Animal Planet Whale Wars

[trekleader]

Seadog!: While its true that there are a few small coastal villages in Japan that practiced small scale coastal whaling, by and large, Japan nationally never really was a whaling nation. Commercial whaling was introduced to Japan after World War II by the Americans in an effort to alleviate hunger brought on by shortages caused by the war. Today, its a very small percentage of Japanese, mostly elderly, who consume whale on a regular basis. For instance, the Japanese government is giving whale meat to schools in order to try and have school kids develop an appetite for whale meat. I don't know about y'all, but, the school lunches I had in school didn't produce in me a desire for salisbury steak, or whatever that was they served us.

The quotas they set are self set, and get larger every year. And, the quotas are seemingly random. They claim the whaling is for scientific research, but they have never(!) published a scientific paper. The whale meat is sold into the private sector after the 'research' is done. While they claim to only take sustainable populations, DNA tests from whale meat bought in Japanese markets show such endangered animals such as Blue Whales.

Although I have no data to back it up, I still believe that the Japanese insistence on whaling is largely political.

Iceland called off their whaling season last year, hopefully for good. Sea Shepherd in the past has protested Icelandic whaling as well.

[john]

Ok, I'm officially addicted to this show... It's like watching a crash car derby.

[Retired Rat]

OK, just saw it. What idiot pulls away in a RIB and doesn't do a radio check, or get a bearing to their target? That "captain" is so twisted that there nothing he can do wrong in his mind!
Kinda expected the girls to be a bit more "whale-like" though. No real wildebeests among them. Why did the Dutch 2nd Mate speak better English than some of the American/Canadians??

[Jeffrox]

The Sea Shepard "Eco-Terrorist" are the real "Pirates" Saving the Whales is fine, but come up with some seamanship and some tactics.

[SClark]

mmmm whale burgers..


Actually i've never tried it, must taste pretty good though. From watching this show I'd say hippies and ships aren't a good combo.

[Capt_Anonymous]

When I was running tour boats on Maui, I had a deckhand who used to wear his Sea Shepherd jacket on the boat, and preach their activist agenda to the passengers. Bobby, or "Lopaka" as he insisted on being called, was a bagger surf rat recently transplanted to Maui from San Diego. What we used to call a "Two Week Brah". Fresh off the plane, instant local boy. Uh huh.
One day out underway I lost an engine, put him on the wheel, and headed below to fix the engine. At that time, the entire Ma'alaea Bay had a 300 yard approach limit to all whales. Before I left, I told him to stay the hell away from whales. It was February and the humpbacks were at their peak, all over the place. It took me about 20 minutes to fix the main, and I went back up and took the helm, while listening to the passengers rave about the great whale show they got while I was below. "Oooh, Lopaka gave us quite a show, Captain! Did you know the Japanese devils eat these poor gentle creatures?"
When we got to the harbor, there were two NMFS agents waiting. Long story short, Bobby the deckhand chose to drive the boat straight into the middle of a large pod of whales and stopped. Several people on the beach called in to report my boat. I wound up with a $10,000.00 fine. He wound up preaching Sea Shepherd elsewhere. My boss was kind enough to pay the fine on my behalf. I was amazed I didn't get canned. Bobby, if you're still out there you and your Sea Shepherd pirate buddies can kiss my flukes.

[New3M]

Ahh who's ready for another ridiculous episode?

[Capt_Anonymous]

Wouldn't it be fun if we all, one night, commandeered some tavern's TV set and watched the show together?

[Jemplayer]

In a place were you KNOW there are going to be a lot of people that think these guys are brave and doing the right thing.
I can see it now. We roll up in there, flip the TV on and start laughing at the absurd stuff those idiots are doing on TV. We get a lot of weird looks, eventually a hippie walks up and asks whats so funny about people risking there lives for whales? We explain that it's not really about the whales, but as a group of professional mariners we find this the best comedy on television and that combined with the fact that they are documenting their illegal pirate activities, it is the must watch show of the season for us. Now don't get us wrong most of us don't give a f&#* all about the whales to begin with. Now run along and go take a shower, men are watching TV.
Of couse most of the people who think these guys are heros dont look to fondly at most of us in the industry, especially those of us in oil fields.

[New3M]

And then the brawl begins...

[CMA_Decky]

I know a couple bars down in Berkely... and a couple friends that wouldn't mind a sailor-hippy brawl.

[Capt_Anonymous]

Bring it on, dude.

[CMA_Decky]

Soooo I guess hippies don't carry spare hydraulic hoses?

[john]

Completely unrealistic but it would be fun to all get aboard one of those Antartic supply ships and on the way back stop to heckle those guys.

[anchorman]

Capt_A,
Is that Lee's new christmas card? Haven't got mine yet.

[Capt_Anonymous]

Just might be. He IS working on a drill rig these days, right?

[Robert]

Acutally I watch it because it gives me so much good material about what not to do as a professional mariner. It looks like all the "officers" who knows if they are even licensed, I find it hard to believe they are, are from country's other than the US, so there would be nothing the Coast Guard could do as they probably don't possess US licenses. The RHIB capsizing was a classic in incompetency.




Robert Thomas
Maritime Department
AVTEC

[john]

This is not a joke!

SYDNEY (AFP) — Actress Daryl Hannah will sail for the inhospitable South Ocean on Wednesday as part of a campaign to stop Japanese whalers from slaughtering the giant animals, organisers said.
Hannah, best known for her role as a mermaid in the 1984 hit "Splash", will be part of the militant Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's annual campaign to find, track and impede the whaling ships.
The film star on Wednesday will join the "Steve Irwin", which departs from the eastern Australian city of Brisbane, for the first week of the voyage.
"Passionate about the issues facing our planet, Hannah will join the crew," Sea Shepherd said in a statement.
The star of films such as "Blade Runner" and "Kill Bill" said more needed to be done to stop the Japanese from killing endangered species in the waters off Antarctica.
"It is surprising and shocking to me that governments are not doing this work -- that it is up to individuals and non-government organisations to uphold international law and protect endangered species," she told AAP news agency.

[Capt_Anonymous]

Oh, celebrity.

[Jeffrox]

I wonder how a piece of her tail would taste after about 35 minutes on the bar-b?