Sea Shepherd tricks Japan into selling $2 million ship for use against whaling

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Adam Westlake in Features, National with 28 Comments
Sea Shepherd tricks Japan into selling $2 million ship for use against whaling

Japan’s whaling industry is going to be so pissed when it finds out what animal rights group Sea Shepherd has just done. The Paul Watson led activists have tricked the nation into selling it a $2 million government ship, which will be refitted and in turn be used against Japan’s whale hunt this year.

Formerly known as the Seifu Maru and stationed at docks right next to Japan’s whaling fleet, the 56-meter (184 foot) long ship was sold through a third-party U.S. company. It was registered and renamed as the New Atlantis, and then delivered to north Queensland, Australia by a Japanese crew, with the understanding that it was going to be turned into a pleasure boat. However, Locky MacLean, a Sea Shepherd skipper, revealed today that the Japanese government was actually doing business with them the whole time.

The ship now carries an Australian flag, and the New Atlantis name has been dropped. The latest Sea Shepherd vessel is to be known as the Sam Simon, named after the founding producer of renown animated TV show The Simpsons, and an animal welfare advocate, who donated the funds used to buy the ship. The boat is being moved to the city of Hobart on Tuesday, where it will make its official debut as Sea Shepherd launches their latest campaign, Operation Zero Tolerance, against Japan’s Antarctic whale hunt. As the Seifu Maru, the ice-strengthened ship was built in 1993 and used as an observatory vessel by the Japan Meteorological Agency until it was laid up in 2010.

[via WA Today]
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  • Ryohei Uchida

    So Sea Shepherd have just poured $2m into the coffer of the Japanese Government, which are of course the very same coffers of the Institute of Cetaean Research. So it seems there’ll be a little more money in the kitty this year for those wonderful penthrite grenade harpoons! Happy hunting team.

    • AnimuX

      Or maybe the government of Japan could use that money to make up for the tens of millions it diverted from funds intended for tsunami reconstruction. Then again, when the government can raise taxes to help the victims of a massive natural disaster, and then use those very tax dollars for unrelated boondoggles like whaling, it’s unlikely the corrupt bureaucrats will be held accountable either way.

      • Ryohei Uchida

        Well, that would be entirely up to the Government and is no one else’s business but the taxpayers of Japan.
        Another matter for the Government and taxpayers of Japan is protecting its citizens and interests against violent attack on the high seas. Perhaps this $2m could go towards a torpedo to neutralise the Sea Shepherd threat?

        • Paladin

          And now who’s advocating violence?

          • Ryohei Uchida

            Sea Shepherd, of course. Please see their website for more information.
            That’s why Japan would be well within its rights to use force to defend its citizens and assets from the violent attacks. It’s called “self defence”, you will recall.

          • Paladin

            “Self Defense” mandates something called “appropriate response” That is, like action for action.
            SSCS throws bottles of rotten butter, deploys prop-fowlers and yes, has put themselves into positions wherein collisions can and have occured.
            The Japanese whalers have done all this and MUCH MORE (minus the rotten butter bombs) in response including the use of low-grade hand tossed explosive devices (concussion and flash-bang grenades), and possibly (on one occasion), the use of firearms. Those responses to the SSCS alone are escallations. and outside of “appropriate response”. You however appear to advocate the use of military hardware designed to cause loss of life.
            Your moral high-ground is slipping… badly.

          • Ryohei Uchida

            You are factually and legally mistaken. Self defence mandates the use of reasonable force to protect against a threat of violence. For instance, if you start throwing acid at a police officer, you will find that his response will not involve throwing acid back at you. It will involve taking measures aimed at preventing further acid being thrown. Indeed, Japan has thus far used only non-lethal measures to fend off the violent attacks, including non-lethal concussion devices and acoustic devices. However, these have failed to prevent further acts of violence. Therefore, as with sustained attacks upon a police officer, at some stage a greater degree of force will be required to halt the attacks and uphold the law. At this stage with Sea Shepherd, that would appear to be more likely in torpedo form.
            Also for your information, what Sea Shepherd throws is butyric acid. Not “rotten butter”. That is just the name Sea Shepeherd uses to cover up the violent and criminal nature of its actions (as if throwing anything at someone is somehow legal. Go figure). While butyric acid may be found in rotting butter, what Sea Shepherd throw is is a highly concentrated form of butryic acid that has nothing to do with butter. Claiming that what Sea Shepherd throws is “rotten butter” is akin to feeding someone arcenic and then claiming to have fed them almonds. It is simply incorrect and devious.
            Out of curiosity though, how would you feel if someone started committing acts of violence against you simply because they thought that the cows and sheep and pigs that you eat are somehow cute and shouldn’t be eaten? Would that still be cool and fun violence, or would it be illegal and immoral violence?

          • Anonymous

            Relax everyone. Not sure if you are from japan Mr. Uchida but if you are, you’re one of the 11 percent of your countrymen who support whaling strongly. 85 percent of your same countrymen are upset about almost 10 million dollars of their tax money being used to support the whaling that Sea Shepherd has economically sunk.

            And as you pointed out as well, Sea Sheperd is being funded by the generosity of animal lovers everywhere. Meanwhile Japan is taking money away from its own disaster struck regions to “revitalize” an area of the economy that is clearly failing.
            Yes, Paul Watson’s tactics are beyond that of mere activism, esp that of Green Peace which he left, but they are proving to be effective. You are entitled to your own opinion and I mine, but from this battle eventually peace will ensue one of these days.

          • Paladin

            To answer the below, yes Mr. Uchida is not only from Japan, but has ties to the Japanese whaling industry. He and I have gone head to head online before.
            Again he distorts hoping that no one will take the time to actually look UP what Butyric acid is (Yes, it can be made from rotten butter), and find out that it’s no more acidic than citric acid (Oranges).
            He also hopes that no one will watch the video’s of the Japanese using the normally non-lethal acoustic devices against an aircraft which IS potentially lethal and contravenes all international laws regarding interferance with an aircraft. He also hopes no one notices in all the many videos the Japanese whalers throwing large METAL objects at people in boats, and using spears and hooks against people in inflatable boats. (And of course he will conveniently forget about all the video evidence showing bleeding crew of the Sea Shepherd while not having ONE picture of an injured Whaler to show.
            By the way Mr Uchida, please don’t try to explain how a law enforcement officer will react to an ex law enforcement officer. It just makes you look more foolish.

  • David Morris

    I don’t understand why the author thinks Japan’s whaling industry is going to be pissed. It was not a whaling ship, just one of the numerous government ships which was already sold to a private company in 2010. As far as I know Japan is one of a few countries known for their shipbuilding industry and they produce quite a lot of ships every year. The info has been going around for a while now, it wasn’t a secret to Japanese that SSCS bought this ship. The fact is SSCS bought a redundant Japanese ship for $2 million for media performance. Kudos to SSCS.

    • Redcliff

      @94b52da8254d467fac9c76df43f73b30:disqus

      My guest is that Sea Shepherd action is more of a Moral Triumphant. The above article did not expand that the Seifu Maru was laid in 2010 along side the Whaling Fleet Shimonoseki.

    • Mallor

      This ship was infact a part of the whaling fleet. Although not exactly a part of the killing ships, it was designated as a spotter ship to find, mark, and locate various whale species. This ship can be seen during season’s 1 and 2 of Whale Wars, and while it never did return to the Southern Ocean for the next few whaling seasons, it still actively participated in the whaling fleet’s Northpacific “Research” operations until 2011

      • Tase

        Except she was never a whaling vessel at all. She was built for and used by the Japanese government as a meteorological survey and observation boat. She, alongside a number of other ships, was part of a flotilla observing pollution of the environment by gases, heavy metals, etc.

        She was sold (indirectly) to Sea Shepherd after she became redundant and unnecessary. Not only did Sea Shepherd pay 2,000,000 USD to the japanese, it stopped them from having to pay upkeep to maintain the ship. Plus, didn’t Sea Shep encourage an embargo on all japanese goods or something?

  • Paladin

    Well done SSCS! Happy hunting the Illegal hunters!

    • Ryohei Uchida

      “illegal hunters”? Which would those be, exactly?
      Because the only illegal behaviour I see is that which is carried out by Sea Shepherd. You will recall that it is Paul Watson who is currently on the run – a fugitive from multiple international arrest warrants. Last time I checked, there was not a single offence, misdemenour or even investigation relating to a Japanese whaler. Similarly, it is Sea Shepherd’s ships that are impounded and confiscated the world over. What happened to the Farley Mowat? Why was the Steve Irwin impounded in Europe ealier this year? I can’t recall a single Japanese whaling vessel being stopped anywhere, ever. Then there’s the member of Sea Shepherd who was arrested, tried and convicted of a number of offences in 2010, including assault.
      So what was that about illegality you were talking about?

      • Paladin

        1) Not numerous warrants, one warrant. And a highly questionable one at that since it’s been admitted by Japan that they were behind it.
        2) Australia has filed with courts over Japan’s illegally whaling in the Australian economic and Whale Sanctuary zone. The latter of which violates a mandate signed by many nations.
        3) The Irwin was impounded and released. The charges were dropped.
        4), The “assault” charge was for carrying a 4″ long fishing knife. (Pretty girly of the crew to be “alarmed” by that!)

        • Ryohei Uchida

          Wow, where to begin. Perhaps No 1.
          1. There are two Interpol Red Notices for Paul Watson. Two. Also, he is wanted in Germany for skipping bail. He was also convicted of a violent criminal offence in Norway in 1997.
          2. Australia has initiated a legal action against Japan’s whaling program, but not with regard to any Australian territorial claim. The action claims to hold Japan’s research program as being beyond the scope allowed by the ICRW. However, Australian officials have privately acknowledged that the legal action is most likely to fail. Why? Because Japan’s whaling program is entirely legal.
          3. The Steve Irwin was released after Sea Shepherd coughed up a huge amount of money people donated to it. No charges were dropped.
          4. The assault charge was in relation to a burn received by a Japanese mariner resulting from an acid projectile launched by a member of Sea Shepherd.
          Is there anything else you’d like to be correct on?

          • Jose

            The Norway charge was for the Mayday call, not violent criminal offence. You stand corrected! I question all you say because you distort.

          • Ryohei Uchida

            I do not stand corrected in the slightest.
            Watson was charged in Norway for attempting to sink a fishing vessel.
            Why are you lying?

          • Paladin

            1) A Red Notice is NOT a warrant. He is NOT wanted by warrant in Germany as it is not illegal to break bond in Germany.
            2) Is it your stance that countries are in the habit of filing claims in International court that they feel they will lose? And YES it is a territorial dispute regarding the Economic Exclusion Zone (Which is territorial), as well as the Whale Sanctuary.
            3) If the charges were not dropped then why did the UK press say they were? What is the current stage of the case? There is none.
            4) One (1!) sailor SAID he was hurt. No pics, no proof. just his testimony. If, IF it were true, where is all your “violence” that you claim the SSCS does? Only ONE person?!? Well then I propose that the SSCS is so INCOMPETENT in their “violent” actions that your precious whalers have nothing to worry about! (Pansies though they may be)
            Your arguments are specious at best. Either they are competent and dangerous, or incompetent and only have ever hurt one person in all, what, 7 years of confrontations. Choose!

      • Paladin

        By the way, the Irwin was impounded regarding a civil suit, which has nothing to do with any criminal case. It was brought on by Fish and Fish..

  • Uchida loves pigs

    Uchida is propaganda!! haha dude, JAPAN IS USING A LOOPHOLE TO “LEGALLY WHALE”…. that does not mean it is morally legal. And your point about pigs and cows… Neither are endangered you piss off uninformed piece of floating whale poop. You have been rationally beat in every point made. Please quit your propaganda job, let the freakin whales recover! I am going to introduce you to a word, its called “Humane” (Characterized by kindness, mercy, or compassion) Cows and Pigs can be slaughtered in a “humane” way… Wait for it…. WHALES CAN NOT! Get a better job, one that doesn’t require you to lie… lie… and lie some more.

    • Alex

      He is probably one of the pigs that can swim around in their dolphin killing cove and slaughter dolphins for profit as well!! Human and humane are not words in his vocabulary!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Phillys-Winterbottom/100003106878719 Phillys Winterbottom

    you want this Uchida crotch-stain to treat the whales well? Japanese have an extremely poor record with the treatment of humans and you want him to show mercy to whales?
    Sink the Jap whaling fleet then no more probs!!! ;)

  • Grumpycat

    The whole thing is getting way out of control. It’s becoming less and less about animal welfare and more like high-seas gangland. I am anti-whaling and, when I look at SS, I am anti-anti-whaling. It seems to me the sooner SS leave off, the more ground activists and lobbyists can make with legislators. SS’s bullyboat tactics are only going to be counterproductive. It is unlikely the whaling fleet will be pensioned off as a result of face-to-face conflict with a messianic American bankrolled by rich buddies. The annual south seas whaling farce is a frustrating spectacle of vanity and stubbornness. There are no winners.

  • CalmDown

    Lets not start WW3 over this Ryohei, Paladin & all. Yes! I agree whaling is immoral And illegal in protected waters and it should be punishable to the highest extent of the law everywhere. So thank god for the Sea Shepherds and people around the globe who have enough love & gratitude for the oceans, all its creatures, the entire planet and humanity to take care of what we do have here now. If you can’t understand that, then just agree to disagree & Let it GO!

    • ddpalmer

      Yes, let’s not start WW# over it. I know whaling isn’t a moral issue and as practiced by Japan is completely legal and thus no punishment needed. So thank god for people who follow the law and don’t run away when they don’t get their way but stick to the rule of law. If you don’t understand that, then just agree to disagree & Let it GO!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=725575327 Quatro Naruhodo Briefs

    Paul Watson is nothing but a violent extremist. His actions are dishonorable. The Japanese have the right to do what they do, and I ate whale and it taste damn good.