Paul Watson quick to accuse Australian PM Gillard of ‘green lighting’ Japan’s whaling

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Adam Westlake in Features, National with 70 Comments

Paul Watson, the infamous leader of the environmental extremist group Sea Shepherd, is once again quick to point the finger at anyone and anything other than himself, has accused Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard of “green lighting” Japan’s whale hunts with her failure to protect life and property within her nation’s borders. Following the collisions between Japan’s fleet and the activists’ ships this week, Gillard responded to Watson’s calls for naval assistance by questioning when Australia was given the role of policing the world’s oceans.

Prime Minister Gillard said that the Australian government did not have the power to send its own ships to get in between those of Japan and Sea Shepherd, and even doing so would put Australian lives at risk, a possible remark about the activist group’s habit of intentionally getting dangerously close to the whaling ships and trying to block their path. Watson has fired back, saying that Australia does have the authority to police the Southern Ocean, where Japan’s annual hunts take place, against pollution and illegal whaling, as well as to protect the nation’s citizens about the Australian-flagged Sea Shepherd ships.

Paul Watson quick to accuse Australian PM Gillard of 'green lighting' Japan's whaling

“Australia sends ships to the Southern Ocean to rescue foreign yachtsmen yet they do not feel responsible for protecting Australian citizens,” Watson stated, adding, “This lack of action by Australia is really about giving a green light to Japan to increase their violence because they know they will get away with it.” The Australian government has long been a vocal opponent against Japan’s whaling activities under the bogus claims of “scientific research,” even attempting to take legal action against the country in 2010. So Watson‘s accusations of Gillard supporting the killing of whales don’t fly. It sounds more like Australia, while opposed to the unnecessary Japanese hunts, is also tired of putting up with Sea Shepherd’s dangerous stunts that put human lives at risk year after year, and do little to actually deter whaling.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has already said it will investigate Wednesday’s collisions between the two sides. While thankfully there was no loss of life or injuries reported, Sea Shepherd has accused Japan’s factory vessel, the Nisshin Maru, with “ramming” their ships, the Bob Barker and Steve Irwin, as they tried to prevent the whalers from refueling. Likewise, Japan’s Fisheries Agency has said the activists deliberately sailed into their path, leaving little chance of avoidance. Watson was quick to promote that Japan would have to call of this season’s hunt due to the collisions and minor damages to the ships, however the Fisheries Agency has dismissed that notion, stating their program would continue this year.

[via Lakes Mail]

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Tags: Australia, Bob Barker, Institute of Cetacean Research, Julia Gillard, Nisshin Maru, Operation Zero Tolerance, Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd, Southern Ocean, Steve Irwin, Sun Laurel, Whaling

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Ryohei Uchida

It is not the Australian Government that ‘green lights’ the Japanese whaling. It is international law that does so. But this is well established.

What is of importance now is to have Paul Watson apprehended and made to face justice. Whether it’s in Costa Rica, Japan or Germany, he must be put on trial.

Furthermore, the contempt motion against Paul and Sea Shepherd is progressing well in the US courts.

Of course, to this day, not a single charge or prosecution has been brought against any Japanese whaler, anywhere, ever. And therein lies the difference between a legally sanctioned scientific research whaling operation, and illegal violence carried out on the high seas.

The legal tide has turned against the violent thuggery of Sea Shepherd. Soon its profits will be cut off and its leadership prosecuted.
- sidewinder
  
  Put on trial for what exactly? It’s Japan that should be on trial. I’ve lost count how many laws Japan has broken….
  - vincent
    
    Let me guess, you lost count at “zero”?
    - sidewinder
      
      no dummy, in a base 10 system you start a zero and go up. would be over 10 at a minimum “vincent”.
      - vincent
        
        What a whacko.
- AnimuX
  
  The thugs are Japan’s whale poachers who’ve fired their harpoon cannons sending explosive tipped projectiles just over the heads of Greenpeace, rammed ships including the destroyed Ady Gil with its crew still on board, and thrown explosives and metal hooks the size of hand anchors at unprotected, unarmed protesters.
  
  The poacher-scum annually slaughter endangered and protected whales in an international whale sanctuary in defiance of an international moratorium on commercial whaling. While the international community continues to call upon Japan to stop killing whales.
  - Ryohei Uchida
    
    Unarmed protesters? That is incorrect. The Sea Shepherd thugs fire glass canisters of butyric acid at the Japanese mariners and shine lasers into their eyes. They are armed with poison tipped arrows. Indeed, a member of Sea Shepherd was convicted of possessing a knife in 2010. These are armed and very dangerous thugs. Make no mistake.
    
    Japan has been very restrained in dealing with their violent attacks and has thus far used only non-lethal deterrence measures. Do not forget that there are other ways of dealing with such criminality, as the French demonstrated rather explosively to Greenpeace in 1985. It remains to be seen for how much longer Japanese patience will last.
    
    Japan’s whalers operate entirely within all applicable international laws. Their operation is legal and uses only legal methods. They are in total compliance with the moratorium on commercial whaling. As I mentioned, not a single Japanese whaler has been charged with any offence, ever, anywhere, by anyone.
    
    Sea Shepherd on the other hand, well, you are familiar with their numerous and very serious legal problems the world over.
    
    The situation is clear.
    
    You can choose to support illegal and violent crimes and the criminals who commit them. But do not for a moment pretend that what you are doing is anything other than that.
    - AnimuX
      
      Pro-whaling antagonists love to make exaggerations when they’re busy demonizing unarmed protesters. They pretend stink bombs are WMDs.
      
      Sea Shepherd in its over 30 years of activism has never killed anybody, never attempted to and never threatened to.
      
      Meanwhile, Japan’s whale poachers throw explosives at unarmed protesters and call them ‘warning balls’ in official statements.
      
      Not only are Japan’s whalers NOT in compliance with the moratorium on commercial whaling — they’re undermining the essence of international fisheries regulations in the process by abusing loopholes under one Article of an international convention to purposely defy restrictions established by 2/3 majority vote under another Article of the same convention.
      
      Of course this is nothing new for Japan’s whale poachers who have historically ignored size limits and species protections, hunted out of season, hunted in off limits areas, exceeded quotas, and even facilitated ‘pirate whaling’ (poaching) with hired foreign help all over the world.
      
      The latest abuse of the ‘research’ loophole is just one more example of a long history of bad behavior even documented by former whaling execs like Isao Kondo who wrote a book about the many violations in his decades of experience with the Japanese whaling industry.
      
      Japan’s whalers got away with attempted murder when they destroyed the Ady Gil. Thankfully, the poacher-scum failed in their attempt to kill 6 unarmed protesters that day.
      - Ryohei Uchida
        
        It can’t be attempted murder when incompetent mariners ram their trimaran into the bow of your vessel.
        
        While I would not ordinarily encourage reference to anything Paul Watson claims, he did have this to say of the collision, “One only needs to watch the video to see that Bethune negligently stopped his ship in the path of the whaling vessel and it was cut in half”. Of course, Paul is a little off the mark in that the trimaran wasn’t in fact stopped but actively accellerated into the SM2. But the point is the same, that it was the trimaran that was at fault and any claim of “attempted murder” is just plain silly.
        
        Equally silly is any claim that Japan is not abiding by all relevant laws in conducting its cetacean research program. Australia is currently pursuing this folly in the International Court of Justice. But even its own senior officials privately acknowledge that it is doomed to failure. Why? Because Japan’s cetacean research program is entirely legal.
        
        Isn’t the law just so annoying?
      - AnimuX
        
        Because when an 800 ton steel whale poaching ship makes a sharp turn toward a stationary small carbon fiber boat with 6 unarmed protesters on it — giving them no more than 9 seconds to react — pro-whaling antagonists will claim the protesters ‘obviously’ jumped right out in front of the whalers on purpose. Japan’s poacher-thugs thought they could get away with murder if they could make it look like an accident. Thankfully, the poachers failed.
      - ddpalmer
        
        Do you a not stationary small carbon fiber boat?
        Unarmed? Hardly.
        9 seconds? Now you ar just making things up.
        And actually it was the NZ investigators using the interbiews with the Ady Gil’s crew and the Ady Gil’s recorders (which someone in the SSCS tried to destroy) that determined the Ady Gil accelerated forward before the collision.
      - AnimuX
        
        Like a pedestrian attempting to get out of the way of a runaway bus the Ady Gil was struck by one of Japan’s whale poaching ships after the whaler made a sharp turn into the Ady Gil — knocking the bow off of the small carbon fiber boat and almost killing the 6 unarmed protesters on board.
      - ddpalmer
        
        Nope, like a pedestrian trying to cross the tracks before the runaway freight train gets there and misjudging the speed.
      - AnimuX
        
        Only if a train could suddenly and purposefully make a sharp controlled turn off the tracks and directly into the pedestrian…
      - ddpalmer
        
        Just keep living the delusion.
      - ddpalmer
        
        Would that be Article VIII, which specifically says that notwithstanding anything else in the convention? And then says that whaling under Article VIII is exempt from the rest of the convention? So how can operating under a regulation that exempts you from the other regulations be defying the regulations you are exempt from?
        And again I really like how the anti-whalers use ‘loophole’ like it is evil and dirty. What about the ‘loophole’ Sea Shepherd uses to avoid paying US federal taxes? Or the ‘loophole’ they use to avoid paying state sale taxes? Or the ‘loophole’ they use to avoid Australian taxes on fuel?
      - AnimuX
        
        Reading the pro-whaling defense of Japan’s whale poaching is a lot like watching fictional depictions of mob lawyers. You can almost imagine the Tony Soprano defense stating before the court, “my client is a legitimate business man.”
        
        The reality is, Article VIII of the ICRW does NOT say that Japan or any other country can break every rule and regulation they like — undermining every decision of the International Whaling Commission — as long as they pretend it’s for ‘science’. This is exactly why Australia has filed a case against Japan’s whaling with the International Court of Justice.
        
        Not to mention the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea which declares in its Article 65 that nations shall cooperate for the conservation of marine mammals through the appropriate international body — which in this case is the IWC — the same IWC that has prohibited commercial whaling, declared the Southern Ocean a whale sanctuary, and repeatedly called upon Japan to stop killing whales.
      - ddpalmer
        
        Sorry Animux but Article VIII DOES say that any member country can break every IWC/ICRW rule and regulation. And you know that to be true.
        And Japan is following the IWC rules and regulations, which include Article VIII, so no violation of UN CLOS.
      - AnimuX
        
        Wrong. Article VIII is intended for legitimate scientific research needed for the management of whale stocks — not a repetitive excuse to violate all IWC restrictions on whaling.
        
        Unfortunately, pro-whaling antagonists believe Japan can continue as many whales as it likes as often as it likes regardless of international conventions.
      - ddpalmer
        
        First where does Article VIII say ‘legitimate research’ and who decides what is ‘legitimate’?
        Second, the moratorium specifically called for research to collect the data and determine if/when any given species of whale could be safely commercially hunted. this data and determinetion was supposed to take 10 years. It still isn’t done. So Japan continues collecting data to support the requirements of the review contained in the moratorium.
        The IWC has also called SSCS actions unnecessary and specifically called upon them to stop.
      - AnimuX
        
        As the reader can plainly see, pro-whaling antagonists don’t even care if Japan’s so-called ‘research’ is legitimate science.
        
        It’s merely an excuse — a loophole abused by Japan to purposefully undermine international conventions.
      - ddpalmer
        
        As the reader can plainly see anti-whalers will lie about anything in a vain attempt to make a point. they will also ignore facts, science and just about every aspect of reality.
        
        Oh and will imply Japan is evil for using a ‘loophole’ while seeing nothing wrong with the SSCS using multiple ‘loopholes’. Heck I bet everyone reading this has used numerous ‘loopholes’ themsleves. Ever taken a deduction for a gift to charity? Loophole.For those in the US, how about a right turn at a red light? Loophole.
        
        And the loophole accusers may want to look up the definition someday. Not that it will change anything but at least they will know what the rest of us already do, just how ignorant they are.
    - http://twitter.com/EarthbenderRise Robbie Mitchell
      
      Just to interject, Sea Shepherd no longer uses any sort of projectiles. At least they haven’t this season, anyways.
    - fedd-up
      
      i support sinking all the whaling ships in the southern ocean.
- feedup
  
  if Mr. Watson does get put into jail there will be 100 more people that will step up in his place. the world if feed up with these animals getting killed for food it is time to stop!
  - vincent
    
    There’s plenty more room in jails across the world, so they’re welcome step up and get locked up.
    
    Who knows, after enough time, perhaps “Sea Shepherd Guantanamo Bay” will be running the operations?
sidewinder

If Australia was another star on the U.S flag, there is no way Japan would even dare do such whaling activities, and if they did you would have armed coast guard & naval vessels down there…. Too bad Australia is gutless and only into protecting trade. Japan has enough costly domestic issues – and shouldn’t even be bothering to waste money supporting a dead industry.
- whiplash
  
  Ivan Levaï
- ddpalmer
  
  If Australia was another star on the US flag then they wouldn’t be making a claim to the waters around Antarctica, since the US doesn’t recognize such claims.
  To bad you don’t understand what you are talking about.
whiplash

and as usual Japan knows this and walks all over Australia and NZ – and the thing is Japan deliberately provokes both of those nations. For what? So whale meat can be rammed into school lunch programs to artificially create “demand”. Bizarre nation….bizarre people. Watch out for China.
- sidewinder
  
  What a whacko!
- ddpalmer
  
  Yes Japan knows the laws, just like Australia and NZ do. It is international waters, Australia and NZ don’t have enforcement powers there. But they are responsible for Search and Rescue.
  - demondot
    
    AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC TERRITORY ACT 1954
    - SECT 10
    A.C.T. courts to have jurisdiction in the Territory
    (1)
    The courts of the Australian Capital Territory have jurisdiction in and in relation to the Territory.
    - ddpalmer
      
      Yes Australia claims they have jurisdiction, but almost the entire rest of
      the world doesn’t recognize the claim. Only 4 other countries recognize the
      claim. An Australian Federal judge said that Australia can’t enforce it’s laws
      against foreign vessel or nationals in the area. And Australia didn’t even claim
      they owned the area when they filed a lawsuit against Japan over whaling in the
      International Court.
      
      Argentina ‘claims’ the Falklands. China ‘claims’ Taiwan. Neither one
      enforces their laws in those areas. Why do you think that might be?
      
      Do you realize that law was passed before Australia signed the Antarctic Treaty, which suspends all claims?
AnimuX

It’s the government of Japan that ‘green lights’ whaling.

According to professor Jun Morikawa, author of “Whaling in Japan: Power, Politics, and Diplomacy”, the whaling continues for the interests of corrupt bureaucrats who ensure tax funding in the fisheries budget for whaling only to later leave public office and take high paid positions in the commercial whaling industry. This type of corruption is so common in Japan’s government they have a word for it: ‘amakudari’.

The fact is Japan lost the vote on whaling way back in 1982 but has never honored its international obligations.

In the 1985/86 season the moratorium on commercial whaling went into force.

In 1994 the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was established.

National governments all over the world have officially objected to Japan’s defiance of international conventions.

Despite all of this, in keeping with the decades of regulatory violations committed by Japan’s whaling industry before the moratorium, the government continues to unilaterally issue ‘special permits’ to its very own tax funded whale poaching operation.

You don’t have to be a citizen of Japan to recognize the corruption when a government raises taxes — supposedly for the reconstruction of destroyed homes and businesses in a tsunami disaster — and then uses $30 million of that money to fund an internationally prohibited boondoggle like whaling for the profit of a select few officials and their business cronies.

Unfortunately, that’s what Japan’s whale poaching amounts to. A big government giveaway to a failed industry of the 20th century.

The International Whaling Commission has repeatedly called upon Japan’s government to stop killing whales.

The people of Japan should do the same.
- vincent
  
  For goodness sakes, please stop with the cut and paste nonsense. Look how much space you took up with that nonsense!
- ddpalmer
  
  Yes the government of Japan does ‘green light’ whaling. As the ICRW allows them to.
  By following the ICRW Japan is honoring their obligations. repeating your lie won’t change reality.
  The IWC has also repeatedly called on the Sea Shepherds to stop their actions. Convenient how you forget to mention that.
  - AnimuX
    
    Nobody ‘allows’ Japan to continue killing whales. It’s a unilateral action continued in direct opposition to the democratic decisions of the International Whaling Commission which has repeatedly called upon Japan to stop killing whales.
    
    Unfortunately, due to Japan’s status as the 3rd largest economy in the world other national governments have been reluctant to enforce their own agreements. However, Japan’s abuse of the ‘research’ loophole to kill endangered and protected whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is exactly why Australia has filed against Japan’s whaling with the International Court of Justice.
    
    For the same reason multiple U.S. Secretaries of Commerce have certified Japan is purposely diminishing the effectiveness of international conservation efforts — and in 1988 Ronald Reagan even enacted economic sanctions against Japan according to the Packwood-Magnuson Amendment.
    - ddpalmer
      
      The ICRW is a treaty, so you are correct ‘nobody’ allows them. But the regulations in the ICRW does allow them to issue permits for whaling. And then there is the SSCS’s unilateral decision to ignore the IWC’s repeated calls to stop their actions.
      And the SSCS abuses the ‘federal tax’ loophole and the ‘state sales tax’ loophole and the ‘Australian fuel tax’ loophole.
      - Think
        
        The ICRW only allows permits for science. What the Japanese are doing is commercial slaughter. Therefore it does not cover them.
      - ddpalmer
        
        That is your opinion.
        
        But since you claim laws are just there to be ignored then how can you complain about whether the ICRW covers the Japanese whaling or not?
Sun Wu

PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE – illegal Seashepherd refueling activities in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary confirmed!

The Steve Irwin is designed for 30 days at Sea.

Picture is showing Stewe Irwin alongside Bob Barker for refueling:

http://www.digitaljournal.com/img/8/7/3/i/1/4/1/o/Sea-Shepherd-Steve-Irwin-Bob-Barker_.jpg

The Bob Barker is carrying more than 300 tons of fuel-oil and is serving as supply-ship for Seashepherd-fleet, mainly for Stewe Irwin and Bardot since the range of Sam Simon was increased by additional tanks worth 500 000$ making it a floating bomb aswell which definately is not meeting any international standarts other than Sun Laurel being operated according to international regulations.
- Think
  
  It’s a picture of two ships from an article entitled: ‘Op-Ed: Sea Shepherd ships rammed by Japanese whalers
  
  http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/343913
  
  The funny thing is, the article says a captain can lose their license is proven to be in breach of maritime law, which is great … if you have not actually got a captain license!
  
  What is the photo supposed to show … that Sea Shepherd crews get together to have tea parties sometime?
http://twitter.com/EarthbenderRise Robbie Mitchell

Well, I do have to say that this is kind of a cowardly move by the Australian government. They’ve said in the past that they openly support Sea Shepherd and now when Sea Shepherd requests actual help, they flake out.
- ddpalmer
  
  Yeah, how dare those cowards follow international law.
  They should be more like Paul Watson and just disregard any law they don’t like and go off like vigilantes.
  - Think
    
    Who cares about the law? Are you a school prefect, or something?
    
    The law is not always right, the law is not complete, the law is skewed in favor of capital and property, the law is largely powerless in the face of environment destruction and lacking when it comes to the right of animals … but it will change.
    
    Like I said, you don’t understand the law at all.
    
    You’re not a policeman, you’re not even a snitch … although I suspect you would be if you could … so what are you running around like a chicken without its head for?
    
    So what, a couple of bits of metal got bent. They can be straightened. Think of the 100s of whales that have been saved from these slaughtermen and butchers blowing them up alive.
    - vincent
      
      “Who cares about the law? … you don’t understand the law at all”
      
      lol @ anti-whalers
      - Think
        
        If a police vehicle breaks the speed limit chasing a felon … is it wrong?
        
        Please, show yourself some respect and don’t come across as quite such a ……………..
    - ddpalmer
      
      Yeah I don’t understand the law, coming from someone who says ‘who cares about the law’.
      
      If ‘understanding the law’ means ‘ignoring the law’, then I guess I don’t understand it. But then I guess all those arguments by the anti-whaling lobby about the Japanese violating laws just went out the window.
      
      “So what, a couple of bits of metal got bent” and yet the SSCS and their sheeple are all upset about the damage done to their ships. I guess that is just more of the anti-whaling lobbies double standard.
      - Think
        
        ddpalmer, either you don’t read what has been written, or you are unable or unwilling to understand. Which is it?
        
        Sure, you don’t understand the law for the reasons that were patiently explained to you. What is no point in my repeating myself if you don’t want to learn a little about life?
        
        The law is continually evolving and being tested, and being bent out of shape for and by vested interested.
        
        Can you imagine the world today if no one did? We’d still be living under rule by divine right, black people would still be slaves, India would be ruled by the British, there would be no universal suffrage.
        
        What on earth are you going on about? And by motivated to do so in the defence of some meat butchers and slaughtermen?
        
        Are there really no better causes in your life?
      - ddpalmer
        
        “The law is continually evolving and being tested, and being bent out of shape for and by vested interested.”
        
        And let me guess you get to chose which laws have to be followed and which ones can be broken?
      - Think
        
        We all do. It’s largely a battle of wills. But now and again those in power manage to do something wonderful and rises above their self-interest and greed to do something benign and compassionate, like give rights to others weaker and more vulnerable to them.
        
        Usually, if we look back at history, it requires the coercion, rebellion, obstruction and conflict on behalf of the masses in order to be able to achieve it.
        
        What on earth motivates you to defend a gang of butchers and slaughtermen running a small business for nothing but their own financial gain?
        
        Aren’t there better causes in the world to waste your life on?
        
        Ultimately, putting the principles of conservation, sustainability and compassion ahead of short term financial benefits for the few will benefit the most far longer and far more widely … and humanity is going to have to recognize the rights of other animals to live in peace, undisturbed, in their own environments by murderers.
      - ddpalmer
        
        Whaling follows the principles of conservation and is sustainable. They use the most humane method available.
      - Think
        
        Sure … and gassing Jews was the most humane method available for the Nazis. The perversity of logic is a disgust to any reasonable person.
        
        Whaling is a highly polluting, profit driven, unsustainable industry no longer able to profit of its own accord due to a lack of consumers and hence relies on government subsidies to fund.
        
        Whale slaughter is not and never been humane. It can take up to 50 minutes for a whale to die is extreme pain and indigenous whale hunting tends to takes to take the longest due to its primitive nature.
      - ddpalmer
        
        Yeah because Jews and whales are analogous. And just who was it that claimed gassing was humane?.
        
        “Whaling is a highly polluting” Your opinion, and compared to what?
        
        “profit driven” Then why don’t they make a profit?
        
        “no longer able to profit” So how can it profit driven?
        
        “unsustainable industry” Proven wrong by the continued existence and increasing and/or stable populations of whales despite hunting.
      - Think
        
        Gassing is actually more humane than harpooning. Do you know how many whales are ‘struck and lost’ … that is explosively harpooned but then escape? In one prolonged study it was 42%. No one knows how they die but one can imagine.
        
        Imagine someone shot a barbed javelin into you and then you were left with it untreated.
        
        Pollution? I didn’t notice the whalers rowing down to the Antarctic.
        
        Profit? Because Sea Shepherd and the anti-whaling lobby stops them.
        
        Sustainability? I mean in business terms. A business that depends on government welfare hand outs is not sustainable.
        
        Why spend tax money running the welfare bums’ 8,030 ton slaughter house when there are families still living in temporary housing near Fukushima.
      - ddpalmer
        
        Where when and by whom was this research study done?
        
        I didn’t notice the SSCS rowing either. And you said ‘highly polluting’ not polluting. Which is why I asked compared to what.
        
        No they don’t make a profit because research isn’t a direct profit maker. And sorry but the whalers and the company they work for makes the same no matter how many whales they take.
        
        Oh, you should have made clear what you meant by sustainable. A business involved in research always depends on ‘hand outs’ from somewhere and is not directly sustainable.
        
        You would have to ask the Japanese government why they have decided to spend tax money in that way but governments spend money on lots of things that are controversial. Of course the latest poll in Japan shows more people support continuing whaling than oppose it. And there is still billions of dollars in the Tsunami Relief Fund but local government regulations and a lack of construction companies has hindered rebuilding efforts.
      - Think
        
        How much oil is used and pollution created sending a 8,000 ton slaughterhouse all the way to the Antarctic to do it butchering? Doesn’t that sound a little extravagant even to you? Do I really need to spell it out?
        
        Compared to what? Compared to cycling down to the local farmers’ coop and buying locally grown rice and beans which provide perfectly adequate carbs and protein … compared to eating locally grown food … compared to a primarily vegetarian or vegan diet.
        
        And it’s not research.
        
        It’s commercial whaling under the guise of doing some needless, worthless and bogus research, and exploiting a loophole against the wishes of the IWC.
        
        At best, it is research to do more commercial whaling in the future which is why it going to be stopped.
        
        I see they have now sent in a 12,000 ton ice breaker thereby increasing the pollution, waste and costs and decreasing any profitability.
        
        Are you a Japanese tax payer? As many wrongs as you want does not make a right.
      - bob smith
        
        Why limit yourself to the Nazi treatment of the Jews? Simply look at the Japanese horrendous treatment of prisoners of war and civilian populations during WW2. The same ” Japanese cultural beliefs” that they use to justify whaling were used to justify Japan’s war crimes
      - http://www.facebook.com/Tiffany.Couper Tiffany Couper
        
        Bhaha dumb ass, whaling is not sustainable, at the rate they reproduce they will be extinct before the year 2050. Thats if Japan is allowed to carry on the illegal slaughter of whales in the southern sanctuary. They were given permission to slaughter for research in THEIR waters not OURS. the reason they have come south is the whales have no radioactivity in their flesh. Any way if you actually bothered to do any research yourself or bothered to attend school you would know that Whales, Dolphins and Sharks are essential to the ecology of the ocean. Without them the sea would not survive, if the sea dies (smartarse) we die.
      - ddpalmer
        
        Sorry buffoon but you are wrong. With over 500,000 Minke whales and their known rate of reproduction even the anti-whaling scientists at the IWC have calculated a sustainable hunting level of over 2,000 per year. So lie number one.
        
        They aren’t YOUR waters as YOUR Federal judge stated in his ruling and as almost every other country in the world doesn’t recognize YOUR claim. Even YOUR own government won’t try and enforce YOUR laws there. So lie number two.
        
        There permit allows whaling in international waters of the Southern Ocean not THEIR waters. So lie number three.
        
        They have been going to the Southern Ocean to whale for decades and radioactivity has nothing to do with it. Or why would they continue to hunt whales off their own shores? So lie number four.
        
        Well (dumbarse) it appears you are already brain dead, but if you bothered to do any research you would know that Japan’s whaling poses no risk of eliminating whales so your worry is unfounded.
      - Think
        
        You’re right, the waters are not theirs, they are ours and we don’t want our whales killed. None of them.
        
        Japan has printed its own permit and its fake. It’s false. No one else except a handful of Caribbean nations island Japan has paid off with everything from development money, to cash backhanders and whores agrees with them.
        
        And there you are spending 3 or more years of your life flaming social media to support no one but butchers, slaughtermen and bureaucrats skimming tax money which could have been spent rebuilding communities within Japan who were hit the tsunami.
        
        And you expect us to take your vitriol seriously?
        
        Honestly, I keep asking you so be reasonable, what motivates you?
        
        Are you paid by one of those right wing, anti-environment, nut job lobbying groups?
mrmanhattan

At least they used a cartoon picture from “South Park” to illustrate their comically inept attempt to justify attempted murder (or at least criminally negligent homicide if the whaler captain was really that poor a seaman) to let the reader know how seriously they should consider the source.

Now back to Chicken and Cow!
Think

Do you know what really upsets these slaughtermen and butchers?

They won’t be getting their bonuses this year. They won’t be getting much meat to sell on the black market.

It’s all just about the money for them. They don’t give a shit about the beauty and wonder they are destroying.
johnnycrackscorn

I first heard of this when the headline was “Japan rams SSCS”. Then it was disclosed that the 8,000 tonne vessel and both 800 tonne SSCS vessels were involved, along with a 4,000 tonne tanker. Then Paul Watson told everyone that they had great success in blocking the refueling process. So, what I gather from this is that either the Japanese vessels suddenly became ludicrously agile and outmaneuvered vessels 1/10th their tonnage, or that the SSCS boats wedged themselves between two large ships and got put through the meat grinder.
If they have the stones to do something like that, then I applaud their dedication; it would be much better if they simply said what they really did and not point fingers like grade-school crybabies. To me, it’s like watching someone sign up for a tough-man boxing match, then suing his opponent for actually punching him in the face. Take your bruises and wear them proudly.
The larger issue for me is that although they are claiming victory in the whale arena, the act of breaking apart ships in the process of refueling (legal or not) is insanely dangerous. If the tanker is not ice rated, as it is claimed, and one of the SSCS ships punches a hole in the tanks, whose fault is that? The only thing they will say is “Hooray! The whalers cannot refuel now!” as the tanker moves at best speed back to port, trailing an oil slick of death behind it, certain to kill all kinds of life, including whales.
Stever

Surely nobody can be so ignorant as to believe that the Jap whalers catch has the slightest impact on the whale population? It’s like saying an afternoon’s shooting in one’s back paddock is going to threaten the world’s rabbit population with extinction. Weirdo’s!
- Think
  
  Your response make it appear intelligent discussion of the issues or analogy would be a waste of effort.
  
  Japanese Coastguard using concussion grenades against unarmed environmental protestors.
  
  Search Resultshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bymVeVK484
  - Think
    
    concussion grenades …
CatholicsSexAbuseChildren

JAP propaganda filth. Save the WHALES.
Stop

Sea Shepherd ” do[es] little to actually deter whaling”. Look at the Japanese catch this year… ha ha ha.

Luckily Gillard will be replaced this year and the new government WILL send ships to monitor the killing spree by the Japanese!

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Paul Watson quick to accuse Australian PM Gillard of ‘green lighting’ Japan’s whaling

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