Sea Shepherd Tailed By Japanese Mystery Ship

Boarding the ship of a foreign nation and committing acts of vandalism, such as, ripping a harpoon gun from it's moorings sound like the desire to commit acts of piracy. I guess someone has been watching too many Johnny Depp movies lately. Maybe if Mr. Watson were to purchase one of Japan's ships in a legal transaction he could live out his fantasy of swashbuckling on the high seas. Until then, I certainly wouldn't want to anywhere near a ship run by Mr. Watson. He might try to take my booty!

Not only is re-fuelling illegal in the Antarctic, but according to the Antarctic Treaty, this pristine place should be used exclusively for "peaceful purposes" only, and requires that results of research be made "freely available". Guidelines for visiting the Antarctic include ensuring that "wildlife and vegetation are not disturbed".

Non-lethal alternatives to killing could easily be provided, making whale slaughter obsolete. This would finally dispel their hoax of "scientific research", and their breach of the Antarctic Treaty terms. Japan is so audaciously confident in their own legality they must almost be convinced of it themselves to heavily condemn the protesters as "eco-terrorists"! Which group is spilling whale blood into the oceans and flouting so many international agreements?

These treaties are basically verbal, based on good-will, honour and friendship with no real authority to uphold them. These concepts are obviously foreign, "western", to Japanese thinking. Breaking the fake science scam needs to be done with science, and a shaming of Japan's government into thinking it could so easily "pull the wool" over our eyes.

Vivienne you are the one with wool on your eyes and certainly not the Japanese. Don't force your animal worship religion on everyone else.
The Japanese in the spirit of international cooperation joined the IWC that is an organisation commited to facilitating 'Commercial Whaling' in a sustainable manner.
It is not the high temple of your Whale worship cult that is there to Ban whaling.
Have you read its Charter????
Japan knows exactly the scientific level of its research. It (as it seems no driveling member of your religion know or admit) publishes practically annually the findings of its research contrary to claims it produces nothing. It is researching the Viability of Commercial whaling sustainability.
And with the Ballooning Whale populations it is clearly well justified in continuing and expanding this responsible program that responsibly utilises the resources of the whales used to establish the research objective that Japan clearly states is to assess the viability of what is sustainable whaling. They are not lying, they are not decieving. They are engaging intelligently and your religious cult are absolutely devoid of that capacity which is irrefutably proven in the endless screeds of emotional unfactual drivel your groups propogate to the ill informed.
Stop reading Gobles and read the research from the Japanese. It is Freely available as you claim it should be! Hypocrites and Liars are only on one side of this charade and farce pretending to be environmental care.

I basically agree with the idea that Japan should re-consider its progressively antiquated whale meat fetish. It doesn't have the recognition let alone the popularity it once enjoyed with in Japan. Not to mention the damage to the reputation of Japan as a nation.
However, I am appalled with the infantile and self-gratifying action taken by the so-called "environmentalists."
The immediate and glaring hypocrisy is that they are from a culture that raises cattle and birds in horrendous factory settings, pumping them with hormones and anti-biotic, and culling them en mass. What is exactly humane about that? Do you have Hindus endangering themselves and others to protest against it? I am sure not all of Hindus are happy with “factory made beef” or beef altogether, but they don't meddle with others cultural sensitivities. Especially when it is legal.
What Japan is doing is legal, weather you like it or not. On the other hand, boarding a vessel in high sea with out their consent is illegal, internationally. And it is obvious that harassing the whalers is not effective. It is little like trying to stop an avalanche at the bottom of the mountain. It won't work; you have to stop it at the top!
So watching the enthusiastic, but wrong headed, youngsters pleasuring themselves in public shows me more of their incompetence on land, where it counts. It has always been a mystery to me how these people can be so vindictive when there is massive deforestation in the jungles of Honduras, Amazon, Tanzania, India, Southeast Asia… wiping out entire species.
Another counter productive move for those concerned about the whales are comments like those made by Vivienne;
“These treaties are basically verbal, based on good-will, honour (sic) and friendship with no real authority to uphold them. These concepts are obviously foreign, "western", to Japanese thinking.”
Really?
These comments show your bigotry and racism more than anything and I think you showed, unintentionally, what you are really feeling; western supremacy in all aspects of life.
I would be frustrated, too, if bunch of yellow monkeys don’t hear my supreme western (translate “white”) voice.
I agree with your cause, Vivienne, but denounce you, your bigotry, and your hypocrisy.

What Japan is doing is illegal. They are in a sanctuary.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/15/18472805.php

and yes, there are people in the US who choose not to partake in eating cows. yes they way they are raised and what cows do to the environment is not worth supporting that industry or eating them. has been over 20 years since i've had cow meat.

its not some ideologue. the oceans and its inhabitants are being depleted and stressed. modernization and the impacts on the harvesting of ocean stocks makes it so if we always look the other way, they'll just be more dead zones. we're already flushing vast quantities of plastics into the oceans. its not just whaling that is harmful, long line fishing is appalling. the assault on the sharks that is taking place is astounding. humans are decimating the oceans rapidly. time to wake up....

It seems that those opposing sea shepherd are using the same old chestnut that illegal is bad and legal is good. If that position is adhered to consistently then we would have to condemn the brave German nationals who hid Jews and others wanted by the Nazis in their attics. These people were breaking the law of Germany at the time.

Similarly we would have to condemn those who helped slaves to escape during the time when slavery was legal. These people were also breaking the law, in aiding and abetting theft of property.

Those who hid victims of Nazis and plantation owners had no less disrespect for the law in general than anyone else, but they understood that treating sentient beings as property was wrong. Similarly, treating whales as property to be tortured and killed at will is wrong, and those who are opposing it are in the right. Now you may not agree with this view, but that does not make it irrational, nor does it make it a "religion" (though advocates of many world religions that treat the injunction of their religion to act with compassion seriously would agree with it).

And I have news for you about cows. Thre is no shortage of groups that object very strongly to factory farming, the use of farmed animals as commodities and killing of sentient life in general. Some of these are no doubt Hindu, but the worldwise animal rights movement also includes Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, animists and members of all creeds and faiths that believe in compassion to all sentient beings. The Sea Shepherd crew are all vegan and therefore do not participate in hurting cows any more than whales.

To describe opposition to whaling as being culturally insensitive or anti-Japan is as nonsensical as it would be to describe opposition to Nazism as anti-Germany, opposition to fox hunting as anti-British and opposition to pate de foie gras as anti-France. Cruelty is cruelty, no matter what culture is practicing it.