DISQUS

1970cs · 10 months ago

Wouldn't a 'military grade' noise weapon be counterproductive to whale hunting since the whales' can hear each other from great distances?

justadood · 10 months ago

Depends...some high-frequency aerial sounds don't carry over well into water. low-frequencies, OTOH....

I look at this as relatively benign back-and-forth. When they start shooting, *then* I'd label it as 'violent'.....sorta like the time whalers fired their explosive-tipped harpoon over the heads of GreenPeace protesters.

it's just getting fun.....

Soundboy_jeff_meanie · 10 months ago

well... supposedly, military sonar knocks out whales sonar... which is why they suppose whales keep beaching themselves.

so maybe they use the device to essentially knock the whales senseless so they can pick them off easier?

paulbot5 · 10 months ago

I dont feel too sorry for them, harassing people tends to piss them off

RainbowPhoenix · 10 months ago

They are trying to save an endagered species.

Soundboy_jeff_meanie · 10 months ago

actually, I kinda agree with paulbot for once...

I don't agree with their tactics, I agree with what they're trying to accomplish... but I think they're going about it all wrong.

film one season from beginning to end (the canning factory or market?)... then go to court and prove its commercial, not research.

THEN it would end.

surrounding the ships and throwing paint and rancid butter is like spitting in the wind.

.

RainbowPhoenix · 10 months ago

Why not assign people to both strategies? Research to stop things in the long term, harassment of vessels to save some whales immediately.

justadood · 10 months ago

Same tactics used by the IRA--have both a political wing, working for change nonviolently through the political system, and the more militant factions.
Have both deny affiliation with the other--helps maintain the credibility of the political division as the militants keep up the terror.

Yeah, I can't say as I agree with the tactics used by the protesters--but sometimes they feel that extreme actions are called-for when the Corporate Media forcefully turns its collective back on the issue.

It's so far away, and on the high seas, you can't easily tell that one whale here, another there, is actually very close to eliminating the species. The same thing's been said of the Logging protests in the Pacific Northwest---out of sight, out of mind, with all the silent assistance of the Corporate media (keeping it quiet, so the outrage is contained)

lynchie · 10 months ago

What's the problem? You can make a buck and wipe out a species or two. Like all hunting if will be fair when the hunted can shoot back.

Older_Wiser · 10 months ago

Shouldn't they be working on getting Japanese whaling outlawed? I detest those kinds of showboating tactics. But I suppose it gets the testosterone flowing.

Save the whales without warfare.

Soundboy_jeff_meanie · 10 months ago

Japan plans to harvest up to 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales this season. Under International Whaling Commission rules, the mammals may be killed for research but not for commercial purposes.
---

HUH? 935 of one species and 35 of another THIS SEASON... for research?

research into what?? what kind of research lets you continue to harvest them EVERY SEASON??

c'mon, they're not tagging and releasing... they're butchering them.

and they get away with calling it research? seriously???

that's fubar.

example · 10 months ago

No offense, but if you go ramming other ships and fly a pirate flag, you can't really whine about being treated rudely.

Name · 10 months ago

id like to see a report where they rammed anyone! - more likely the japanese were the ones doin any ramming. plus, if the government wont do anything to keep illegal whaling from happenning, then good on the "pirates!"

Jeremy · 10 months ago

Sea Shepherd ships have rammed whalers in the past. Look up the Japanese whaler Oriental Bluebird. They also claim to have sunk 10 whaling ships in the past. They have also collided accidentally with ships while trying to obstruct them.

Honestly, I have no sympathy for Sea Shepherd members. Don't ram ships, and then complain when other ships fight back at you.

TAprof · 10 months ago

I don't have a problem with their tactics. My problem is that they're fighting for a bunch of whales. Too bad we don't have the same level of creativity towards the people causing harm to our fellow humans.

James K. Sayre · 10 months ago

The Japanese and their whalers are just vicious vile imperial pigs. Of course, under eight years of the Republican bush gangster regime, Americans were torturing and murdering around the world. Just say no to murdering, killing "harvesting" whales.

Tysalpha · 10 months ago

This is something that should be solved within the law... not by some vigilantes looking for a Greenpeace / PETA style moment in the spotlight.

WordSmith · 10 months ago

The Sea Shepherd is NOT part of Greenpeace. (They have) There's a reality show on Discovery, they just completed their second season and are due to start up this summer, I believe. There's probably information on Discovery Channel - Whale Wars, it's called.

I agree that this much creativity could be found to take care of humans. There are plenty of organizations and people who do. This is about 30 or so folks. They can do what they want. There's a cap on whaling. The Japanese are 'sneaky' in getting around "the law" - international law, btw - so fuck them.

Ya know - fuck the trolls that come here bitchin about saving a species. If you can't see the connection between how humans treat different species and the Earth, and how we treat each other - then your idiocy is bright.

Yeah, it's called RESEARCH, Jeff - can you believe that shit. The Japanese hold up fucking SIGNS that say - in English - 'we are conducting research.'

Hunterdon_Rube · 10 months ago

maybe Sarah Palin can get some of her wolf-slaughtering goons to fly over the anti-whalers and take em out

you betcha!

eyeonpalin.org FIGHT-BACK!

johndoetellstruth · 4 months ago

The Steve Irwin crew should be lobbing their Butter Acid using a simple catapult to get past the water cannons. Using surgical tubing, tied in several pieces, in parallel tracks, attached to two gantries or steel or aluminum poles affixed to a swiveling base like a "Lazy Susan" (no disrespect to all the hard working Susan's in the world), and a large heavy duty funnel as the actual sling section between the two poles where the surgical tubing is attached to the funnel. Smaller versions of the catapult could be made to fit on the small decks of the inflatables. Also, the buteric acid bottles should have J-hooks taped to the bottoms of the bottles to catch on the netting of the Illegal Whaling Ship's. Before throwing the bottles, loosen the caps...or just remove them completely...or better yet, cut the finger tips off of cheap rubber exam gloves, and place those over the opened ends of the bottles...then have fun saving the lives of endangered whales and cost the Japanese Whaling Corporations a fortune. Enjoy! :-)