Animal Planets "Whale Wars" airing this week

[FrankPro1]

So what extremes are you utilizing to end these heinous activities? Or is this more rhetoric?

I do what I can in my little corner of the planet. I try to inform people who question my beliefs... like this post for instance. I have been a continued "financial" supporter of Sea Shepherd and other local groups "Ocean Defenders Alliance located here in the south bay". I have participated in protests and spoke out at seminars at local aquariums who do not properly take care of their animals. One such case was at the Cabrillo Beach aquarium in my local town. A local fisherman captured a female giant octopus and donated her to the aquarium. The aquarium officials decided to put her in a "tube like" exhibit where she couldn't spread out her tentacles or freely move around. She later killed herself, by draining her tank in the middle of the night. My actions are nothing extreme, but its more then most of us do. I use such strong words that may appear as rhetoric, because I feel so passionately about this subject.

Like I said: "If it was me..there... well... you don't want to know the extremes I'd go to end such activities.." If I WAS THERE, watching these heinous activities take place. Things would be QUITE different. I know its easy for anyone to sit behind a computer and type what they would or would not do if they experienced such terrible events take place. But trust me, there would be either a sunk whaling fleet or a dead Italian German floating in the Antarctic waters. And like my sigs says. They ALL float down here.

 

[novicediver]

What amazes me is that shouldn't everyone in the dive community be somewhat on the same side? I do not have the answers but if we would like to see our chosen activity flourish for future generations, we should be doing less arguing amongst ourselves and instead as a group collaborate on real options to stop activities such as whaling or shark finning.

 

[Oceana Diver]

What amazes me is that shouldn't everyone in the dive community be somewhat on the same side? I do not have the answers but if we would like to see our chosen activity flourish for future generations, we should be doing less arguing amongst ourselves and instead as a group collaborate on real options to stop activities such as whaling or shark finning.

Allow me to take off my Oceana hat for a second...couldn't've said it better myself.

 

[Teamcasa]

What amazes me is that shouldn't everyone in the dive community be somewhat on the same side? I do not have the answers but if we would like to see our chosen activity flourish for future generations, we should be doing less arguing amongst ourselves and instead as a group collaborate on real options to stop activities such as whaling or shark finning.

I believe most divers are on the same side philosophically. We all want to save the whales and other marine habitats and sealife. The basic difference is process.

Like anything else, there are passionate activists and active passionate people that are happy to financially support organizations like Oceana and others. Plus those who put shoulder to grindstone and volunteer to help in labor for groups like Reef Check, Heal the Bay and others. And some do all, but again, we do read from the same book, just from different pages.

 

[adurso]

What amazes me is that shouldn't everyone in the dive community be somewhat on the same side? I do not have the answers but if we would like to see our chosen activity flourish for future generations, we should be doing less arguing amongst ourselves and instead as a group collaborate on real options to stop activities such as whaling or shark finning.

I think most divers are on the same side, from an idealistic perspective. Accomplishing conservation goals are approached differently.

The means to the end becomes important; breaking laws does not appeal to me. The way to solve a problem is to determine the root cause then seek to address that, rather than symptoms.

Shark finning flourishes because there is a demand for shark fin soup as a status symbol. Change the cultural perspective of the soup as a status symbol and the industry will die out due to lack of demand. The other factor driving this practice is poverty. Many of the folks doing the finning are terribly poor, change their condition and the finning becomes less attractive.

Advocating unlawful and violent behavior only asks for escalation in the violence, which solves nothing.

 

[adurso]

I do what I can in my little corner of the planet. I try to inform people who question my beliefs... like this post for instance. I have been a continued "financial" supporter of Sea Shepherd and other local groups "Ocean Defenders Alliance located here in the south bay". I have participated in protests and spoke out at seminars at local aquariums who do not properly take care of their animals. One such case was at the Cabrillo Beach aquarium in my local town. A local fisherman captured a female giant octopus and donated her to the aquarium. The aquarium officials decided to put her in a "tube like" exhibit where she couldn't spread out her tentacles or freely move around. She later killed herself, by draining her tank in the middle of the night. My actions are nothing extreme, but its more then most of us do. I use such strong words that may appear as rhetoric, because I feel so passionately about this subject.

Like I said: "If it was me..there... well... you don't want to know the extremes I'd go to end such activities.." If I WAS THERE, watching these heinous activities take place. Things would be QUITE different. I know its easy for anyone to sit behind a computer and type what they would or would not do if they experienced such terrible events take place. But trust me, there would be either a sunk whaling fleet or a dead Italian German floating in the Antarctic waters. And like my sigs says. They ALL float down here.

You had me until the internet muscle flexing. Your first bit that you do the little things made sense, you presented yourself as a reasonable person and state you do nothing extreme, that you become empassioned and this comes across in your posting.

The violent hyperbole does nothing to advocate your cause and only detracts from your credibility.


You imply that you as an individual would sink a fleet or die trying, blatant empty rhetoric adding nothing to your cause.

 

[Mr.X]

In this case I sadly do not have cable tele. I wish I could see the series.

The Sea Shepherds do what they think is right to protect the whales and the environment. Sometimes, you have to have "Cahones" to make the unpopular decision. They have invested their lives in this cause. Something more than what many of us would do. I appreciate their ability to take a stand and their earnestness. In this initiative, their defense of the whales will affect the ability of the fleet to hunt 'scientifically'. The bottom line is SS does something vs. working around political circles (IWC is useless) to resolve bogus hunts. This was one of the prime reasons Watson broke away from Greenpeace.

If anyone has been noticing whales, the environment are all time-dependent issues. In my lifetime I have seen many animals disappear, glaciers recede and people die in conflict/genocide. The best that I can do right now is donate money and try to educate. When I retire, I will hopefully have enough finances to take on the cause because sitting here typing away doesn't do a whole lot to ensure a environment fit enough for children to live in. By the way, ask any kid whether or not it's a good idea to save the whales, or environment. Almost uniformly they will opt for the right thing freed from the constraints of political & economic obfuscation.

X

 

[Mr.X]

So why are the Sea Shepard group not bothering the Finns or Norwegians who blatantly engage in commercial operations?

Maybe because the Finns and Norwegians fight back? Just like the animal rights activists avoid the animal skin clad bikers in favor of the harmless old ladies?

Sea Shepherds has reacted against the Norwegians in the past. I don't think the Fins hunt commercially. Iceland has other concerns these days. The big reason Sea Shepherd cannot intercept Norwegian whalers is probably because they are hunting whales in local waters. The Japanese whalers are in international waters ; hunting in a sanctuary under the guise of scientific research.

X

 

[FrankPro1]

You imply that you as an individual would sink a fleet or die trying, blatant empty rhetoric adding nothing to your cause.

You asked for rhetoric and I gave it to you. Sorry about my "internet muscle flexing". The ocean is a very personal place for me and I'm sure for you too. Every time I go down to my local spots and swim with the critters, it fills me with such good energy that the rest of my week is effected by it. Diving is a passion for all of us. I just want to make sure that its there for my children and your children to experience. I think that is Sea Shepherds ultimate goal. To preserve the majestic ocean and its creatures for future generations. We may disagree on there methods but I'm sure we can all agree that whaling is wrong and that it should be our ultimate goal to end it. Hopefully before its too late.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

"We may disagree on there methods but I'm sure we can all agree that whaling is wrong and that it should be our ultimate goal to end it."

I think very few divers would disagree that whales ought to be protected, that there are very few rational reasons to hunt them, and that the intentions and behavior of the Japanese whaling fleet is 'excessive'. No organization needs 1000 whales to conduct research. We don't disagree here.

Where we part ways is with respect to how you go about achieving those goals.

Under international treaties and laws, what the Japanese are doing is not, strictly speaking, illegal. (And IF they trespassed upon marine sanctuaries, even so, no government or Non-Governmental Organization authorized Sea Shepards to perform any international law enforcement functions.)

Their actions are putting lives at risk. There are other things they could do which would be equally effective and yet would NOT put lives at risk.

That's where we disagree.

Here's another guy who wanted very badly to stop another legal activity with which he disagreed. Like you, he was willing to "sink a fleet" if he had to. And he did.

He did not do his cause any real good, he did not succeed in ending the activity with which he disagreed, and he did a great deal of harm. It is this scorched earth 'take no prisoners' extremism to which many divers who otherwise agree with you object:
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There are better ways to go about achieving the same goals.