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Whaling Standoff on the High Seas
New Zealand's foreign minister says his country's maritime agency will carry out an investigation into a collision between a Japanese whaling vessel and a boat belonging to the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling protest group.
The clash took place in the Southern ocean, in waters which come under Australian and New Zealand maritime authority.
Sea Shepherd says its boat, the Ady Gil, was stationary and that the Japanese whaler, Shonan Maru, veered towards it and deliberately sliced off its bow.
But Glenn Inwood, who works with a public relations firm hired by Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research, said Sea Shepherd had harassed the Shonan Maru for two hours and was solely to blame for the collision.
The Australian government is under pressure to send its own ship to the area to police the standoff.
Harry Fawcett reports.
7 Comments so far
Show AllOnce save the whales was one of the largest and most pressing concerns for enviornmentalists.
I pity you poor dumbed, violent , greedy earthlings ( though it seems earth has rightly disowned you).
...and that is exactly why we won't be able to prevent the continued theft of our political system and why we won't have single payer health care, and why we continue to deploy troops to fight the monsters, and why we are witnessing our decline.
It is easy to frighten guilty people.
This Glenn Inwood guy is a trip. A Kiwi bought and paid for by the Japanese propaganda machine - very depressing. Notice how he'll only comment on things with prepared statements, and how he misquotes Sea Shepherd, conveniently leaving off one word at the end of that sentence: "sink the Japanese fleet... ECONOMICALLY." Sea Shepherd has never, and would never, sink a ship at sea - unlike what the Japanese have done (assuming the Ady Gil goes down).
For the record, I am an American, I live in Texas in fact. And I assure you we are not all against direct action (I am a staunch advocate) - though I agree most Americans are passive and sloth when it comes to such things. Most crew of Sea Shepherd has, historically, been comprised of predominately Americans, though when I was on board we had Aussies, Kiwis, Germans, Canadians, Brazilians, Netherlanders, and more...
"Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the shadow"
We humans are guilty of exploiting animals, Japanese and American alike.
Factory farming in the U.S. is a direct result of mindless human entitlement to self-pleasure.
If we really want to change the world, we need to boycott all animal products. Our demand for the consumption and use of animals for profit and pleasure is destroying our health, the planet and our fellow beings.
Substitute healthy proteins (quinoa, nuts, beans, grains, tempeh, tofu, seitan, potatoes) in place of animal products.
We all will be less violent and the earth, the animals and our health will thrive.
I'm sure Glenn Inwood has a prepared statement to tell us what sort of "research" on whales is being done by the Japanese. New and better ideas for sushi?