the same as whale hunting, I was just trying to point out that some people feel as strongly about one as the other. Using the arguments that some here use, almost any action could be justified if one feels it’s appropriate…problem is, I don’t see any objective measure of when force is necessary other than the people using it say so.
That’s all I’ll say. I have no desire to participate here if the responses are things like calling me a Neo-Con environmental destructionist, just because I have a different opinion.
Bye all…
qwijibo,
I think your argument was logical. You’re advocating non-violence. Ghandi probably wouldn’t have approved of the Sea Shepherds methods. Other than trying to crash their boats, they’ve thrown acid and tried covering the whalers drain hole…
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/pirates-attack-japanese-whalers/2007/02/09/1170524264085.html
The ‘bleeding heart’ people on the left also bother me sometimes.
For example, I’m a vegan for different reasons than most other vegans.
If you ask other vegans why they gave up meat and dairy, they’ll say because of the treatment of animals. So I asked one fellow vegan what would they do with all the cows if there was a law outlawing meat. They said… we’ll release them in their natural habitat… blah blah blah, happy cows everywhere, blah blah blah.
I, on the other hand, shocked and horrified the other vegan with my reply. I said we need to slit all cows throats, bury them, and make sure no cows survive so that they don’t graze the land. Cows chewing grass cause methane emissions, almost like 20% of the USA’s output of emissions. We need to kill those f-ing cows!
Now the people posting in this thread would probably call me a fascist, and I’m sure Ghandi wouldn’t approve of my methods either… but everyone has their own opinion, and you shouldn’t stop reading CD because you disagree with someone and they called you a Neo-Con.
qwijibo, it’s not a matter of “i don’t like what you do, so i’m going to ram your ship,” nor is it a matter of engendering sympathy from people. it’s a matter of law enforcement: Japan criminally slaughtering whales. since we have no real international law enforcement of treaties that protect whales, i applaud the courageous activists with greenpeace who are standing up for the them.
qwijibo, the deer hunting analogy is a specious one, as deer are not an endangered species protected by law that certain people continue to hunt in defiance of the law.
As for militant vegans, that analogy doesn’t even come close. Nor does the fallacious comparison to those who would blow up abortion clinics. Abortion is an individual right protected by law and constitution.
I am not defending “ends justifies means” as an abstraction applicable to all situations. I am defending the brave actions of Greenpeace activists who are trying to save whales–by ramming the criminal whaling ships if necessary.
In point of fact, foamweapons, the whales are NOT already dead. And you have no idea when or if they will die. If they were already dead Greenpeace would not be out there defending them.
This is a feel good story, and we need more coverage of activists.
That would help.
just watched youtube,Paul Watson;Seashepard. I;m convinced,the truth is; Sea Shepard is a Law enforcement agency for international law.
They are required to use force like any other enforcement agency to stop crime from happening in international waters……the news should go something like;’,.In World News,illegal Whaling operations came to end today for the japanese freighter shusifry . The reports from independent monitors; navy vessels from 4 allied nations including the US, stated that International law enforcement vessel; Sea Shepard; ordered the freighter to halt operations immediately; after repeated warnings to stop the japanese freighter continued,subsequently , the ship was disabled and the crew was taken into cuztity….
skylizard: Ah, wouldn’t that be great?
It’d be lovely to see international law upheld just once in my lifetime.
foamweapons: great post, I agree with everything you said.
qwijibo,
Maybe my attack on you was unfair. I am not trying to squelch your opinion. I thought you were making an argument from authority saying: Never use violence even if the government refuses to do its job to prosecute illegal corporate poaching. (Isn’t that really what you’re saying?)
The “never question authority” is a neocon cornerstone, and that’s why I felt you were solidly in that camp.
The law is the key here in this instance. Skylizard is correct. Most peopl know nothing of maritime law, which requires vessels at sea to police and rescue each other. Captain Watson is within his right as a licenced commercial captain to pursue and detain criminals on the high seas (poachers) and deliver them to the authorities if he is able to do so. The problem is a lack of will of world governments to arrest corporate wrong doing in the south sea.
What Watson is doing is legal, which is why he is still doing it.
Naturally, if his ramming caused the whaling ship to sink, Paul would be expected to rescue the men aboard the poaching harpoon boat or face serious charges.
And of course, these are things that sea lawyers get paid to argue about after the fact.
I am most impressed with the fearlessness of Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace Captains.
>qwijibo January 22nd, 2008 12:57 pm
>That’s a great logic they have there. I don’t like what you do, and to force you to do things my way I will ram your ship. And this is supposed to win people over and build sympathy for your cause exactly how?
>As I stated in a previous thread, I applaud the GOAL of stopping whaling….I think it should be stopped….but not by these threats, intimidation and ramming ships!
By that logic we wouldn’t be able to use force to stop a criminal. What alternatives do we have? Are we going to be “nice” to them??
As for Gandhi, he was quite clear that his approach was only a tactic deployed for a specific long term strategy of gaining independence. He thought it was the best tactic, but if you look at what’s going on in India today, you see that that tactic doesn’t work any more - if it ever did. It’s more likely that the British left India because their back was broken by the second ww and that they were uncertain how the well armed and trained Indian troops, that had fought in the war, would respond if they were called on to quell agitation for independence. In any case, today, states are moving to a point where they _want_ polarization. They are so confident of their monopolization of violence that they have no fear of any resistance that their populations might mount.
Perhaps what you are arguing is that the proper tactic in this struggle is progressive. We should work towards building “sympathy” and “win people over”. Given our present day situation, I simply don’t think that’s going to work.
So, if I see violence occurring in front of me, I will do whatever I can to stop it. I don’t think there is anything wrong with threatening and intimidating people who are acting violently. I’m not going to stand around and try to build consensus.
Pretty much says it all!
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=whales_suck