Stop the Sea Shepherd

[H2O 70]

You may be a red neck if...

I hunt bambi and he tastes good - sometimes I get a doe tag as well. I wear leather shoes and a belt too. I prefer Burger King over McDs. My freezer is filled with halibut and salmon, and I wish I had a chance to legally harvest a seaslug/sealion (which are desimating our fisheries on the Westcoast, but they are "tourist cuties"). I eat what I harvest, but I also scuba with a spear gun and don't shoot everything I could. I'm very picky and love swimming with my "friends" the fish. However, those nasty pelicans and seals spoil my fun and eat "nemo". Human beings are predators whose digestive system, including our teeth, are made to digest both vegetables and meat.

My opinion of these terrorists are that the Japanese should give them notice that anyone interfering with their lawful shipping will be disabled by whatever means needed, including sinking the offending ship. They have been far too patient with these publicity hungry fools.

Damn dude.

 

[Mayor]

Might not be the best way but Sea Shepherd is getting the attention of a lot of people. Keep up the good work!!!!!!!!!

 

[Sas]

Sas, I'm still trying to figure out if that's a rhetorical question--"why whaling should not take place". It's a bit like high school debate class, where you would be arbitrarily assigned to argue for or against capital punishment. It was an intellectual exercise (to the extent any of us were intellectual at that point) done to build critical thinking skills. Hopefully most of us never went on to actually be impacted by the question. As adults, heck, as DIVERS I would think it not necessary to argue why we should leave whales alone, anymore than I would expect to not be asked seriously about why shark finning shouldn't be allowed.

I know the whaling industry is much more efficient at making better use of their kill than shark finners but does it make it right? You either think so or you don't, my arguments against either won't change anyone's mind. I know too the minkes the Japanese take are not endangered but why do we seem to get near the end of the line on something before we say "Hey wait, maybe we ought to save something for the future." ?

I'm against whaling because at some point the recognition has to be that, as a top of the food chain species, we have responsibilities not to mess up so much. It isn't a meat eater vs vegan thing, it's a moral imperative thing. I think it is immoral to plunder the environment in order to sustain an apparently blinding commitment to overpopulate the planet.

Something like 88 countries, including Australia, belong to the International Whaling Commission. This comes from their website:
In 1982, the Commission took a decision, which came into force for the 1986 and 1985/86 seasons, that catch limits for all commercial whaling would be set to zero. Of course there is more to the Commission statement than that and it is often contested by some nation members, like Japan and Norway, but still; a lot of countries support the notion to stop whaling.

I am impressed you don't eat seafood, something I can't claim. I do choose not to eat certain sea foods, most kinds actually. Hypocritical? So what? Employing discretion on what one eats is still possible so no, I wouldn't eat whale meat or shark fin soup. Whether you and I agree on whaling is not the real issue, the real issue is over-population by humans. Period. It drives ALL the other environmental problems we see (ok, sure--there are still earthquakes, floods, volcanoes etc. but I'm talking avoidable problems).

Ah what the heck. My excessive hot air is probably damaging the ozone and you know, originally my kick was how the OP had made the claim that Watson was endangering humans and would keep all of us out of the ocean. Guess I'd be curious how many divers support whaling but it is irrelevant to this thread and just knowing won't really alter anything. Except for this. We divers see what is going on in the waters that are this planet and we know, if we simply observe, that things down below are being messed up. We can choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution, though we may not always agree who is really on what side. // ww

Wait.... You eat seafood??? And complain about whaling??? I can't take you seriously after reading that you eat seafood. Do you have any idea what much of the fishing industry is doing to the oceans? Whaling is nothing in comparison.

 

[H2O 70]

Wait.... You eat seafood??? And complain about whaling??? I can't take you seriously after reading that you eat seafood. Do you have any idea what much of the fishing industry is doing to the oceans? Whaling is nothing in comparison.

I'm sure you will find a lot of folks that eat a variety of seafood and are abject to whaling.

How long do most whales take to reach maturity? How many offspring do they have annually once they reach maturity?

On the flip side, let's look at the squid challenge off of CA. How long does it take for these jumbo squid to reach maturity? How many offspring do these squid produce once they reach maturity?

Yes the fishing industry is doing a number on the oceans. One difference between comparing the bulk of the fishing industry to whaling is 60 some odd countries have banned whaling. Then you have Japan out there whaling under the guise of 'research'.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

He is doing 2 things:

1) Actually hindering illegal whaling.
2) Publicising the fact that Japan is whaling.

His tactics work, the fact that we are having this conversation proves that his PR machine functions. So for the 2 reason above, I support him and his gang of crazy volunteer loons.

I am very anti-whaling on several points. I would not support eating chimpanzees becasue they are a little too close to outr intelligence level and whales fall in the same category. If they had opposable thumbs they'd be giving us a run for our money. I grew up hunting and was raised on a ranch and it never took me 25 minutes to dispatch a game animal, let alone a cow that was slaughtered. I have a hard time seeing the harpooning a whale as being anything even remotely humane.

That said , I hardly ever watch Whale Wars, its just not my thing.

However in one of the few episodes I saw, it was evident that #2 listed above is the priority. In that episode, they were attempting to prevent the transfer of a whale to the processessing ship, something they would need to do for at least 12 hours until the whale started to decompose. However, the helicopter was low on gas and it was decided they should fuel it first before the catch boat got any closer.

The question of course is why not just land the helo and put it back in the hangar, especially since it would need multiple refuelings over a 12 hour period. Well obviously the answer is they need the camera man in the helo to get footage to make the show. The end result was that th catch boat got into position before they could get the helo airborne and they were unable to stop the transfer. But if not then, it would have happened during one of the subsequent refuelings, so even though it was regarded as a major tragedy on the show, it was inevitable and most aboard had to realize that from the outset. So yes, there is a substantial amount of acting going on to increase the drama.

But to be fair, the man has a very well thought out plan and fully understands that there is a lot more mileage in publicizing the Japanese whaling than there is in preventing the transfer of a few dead whales.

----

Some of it I also just don't understand from a tactical standpoint. I mean, the buteric acid thing - I am not sure how effective it would be if they got it on deck anyway given the volume of water available to wash down the decks. What I do know is that I could build him a nifty compressed air powered potato gun to launch bottles of it from a lot longer range and with more accuracy than he'd get from crew members throwing it.

 

[H2O 70]

But to be fair, the man has a very well thought out plan and fully understands that there is a lot more mileage in publicizing the Japanese whaling than there is in preventing the transfer of a few dead whales.

----

Some of it I also just don't understand from a tactical standpoint. I mean, the buteric acid thing - I am not sure how effective it would be if they got it on deck anyway given the volume of water available to wash down the decks. What I do know is that I could build him a nifty compressed air powered potato gun to launch bottles of it from a lot longer range and with more accuracy than he'd get from crew members throwing it.

You should suggest the potato gun thing to him.

There is another reason for him engaging during the transfer is he feels that anything he can do to slow down or distract them from whaling is money out of their pocket. If that boat can't off load, they can't be hunting and making money.

 

[Sas]

I am very anti-whaling on several points. I would not support eating chimpanzees becasue they are a little too close to outr intelligence level and whales fall in the same category. If they had opposable thumbs they'd be giving us a run for our money. I grew up hunting and was raised on a ranch and it never took me 25 minutes to dispatch a game animal, let alone a cow that was slaughtered. I have a hard time seeing the harpooning a whale as being anything even remotely humane.

There is little evidence collected about the intilligence of whales actually. And if you want to go down that path then I wonder about pigs and octopuses, where there actually is evidence that they are very smart. But the West has no problem eating them.

Though personally I don't see think intelligence matters when it comes to picking what I eat.

 

[H2O 70]

There is little evidence collected about the intilligence of whales actually. And if you want to go down that path then I wonder about pigs and octopuses, where there actually is evidence that they are very smart. But the West has no problem eating them.

Though personally I don't see think intelligence matters when it comes to picking what I eat.

Well dolphins are cetaceans as well are whales. I don't think there is too much argument about the intelligence of dolphins.

If you're calling this side of the world, The West, we're not a big eater of the octopus. Squid, sure, but octopus, no.

Pigs are plentiful, whales, not so much.

 

[Sas]

Well dolphins are cetaceans as well are whales. I don't think there is too much argument about the intelligence of dolphins.

Whales are not dolphins. Their intelligence is still to be determined.

If you're calling this side of the world, The West, we're not a big eater of the octopus. Squid, sure, but octopus, no.

It's still acceptable to eat octopus though.

Pigs are plentiful, whales, not so much.

Ahh so you agree that it is ok to eat smart animals if there are a lot of them then? Well then it's not about their intelligence then is it?

But, minke whales are plentiful and the catch quotas low.

 

[H2O 70]

Whales are not dolphins. Their intelligence is still to be determined.

It's still acceptable to eat octopus though.

Ahh so you agree that it is ok to eat smart animals if there are a lot of them then? Well then it's not about their intelligence then is it?

But, minke whales are plentiful and the catch quotas low.

Dolphins and whales are of the same order Cetacea.

Whale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cetacea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If whales we plentiful and abundant we wouldn't be having this discussion and to my knowledge octopi aren't on endangered, or were on endangered, species lists.

Pigs are not. Squid are not. Cows are not. Tuna may soon be.