Animal Rights Dummies On Whales Wars

[GCT]

Have any of you watched Whale Wars? There's a couple of things to point out here ...

- killing whales is a dispicable practice , especially when you kill them and immediately package them up right away through an onboard ship factory line.

- The Japanese are doing it in Australian waters , the last time they were there they had very bad intentions about Australia.

However what is really dispicable here is this

The crew - the stars , most of them are morons - are there doing it for the publicity which in turn is to gain monetary support.

- The captain claims that whales were saved. That ship is probably in autopilot , they have specific orders , throwing stinking bombs at the ship is not going to alter the whaler's program. So when they claim that whales were saved they are bs'ng.

- They are getting their nation in trouble.

- They are jepoardizing the livelihoods of the workers on those ships.

The captain knows that throwing stink bombs at the ships is not going to save the whales and he does it soley to gain money. The whole episode is a charade by one societal trash of a scumbag.

Eventually a Japanese spy ship was following the Irwin around and one of the girls on the ship remarked that they were so annoying ... what an infantile.

 

[~christina~]

However what is really dispicable here is this

The crew - the stars , most of them are morons - are there doing it for the publicity which in turn is to gain monetary support.

- The captain claims that whales were saved. That ship is probably in autopilot , they have specific orders , throwing stinking bombs at the ship is not going to alter the whaler's program. So when they claim that whales were saved they are bs'ng.

- They are getting their nation in trouble.

- They are jepoardizing the livelihoods of the workers on those ships.

The captain knows that throwing stink bombs at the ships is not going to save the whales and he does it soley to gain money. The whole episode is a charade by one societal trash of a scumbag.

Eventually a Japanese spy ship was following the Irwin around and one of the girls on the ship remarked that they were so annoying ... what an infantile.

It's really strange. I watched the trailer on youtube and it just makes it seem as if they're trying to annoy the whailers to death. It doesn't make any sense and just looks like harrasment on my part. Annoying them to death won't do anything.

Who funds these morons?

 

[D H]

Greenpeace / Save the Whales are despicable. They (Greenpeace) are committing illegal acts. They are egging the Japanese on and have made whaling a matter of national pride to the Japanese. Their approach is not working to save the whales. It is working in the sense that it generates a lot of donations to Greenpeace / Save the Whales.

 

[mgb_phys]

Simple way to stop whaling.

Pay Britney Spears (or latest equivalent) to go on TV and say
"Killing whales is bad, Japan is bad for killing whales, Sony playstations are made in Japan.
Don't buy PS3/WIII until they stop killing whales."

PS3/WIII sales collapse, Sony/Nintendo buy whaling ships and scrap them,
collect large check from company in Redmond.

 

[pantaz]

Greenpeace / Save the Whales are despicable. They (Greenpeace) are committing illegal acts. They are egging the Japanese on and have made whaling a matter of national pride to the Japanese. Their approach is not working to save the whales. It is working in the sense that it generates a lot of donations to Greenpeace / Save the Whales.

It's not Greenpeace. In fact, "captain" Paul Watson was "asked to leave" Greenpeace many years ago, due to his aggresive tactics.

A whole bunch of upset viewers are posting on the Discover Channel Whale Wars forum:
http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums/a/cfrm/f/1991967099

 

[russ_watters]

The crew - the stars , most of them are morons - are there doing it for the publicity which in turn is to gain monetary support.

I saw some of this. I was flabbergasted at how stupid these people are - even the captain of the ship. Doesn't anyone on that ship have even the most basic seamanship skills?

The incident with rolling the rhib over was unbelievable. They could have all been killed by what is a really simple linehandling exercise (the bow line needs to be well forward of the rhib and tied-off to hold it in place. There also needs to be a stern line to help steady it.

But what most people probably missed about that incident was the captain trying to back the ship up to rescue the people. That's inexplicably stupid. Ships don't handle well in reverse and you don't want to run over the people you are trying to save. Going to full throttle and kicking in max rudder can swing the ship around for the rescue in less than a minute. Instead, they were dead in the water and drifting away from their comrades.

It was really tough to watch such sheer stupidity in the face of mortal danger.

[edit] It was also nice to see Greenpeace strengthening my opinion of them by showing that saving the whales isn't the main goal - intra-hippie rivalry is much more important to them.

 

[csey]

Paul Watson is a complete idiot. If I were on that ship I would have a very hard time restraining myself from telling him where to shove it. As for everyone else that has decided to follow him and board the ship I give credit for attempting to save some whales and stop whaling, but it won't be done by throwin stink bombs and wasting money playing cat and mouse games at sea, sorry. This has to be stopped by something much more powerful.

This captain Paul is a coward in my opinion. He gets these people that are looking for some limelight to do his dirty work and puts their lives in danger. Just watching them to attempt to set a chase boat in the water, while their are 10 foot waves and freezing temperatures was ridiculous. Then he blames them for losing a chase at sea. Idiot.

 

[Moonbear]

I haven't watched the show, and am glad I didn't by the comments here.

Let's see, chasing whales, inept/insane captain, pending mutiny by the crew dealing with inept captain...have I read this story before?

 

[russ_watters]

A good laugh if you can stomach it, Moonbear:

That's where they roll their small boat over. This one is where they botch the rescue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmxAELvzLoM&feature=related

The first words out of the captain's mouth are something to the effect of 'back it up, we don't have enough time to turn around going forward'. Then he demonstrates why you never back up in such a situation: ships are extremely difficult to control in reverse. Better to do a successful 2 minute recovery than to attempt a crapshoot that might let you recover them (or run them over, screws first) in 1 minute or miss them completely.

 

[Moonbear]

OH MY GAWD! They are an entire crew of bumbling idiots! You know it's going to be bad when the first clip starts off talking about promoting the galley cook to helicopter deck chief. Most of the rest of those flakes look like a bunch of kids who think they're on a pleasure cruise.

That captain should have his license revoked! Yeah, let's back up over the victims to save time...truly, if you grind them up with the props, you probably can save all the time of having to drag them out of the water. They were probably pushing the boat out further with the wake created from trying to back up.

 

[OAQfirst]

So that's how they save whales. Find volunteers, find a whaling ship, then toss the volunteers into the water to shield the whale from harpoons. I guess that's why the rocket line was fired. The overboard crew missed it, though, by quite a distance. Maybe they should spread out more? Because huddling together on that overturned boat is an easy target to miss.

 

[TVP45]

Doesn't Paul Watson's name surface (no pun intended) every few years with some outlandish publicity stunt?

 

[Moonbear]

A whole bunch of upset viewers are posting on the Discover Channel Whale Wars forum:
http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums/a/cfrm/f/1991967099

I haven't followed your link yet, but perhaps it's telling that by going through the main Discovery Channel website, you can't find anything about Whale Wars.

Maybe they should put it on back-to-back with Pitchmen. That way we could all avoid the night of propaganda programming.

Edit: Nevermind, I see it's on Animal Planet, not Discovery Channel.

From the comments on that forum, it sounds like that captain doesn't even have a captain's license. Maybe the coast guard (or whatever the equivalent is wherever they are) should just pluck him off the boat for the safety of the crew.

 

[Huckleberry]

This is a disaster waiting to happen.

It's obvious they have no idea what they are doing. They are a hazard to themselves. By the end of the season I bet they are rescued or receive some sort of vital aid from Japanese whalers. 'Dumb Asses' is a harsh, but not unfit, description of these particular activists.

 

[chroot]

It does succeed in one respect, though -- it's hugely entertaining. Yes, it's chock-full of bad decisions that even children could spot, but that's part of the fun. It's a pilot-along show for animal lovers.

I've only watched part of the first episode, but it was enormously entertaining that a helicopter pilot could not find any better way to describe a path than saying "turn right at the cathedral-shaped iceberg." Surely he has a GPS... press the "save location" button! Use a pencil and write down the coordinates!

- Warren

 

[Cyrus]

Get in De Choppah if the whales want to live!

 

[Nesrin]

Let me say, I agree with you. I find Captain Paul Watson very irresponsible and he seems to surround himself with completely incompetent "officers"... Peter Brown, anyone? But there seems to be some misconceptions so I just couldn't resist throwing in some information.

Sea Shepherd throws Butyric acid onto the decks of the whaling ships. It's basically rancid butter and is considered one of the nastiest smelling chemicals in the world. It lasts for several days, causes vomiting and contaminates meat on the deck (where all of the processing is done on the whaling ships) so it can't be sold. It's not dangerous and doesn't harm the whalers, it's only meant to make it difficult for the crew to do their jobs. They also throw a powder that turns into an incredibly slippery goo when it gets wet (I believe it's also used by police to stop car chases) and fouling lines, which are a kind of braided rope that if snagged can disable/damage a ship's propeller. For the most part, the Japanese whalers run away as soon as they see Sea Shepherd, some of their chases last for days and effectively keep them from whaling. Sea Shepherd has been pretty successful in the past in preventing the whalers from meeting their kill quotas. The last season, they killed less than half as many whales as they wanted to. But due to the international incident orchestrated by Sea Shepherd (where two volunteers were taken "hostage" aboard a whaling vessel in early 2008), Japan actually tripled funding to the whalers and their action provoked indignation among Japanese citizens. Japan has a very ancient whale hunting tradition and they consider the anti-whaling movement as intolerance to their culture and heritage.

The whalers do fight back. They consider Sea Shepherd to be pirates and eco-terrorists and fire high pressure water houses at the crew on the Sea Shepherd's inflatable Delta boats. At the end of the last season, they had started using tear gas grenades and flash bombs to discourage further attacks. So far the conflict has been non-lethal, but it seems to be intensifying. The Sea Shepherd ship, the Steve Irwin, has rammed whaling vessels on several occasions and Paul Watson has alleged he was shot in the first season's finale. The whalers claim several of their crew members were injured during last season's campaign.

Greenpeace is absolutely not associated with Sea Shepherd. Paul Watson, the captain of the Steve Irwin and founder of Sea Shepherd, is in the middle of a feud with Greenpeace and often refers to the group as "the Avon ladies of the environmental movement". He was one of the original founders of Greenpeace, but was voted out of the organization for his extremist tactics. Greenpeace does not support Sea Shepherd's aggressive actions and has condemned the group publicly.

 

[Moonbear]

Sea Shepherd throws Butyric acid onto the decks of the whaling ships. It's basically rancid butter and is considered one of the nastiest smelling chemicals in the world. It lasts for several days, causes vomiting and contaminates meat on the deck (where all of the processing is done on the whaling ships) so it can't be sold.

Even more examples of the idiocy of animal rights wackos. So, they're going to contaminate the meat of the whales already killed, making it impossible to sell...what do they think the whalers who are trying to make a living doing this are going to do as a result? Go kill another whale of course. They're no better than the pirates in Somalia interfering with other ships like that.

 

[signerror]

Why haven't they been arrested yet?

 

[Cyrus]

Why haven't they been arrested yet?

There's no police in the middle of the ocean.

 

[russ_watters]

They are lucky the whalers aren't defending themselves more vigorously. These actions are criminal in any other context, but like you said, no one's policing the area. But that sword cuts both ways.

 

[Nesrin]

Even more examples of the idiocy of animal rights wackos. So, they're going to contaminate the meat of the whales already killed, making it impossible to sell...what do they think the whalers who are trying to make a living doing this are going to do as a result? Go kill another whale of course. They're no better than the pirates in Somalia interfering with other ships like that.

The kill quota for the 2008 whaling season was 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales (which are endangered). They are only allowed to kill that amount of whales for "research purposes" within a 3 month whaling season. Sea Shepherd's main goal in that time is to track down and disable the whaling fleet's processing ship, the Nissun Maru. Several ships make up the whaling fleet; there are kill ships, a refueling tanker, spotting vessels to track the whales, and then the processing ship. The Nissun Maru is where all of the kill ships unload the whale carcasses to be processed, packaged, and then loaded onto cargo ships to be shipped back to Japan. If the Nissun Maru is disrupted, it stops the whole fleet from whaling because there's no point in catching more whales if you have no where to process them. The problem is of course finding the Nissun Maru and then managing to stay with the boat as long as possible. Last season, they only found the Nissun Maru at the end of the season. As far as I know, because of the size of the ship it can't be disabled with a fouling line (unlike the smaller kill ships). The crew on board is also the most aggressive toward the Sea Shepherds. They hinted at the beginning of the first season that they had previously disabled the Nissun Maru and completely ended a whaling season early, but didn't elaborate on how that was actually done so I'm not sure how effective the whole strategy is. Sea Shepherd does manage to be fairly successful in stopping whalers from meeting their kill quotas, but so far they have not prevented the whalers from returning for a new season. A lot of their stunts seem better aimed at creating publicity for the cause (and their organization) more than anything else.

 

[Tibarn]

As long as it's just harassment, nobody will do anything about it. However, if it escalates to the point that someone gets killed, I'd expect that the Steve Irwin will be "escorted" to the nearest harbor by a warship.

 

[Nesrin]

Why haven't they been arrested yet?

This whole conflict is happening in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary off the coast of Antarctica. The area is in International waters and hundreds of miles away from the nearest country, Australia. Commercial whaling was banned in the area by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), but Japan does not recognize this provision in regard to its whaling permit and continues whaling for "scientific research." Due to the location no country has been willing to enforce the ban, but provisions in the United Nations World Charter for Nature allow for "independent entities to enforce international conservation laws." Technically both the whalers and Sea Shepherd are within the law. If you're interested in Sea Shepherd's justifications, I would suggest their page on Laws and Charters: http://www.seashepherd.org/who-we-are/laws-and-charters.html

It's an interesting read.

 

[Moonbear]

Yeah, like I'm going to take the Sea Shepherd's word for what the laws allow. They're obviously a bunch of idiot whackos, so why would I trust their interpretation of law? On the other hand, if they get themselves killed through their own poor seamanship, nobody is likely to feel bad for them.

 

[Cyrus]

 

[chroot]

Yeah, like I'm going to take the Sea Shepherd's word for what the laws allow. They're obviously a bunch of idiot whackos, so why would I trust their interpretation of law? On the other hand, if they get themselves killed through their own poor seamanship, nobody is likely to feel bad for them.

Moonie, what's with the direct hostility towards people you've never actually met? The Sea Shepherd truly is acting in accordance with all applicable laws. The Japanese fleet, on the other hand, is directly breaking at least some laws, including those of Australia and several international governing bodies. In fact, the Japanese fleet appears to only acknowledge the laws of Japan itself.

Vigilantism is not really a solution to crime, but it certainly does draw attention to inconsistencies in the laws themselves. Regardless of your personal opinions of their actions, and regardless of whether or not they make it back to their harbor alive, you have to admit that they have been successful in their mission.

(And it really does make for some very interesting television!)

- Warren

 

[Moonbear]

Moonie, what's with the direct hostility towards people you've never actually met? The Sea Shepherd truly is acting in accordance with all applicable laws.

- Warren

Did you watch the clips from the show? They're bumbling morons! Besides, I generally oppose animal rights nuts on principle.

 

[chroot]

Did you watch the clips from the show? They're bumbling morons! Besides, I generally oppose animal rights nuts on principle.

Yes, Moonie, they are bumbling morons, which is partially why the show is so much fun to watch. (I've watched the first two episodes.) I'm not going to judge their actions solely on their being morons, though. Sometimes morons do the right thing, even if they do it in moronic fashion.

- Warren

 

[russ_watters]

Yes, Moonie, they are bumbling morons, which is partially why the show is so much fun to watch. (I've watched the first two episodes.) I'm not going to judge their actions solely on their being morons, though. Sometimes morons do the right thing, even if they do it in moronic fashion.

- Warren

Didn't we have someone who ran for President on that platform?

 

[chroot]

Yes, Russ, we did... and he went on to do the wrong things, still in moronic fashion.

All I'm saying is that the morality of one's actions is independent of how well they are executed. Hopefully you agree.

- Warren

 

[nrqed]

Did you watch the clips from the show? They're bumbling morons! Besides, I generally oppose animal rights nuts on principle.

So what are your principles? That it's always ok to kill or hurt animals??

Talking about bumbling morons...

 

[nrqed]

Let me say, I agree with you. I find Captain Paul Watson very irresponsible and he seems to surround himself with completely incompetent "officers"... Peter Brown, anyone? But there seems to be some misconceptions so I just couldn't resist throwing in some information.

Sea Shepherd throws Butyric acid onto the decks of the whaling ships. It's basically rancid butter and is considered one of the nastiest smelling chemicals in the world. It lasts for several days, causes vomiting and contaminates meat on the deck (where all of the processing is done on the whaling ships) so it can't be sold. It's not dangerous and doesn't harm the whalers, it's only meant to make it difficult for the crew to do their jobs.

Unfortunately, when politicians are too cowardly to do what is right, some people feel obliged to take up some action. Good for them.

 

[Nesrin]

Raw whale fat and fermented blubber oil... The things that guy is willing to eat.

 

[ibnsos]

Moonie, what's with the direct hostility towards people you've never actually met? The Sea Shepherd truly is acting in accordance with all applicable laws.


- Warren

If what they are doing is completely legal, then why do I keep hearing they are wanted on felony charges by three countries? I know one of them is Costa Rica. Do you have any further information about those warrents? I'll see what I can come up with.

Edit:
http://swindlemagazine.com/news/the-eco-pirate-captain-paul-watson/

Watson calls himself a non-violent “pirate,” but his opponents call him a terrorist. He has been arrested in the Netherlands, Germany and Canada; Costa Rica has filed attempted murder charges against him; Norway convicted him, in absentia, of attempting to sink a fishing vessel; and Greenpeace—which Watson helped establish—has broken ties with him.

But the captain has carved out a niche for himself. Recently, Sea Shepherd partnered with the Ecuadorian police, giving the organization carte blanche to patrol and arrest eco perpetrators in the Galapagos national maritime park—prompting the Guardian to say, “The idea of environmental activists becoming a new green police force may develop in years to come.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Watson Covers the same incidents and mentions he was kicked out of Iceland.