Steve Irwin picks up atail outside of Australia

[MikeE1849]

Looks liek Paul is doing more crazy ivans

http://www.ecorazzi.com/2009/12/14/s...ter-gun-fight/

What is that ship to the right side off in the distance?
EDIT N/m it is a stock photo not from the incident reported on

[steelbeach]

last story I read mentioned Japanese only taking whales for scientific purposes. If this is accurate there should be no problem.

[Steamer]

"last story I read mentioned Japanese only taking whales for scientific purposes. If this is accurate there should be no problem."

When the fog clears you will see someone from the government coming to help you.

[dougpine]

last story I read mentioned Japanese only taking whales for scientific purposes. If this is accurate there should be no problem.

Yeah because whales change every year. They are on a new type of fast-track evolutionary program so the Japanese are doing the world a favor by keeping the latest anatomical and behavioral changes documented. Science rocks.

[mike173]

If the Japanese aren't supposed to eat whales, why are they made of meat?

[seadawg]

BANZAI!!I just love the smell of burning blubber in the morning..those little nipponese buggers need the oil to burn in their lamps and lubricate their clocks!!!!

[Ordinaryseaman]

I wonder.. if "Lakota" is actually Watson? Or a Sea Shephardeer?

Why?

1- Frequent Use of British/Australian English (yes I know he's Canadian)


2- Watson references the Lakota leader Crazy Horse repeatedly in his writing.

3-Most Importantly- Watson is Lakota

" In the same year, he was given the rare honor of being inducted into the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe.

Source- http://www.animalliberationfront.com...PaulWatson.htm

[dougpine]

I doubt that Watson, either surreptitiously or in broad daylight, has the cojones to join the fray here on gCaptain. I don't get the impression that he engages where dissent prevails.

But it would be kind of cool if he did.

[Kenshin]

And by that logic the Japanese government should have despatched several ships to protect their citizens from Somalian pirates, since there have been half a dozen separate piracy incidents off the Somalian coast involving Japanese flagged vessels since 2008.

It ain't about protecting citizens from piracy...it's about money and/or the potential loss thereof.

Reflective or reactive?!
i would have just preferred if you had said "Lakota, your comment is stupid because - - - - -"

If I may interject here
Your comment is stupid because they have sent ships to Somalia.

As to your original question, while they do appear to be very ineffective it's still very costly and dangerous to have ships ramming yours all the time.

Anyway, I don't think this current ship or the one in previous seasons (Fukuyoshi) are JCG or JMSDF.
Ask yourself, why would they get on a retired fishing or whaling vessel to travel thousands of miles down to the Southern Ocean? It doesn't make any sense.

[anchorman]

I'm thinking the producer of Whale Wars is bank rolling a Japanese scout vessel for the dramatic effect - in keeping with the gun shot wound episode.....now, we wouldn't want to believe anything could be staged for TV, right?

[Lakota]

I wonder.. if "Lakota" is actually Watson? Or a Sea Shephardeer?

Why?

1- Frequent Use of British/Australian English (yes I know he's Canadian)


2- Watson references the Lakota leader Crazy Horse repeatedly in his writing.

3-Most Importantly- Watson is Lakota

" In the same year, he was given the rare honor of being inducted into the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe.

Source- http://www.animalliberationfront.com...PaulWatson.htm

With all due respects, you seriously need to move house from under those powerlines! To allay your paranoia...I am of Lakota descent, lived in the UK and spent most of my life in Australia. And I don't kiss on the first date so don't ask.

[richard8000milesaway]

I saw on television (ergo it must be true) that the japanese only started eating whale meat on a large scale after WW2 when their economy was in ruins; for that reason they presently defend the right to hunt & eat whales as part of their heritage, like the Inuits up north. Since it became an issue in the 1980's the Japanese have covered up their hunting by saying the whales are taken for scientific purposes only; the reality is of course that taking 500 whales per season makes that whole defense rather lame sounding. Especially since they give a lot of the whale meat to school cafeterias: "Mitsuaki, excellent: Sperm Whale Burgers for lunch again today!"
Holy crap, am I turning into a whale loving, tree hugging liberal? Hope my dad doesn't see this post.

[CMA_Decky]

Looks liek Paul is doing more crazy ivans

http://www.ecorazzi.com/2009/12/14/s...ter-gun-fight/

What is that ship to the right side off in the distance?
EDIT N/m it is a stock photo not from the incident reported on

Hehe Watson's a more skilled ice captain. He's going to use the ice floes to his advantage, of course that non-reinforced hull is going to come in handy. Any bets on whether or not he sinks his boat trying to get away from the Japaneses?

[Kenshin]

I saw on television (ergo it must be true) that the japanese only started eating whale meat on a large scale after WW2 when their economy was in ruins; for that reason they presently defend the right to hunt & eat whales as part of their heritage, like the Inuits up north. Since it became an issue in the 1980's the Japanese have covered up their hunting by saying the whales are taken for scientific purposes only; the reality is of course that taking 500 whales per season makes that whole defense rather lame sounding. Especially since they give a lot of the whale meat to school cafeterias: "Mitsuaki, excellent: Sperm Whale Burgers for lunch again today!"
Holy crap, am I turning into a whale loving, tree hugging liberal? Hope my dad doesn't see this post.

- Whaling has been a part of Japanese culture since the Kojiki was wrote.
Of course eating it was limited mostly to nobility who could afford it an coastal villages who did it -- but I could point out many of our own customs that were limited to nobility pre-1950s as well.
- Whale meat is not donated to schools (decades ago it was). You are confusing whale meat and dolphin meat.
- The research does exist and is peer-reviewed and also by IWC. The research is required to end the ban on commercial whaling, which was bought and paid for by Greenpeace. Between 1972 and 1982, IWC membership doubled. This has led to both sides in IWC buying votes.
So it's a nice catch-22 that the Environmentalists have come up with. 1. Ban whaling; 2. Require that to end the ban research must be done; 3. When they do the research, demonize them as doing it as a cover for commercial whaling.
- 500 Minke Whales (never endangered or suspected of being endangered) per year is a drop in the bucket. At the time of the moratorium passing, Japanese and Australian scientists determined that they could have continued hunting Minkes at 9000/year and that the moratorium was passed in spite of the IWCs' own scientific committee.
- Finally, if Japan wanted to they could just quit IWC and whale commercially all they want. Like us refusing to pass the Kyoto Protocol, there is no recourse for refusing to participate in IWC. It is strictly voluntary. They don't because they take environmentalism and this issue seriously, but are also sure in their position that Minke Whales can also sustainable be hunted and this is a cultural issue that NGOs exploit to bring in cash. Just as Watson himself explained years ago.

IF you've watched the show at all you should know the media cannot be trusted on this topic. They repeat Watson's lies with zero fact checking and report nothing from Japans POV. I don't want to call them the liberal media because I tend to lean left myself, but they are extremely biased on this issue and have forced me to question my own assumptions on media bias as well as re-evaluate other environmental issues like global warming.