Paul Watson (Sea Shepherd) needs to man up!!!!

[DennisS]

Watson won't be happy until he creates a martyr for the cause, I can almost guarantee it won't be him.

 

[Tigerman]

Some people see him as a hero, some people see him as a blustering egomaniac.

And I see him as a criminal, ex-con terrorist. Yes, hes been in jail for blowing up ships.

 

[Tigerman]

Neither Paul Watson nor Sea Shepherd have ever been convicted of ANY crime. You are therefore as much a terrorist as Paul Watson.
...

Wrong. Paul Watson has been convicted and been in prison atleast once, for blowing up a ship in Norway.

 

[Sas]

No more running around in circles from me then. I will cease arguing with you about whales, Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd herein.

I take it you stand corrected over a few of your comments such as saying that Japan has accepted the whale sanctuary and also that you now agree that not all whale species are endangered. And you recognise that it is a bit rich for someone like you who damages the environment with your meat consumption to ask the Japanese to stop whaling.

Neither Paul Watson nor Sea Shepherd have ever been convicted of ANY crime.

And another thing I hope you will stand corrected on: Paul Watson HAS been convicted of a crime. In Norway and he was convicted in absentia for trying to sink a ship. He got 120 days in jail but the Netherlands would not hand him over.

There is an outstanding warrant for him in Costa Rica for the attempted murder of a fisherman. He fled the country to escape being arrested.

There is also a warrant out for his arrest from Japan.

Do you just read what Sea Shepherd says without independently verifying it yourself? I don't know how you could display such a lack of knowledge of whaling and Sea Shepherd's history otherwise

 

[cdreamer]

Our countries have driven many species of whales to the brink of extinction. If we don't learn from our past mistakes than we are destined to repeat them. Really I don't think anybody really
knows how many are out there. There are rough estimates - but who really knows?
In addition to the 1000 the Japanese want to take in Antarctica, they also just left to take
260 in their own coastal waters. Now I don't know how many Iceland and Norway take, and I
don't know exactly how many are taken by Inuit communities etc, but I do know that many of the
whales that they kill are pregnant. Now I'm not an expert but that certainly adds up to alot of
whales. Hundreds, if not thousands of whales are killed each year in entaglements, boat strikes,
strandings, sonar related deaths. How many is too many to take? Do you know? Does anybody know? What if too many are killed? Will pods have the genetic diversity that they need to survive when their numbers are reduced further? Personally, don't think it's worth it to take the
chance - endangered or not.

 

[Sas]

Will pods have the genetic diversity that they need to survive when their numbers are reduced further? Personally, don't think it's worth it to take the
chance - endangered or not.

Japan has been providing genetic diversity information with its whaling program.

 

[cdreamer]

Yeah, by reducing the gene pool.

 

[Sas]

Iceland takes per year, 30 minke whales out of a population of 174000 in the North Atlantic and 9 fin whales out of 30000.

Norway takes 500-600 out of the North Atlantic minke whale population (not considered endangered btw).

The US takes about 50-60 bowhead whales out of a population considered 'least concern' (25000 estimated and this is increasing). Some species are no longer hunted because of concerns about sustainability.

Japan takes about 500 out of a population of 500000-1100000 minke whales in the Antarctic (not considered endangered, least concern) each season.

By catches and ship collusions actually kill more cetaceans (dolphins, whales, porpoises) than hunting and this number is on the increase. Perhaps places like the US should stop fishing and shipping traffic because you're probably killing more whales this way hmm?

 

[cdreamer]

Fin whales are endangered - None should be taken.
You have shown my point with some pretty wild estimates.
I added other reasons for whale fatalities because it contributes to the decline.
That's an International issue not just a US one and I'm sure more can be done.
Our resident right whale population is down to about 300 I think - so every one matters.

 

[Sas]

Fin whales are endangered - None should be taken.

Sure.

You have shown my point with some pretty wild estimates.

Whether it is 500000 or 1100000 how is taking 500 a year going to decimate the population?

I added other reasons for whale fatalities because it contributes to the decline.
That's an International issue not just a US one and I'm sure more can be done.
Our resident right whale population is down to about 300 I think - so every one matters.

Yes I know other reasons contribute to the decline, more so than the ones taken by the Japanese. But to reduce this would require action from the countries that whine about whaling and they don't seem to care to fix their own issues before looking abroad.