The Whale Wars/Sea Shepherd Discussion Thread

[SchildVogel]

Figured it would be interesting to have a thread for discussion of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (seen on the show Whale Wars on Discovery Channel) and to inform anyone who doesn't know about it.

SSCS website link: Sea Shepherd Website

So post your views, questions, news articles, videos, and anything else related.

Personally, the way the SSCS does things doesn't seem very effective to me, but the results speak for themselves; considering the number of animals they've saved and governments they've challenged (and won against).

So, I'll kick this off here with a video of one of Captain Paul Watson's speeches. Sorry for the length, but it shows where he stands pretty clearly. He says a lot of things that seem outrageous and extreme, but I think people really need to hear it.

[Spuz36]

The were just on Jay Leno, I'm sure the episode will be on the website soon for a few days. Saw one or two episodes and tey were pretty entertaining, good to show light on the issues of whale hunting.

[dtacs]

What happens if all the whales are hunted to extinction?

[Conman51]

Originally Posted by dtacs

What happens if all the whales are hunted to extinction?

Then other animals breed unchecked i guess?



As a avid fisherman i believe there should be some kind of protection to prevent over fishing.

Catches in recent years have been fewer and smaller fish off the coast of California.


A little off topic: But on my last trip out i caught a fish with a tag in its spine, i looked at the tag and it belonged to the California department of fish and game and said reward on the tag.
It took me like a week and a half to finally get a hold of the right person but i gave them the info....i got a hat and info on where they caught the fish and how far it swam...i think this is the kind of protection that animals need...more research should be done on where they swim and what they eat...not getting a boat and harassing other fisherman.


the thing is if they are always chasing after boats who are illegally fishing in parts of the ocean then how come governments dont get involved?

[lucidrians]

South Park episode on them was pretty hillaroius. Other than that they are pretty useless.

[Bamboo]

You should also check out The Cove Movie: Welcome
Pretty sick stuff. And the stupid thing is, the market for Dolphin and Whale meat in Japan is dropping off to near 0. I read an article the other day that had looked at the market and young people thought it was gross and almost no middle age folks would eat it either. So a lot of the meat would get relabeled or mixed in with other stuff. So they can't make money off the slaughter without the government subsidies they get from Japan.

I will mention my wife has a masters degree in marine mammalogy and she watches the show some, but things the crew is kind of stupid.

The thing is, if you saw how big the brain is on something like a dolphin, you have to know they aren't stupid animals (same goes for whales).

[Tofurkeymeister]

I think what the whale wars people do borders on Eco-terrorism. There are a lot more effective ways of protecting whales than being an international troll.

</rant>

[SchildVogel]

If they are eco-terrorists, they're doing the smartest form of it; attacking the whaler's wallets. The most effective animal rights groups realize that the only reason the animals are being slaughtered is for profit. So if you interfere in a way that stops them from making a profit from killing that animal, they'll be forced to stop. I think the most effective organization, though controversial, is the Animal Liberation Front; there's no set group or list of members, but instead "Any group of people who are vegetarians or vegans and who carry out actions according to ALF guidelines have the right to regard themselves as part of the ALF." ALF Website- Credo

[Tirak]

I'm sorry, but I can't take any group who believes that one of their most effective weapons against the enemy is rotting apples seriously. That's what you've got? Oh and you tried to force a diplomatic incident between two countries by sneaking on board the whaling ship so you could get caught?

They're not effective, their ships can't keep up, their tactics don't work and if what I've seen recently is the most up to date, they blew the element of surprise on a half baked attack in foul weather and not refueling the one boat they had that actually could do anything thus forcing it to fall behind, to get rammed later on and sunk.

The only legitimate attack that I've seen the whalers do on the Sea Shepherds, is the intentional ramming of the Ady Gil, other than that, it's just the Sea Shepherds going around trying to provoke a reaction from the Japanese in hopes that the international community will do something.

This all being said, I support their goals, but not the way they try and achieve those goals.

[SchildVogel]

Well to be fair, the "stink bombs" they throw are bottles of Butyric acid. I definitely agree with you, in that they could be way more effective. Though the idea, and what has been proven, is that if the harpoon vessels are doing anything besides harpooning, (tracking the sea shepherd, getting hit with stink bombs) there are that many less whales being killed.

Paul Watson has a lot of really good philosophies, ideas, and intentions, but to be in charge of the naval fleet I think should be the job of someone with a naval military background.