Whale Wars... The Saga Continues...

Heavy metal accumulation is a bigger problem for coastal cetaceans esp. propoises than the open ocean ones. Several dolphins species especially is getting so bad that their milk is actually harmful to their pups.

Anyway, the problem isn't so much the Japanese whaling - the species they are hunting are hardly endangered - it's the ludicrous excuse they are using. Let's just say if I put in that sort of manpower and money into the research I'd better be coming up with quite a few more papers than the Japanese scientists are coming up with.

They need to worry more about the Pacific Tuna with the Fukashima Radiation now.

I do not watch any reality TV. I don't like it at all. Much of it is scripted or just plane fake. No one that I know lives with as much dissension as depicted in these shows..including Whale Wars..

I have not read this thread but I found this article interesting.

While Paul Watson Fights Extradition to Costa Rica, Whale Wars Returns
Posted by Jaime Lopez on June 1, 2012 in Entertainment

A letter from Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, went out to his followers and supporters earlier this week and summed up his current status:

“I remain a prisoner in Germany in a case that has become highly unusual, controversial and international.

On May 13th, 2012, I was arrested at Frankfurt airport in Germany because in October 2011, Costa Rica issued an order for my arrest and extradition for an incident that had taken place in 2002.”

While Mr. Watson’s status is still uncertain, the Animal Planet cable television network (part of the Discovery conglomerate) is ready to air season 5 of the hit reality television program Whale Wars, a documentary-styled show that premiered six years after the incident that moved Costa Rica to request extradition of the controversial environmentalist.

Whale Wars has been a windfall for Animal Planet. The first two seasons received plenty of critical acclaim and high ratings. The president of Animal Planet once said that the show is an example of what the network intends to do in terms of reaching adult audiences. While Discovery has taken to the high seas before and found success in reality series like The Deadliest Catch, Animal Planet cannot take credit for the success of Whale Wars. The show is 100 percent Paul Watson, for it was him who pitched the idea to the network, and he provides the gravitas and entertainment that has propelled Whale Wars to ratings success.

Whale Wars without Paul Watson just would not be the same, and it is interesting to note that while Animal Planet has a lot riding on the show, it has not gone to great lengths to support his release. The reason for this might be because Discovery wants to position itself as a neutral party that does not condone or champion the actions of Paul Watson and his often inexperienced crew against the (mostly Japanese) whaling ships, but it does enjoy the ratings.

The show has tried to expand its success into a franchise with a spin-off season called Whale Wars: Viking Shores, which finished airing just after Paul Watson was arrested in Germany. The spin-off was based in the pristine Faroe Islands, and it mostly fell flat among critics. Writing for Playboy magazine, critic Andy Denhart described his opinion of what the New York Times labeled as Whale Wars: Onshore Bickering (since the crew left their ship):

“[the show] has derived nearly all of its drama from Sea Shepherd’s paranoia, and that’s often made for frightening moments. The tension comes from what Sea Shepherd crew members think might happen rather than what actually does happen, because with the exception of some annoyed and/or drunk people, nearly everyone they interact with is pleasant and gracious.

The activists haven’t faced a single actual threat—or, it’s worth noting, a single whale…”

As is often the case with scripted reality television, the film crew in Whale Wars resorts to different methods of adding tension and drama -which is what audiences keep coming back for. Most of the time they are effective, but when they show the Sea Shepherd crew on the deck of the Steve Irwin desperately scanning the horizon with binoculars for a whaling ship that the cameraman can see over their shoulders, it just looks silly. But when Paul Watson is on screen, Whale Wars is effective not just because of his charisma, but also because he is a man who is serious about what he does.

Starting now and until 8:00 pm U.S. Eastern Time, Animal Planet will broadcast a Whale Wars marathon of past shows, and at 9:00 PM season 5 will premiere. A dear reader of The Costa Rica Star who keeps a blog named Propaganda Buster wondered if the next spin-off could be named “Shark Wars: Costa Rica Pura Vida.” Considering the reaction to Viking Shores, it might be a better idea for Paul Watson and Animal Planet to stick to the original formula. Here’s the episode description for tonight’s season premiere:

After more than seven years of intense battles at sea, the Sea Shepherds believe they have finally driven the Japanese whaling fleet from the Southern Ocean forever. But now, Japan promises to return to Antarctica to resume its hunt, and the stakes for the Sea Shepherds are higher than ever. Adding to the already intense conflict, the Japanese government is committing nearly $30 million to this year’s hunt to provide additional security against the Sea Shepherds. Hoping to end the war before it even begins, Captain Paul Watson develops a daring plan to prevent the whalers from killing a single whale.

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'Reality TV'. Another example of Newspeak contradiction in terms?

Hmmm... Whale Wars: South Korea. The Koreans are a lot more "actionable" than the Japanese. Interesting since South Korea is allowed to trade with Iran due to its free trade agreement with the US, I imagine unlike the Australians the US will have to exert pressure to stop the Sea Shepards from interfering with South Korean whaling.



Defiant South Korea vows whaling
By Shaun Tandon | AFP – 1 hr 30 mins ago...

South Korea said Wednesday that it would start whaling under a loophole in a global moratorium that allows scientific research, outraging conservationist nations by using the same tactic as Japan.

At sometimes heated talks of the International Whaling Commission in Panama, South Korea said it would announce later how many whales it would kill and when but insisted that it did not need foreign approval.

South Korea's head envoy Kang Joon-Suk said consumption of whale meat "dates back to historical times" in his country and that the minke whale population had recovered since a 1986 global moratorium went into effect.

"Legal whaling has been strictly banned and subject to strong punishments, though the 26 years have been painful and frustrating for the people who have been traditionally taking whales for food," he told the conference.

Whale meat remains popular in the South Korean coastal town of Ulsan, which serves meat from whales "accidentally" caught in nets. Activists have voiced suspicion that whales are often killed deliberately under the guise of accidents.

Kang said South Korea would conduct whaling in its own waters -- in contrast to Japan, which infuriates Australia and New Zealand by killing hundreds of whales a year under the guise of research in Antarctic waters.

New Zealand's commissioner, Gerard van Bohemen, charged that South Korea would also be putting whale populations at risk and said that Japan had not contributed to science after years of expeditions.

South Korea's plan is "unnecessary and borders on the reckless. New Zealand is strongly opposed to Korea's proposal," he said.

Monaco's envoy Frederic Briand, a marine scientist and veteran conservationist, said that the Commission's allowance for scientific killing reflected research methods from when the body was set up in 1946.

"There is no doubt in my mind that scientists from Korea could well take advantage of the non-lethal techniques," he said.

South Korean delegate Park Jeong-Seok voiced anger at the foreign criticism. He said that Seoul did not need to inform about its whaling but was doing so "in the spirit of trust, good faith and transparency."

"As a responsible member of the Commission, we do not accept any such categorical, absolute proposition that whales should not be killed or caught," he said.

"This is not a forum for moral debate, this is a forum for legal debate," Park said. "Such kind of moral preaching is not relevant or appropriate in this forum."

Under the Commission's rules, nations can conduct lethal research on whales, with the meat then going to consumption.

Norway and Iceland are the only nations that defy the moratorium entirely. Iceland also used to describe its whaling as scientific but shifted its position in 2006 and said it was commercial in nature.

South Korea carried out scientific whaling for one season after the 1986 moratorium went into effect. A report at the time by the International Whaling Commission's science committee said that South Korea killed 69 minke whales and provided "no information" of scientific use.

Japan also submitted a proposal Wednesday to resume the hunt of minke whales off its coast, but did not seek a vote after strong opposition by anti-whaling nations.

"The IWC's commercial whaling moratorium has caused us and our communities great distress for a quarter of a century," Yoshiichi Shimomichi, head of the Japan Small-Type Whaling Commission, told the conference.

Australian envoy Donna Petrachenko said that Japan's proposal, if approved, would mean "completely undermining the moratorium."

While not killing minke whales, Japan each year hunts thousands of other cetaceans unregulated by the International Whaling Commission off its coasts -- most notoriously dolphins, which the western town of Taiji spears to death.

Russian delegate Valentin Ilyashenko voiced understanding for Japan's proposal as he explained his experience going for dinner in Panama, which has a strong US influence.

"Every visitor I see at restaurants asks for traditional Panamanian food, and as a rule they get a hamburger or pizza. I believe it's important to keep traditions and thus I support Japan's proposal," he said.

You might want to avoid whale meat (those of pilot whales) due to the relatively high mercury concentration. Baleen whales should be ok though.

It's OK to post in a non-military thread more than six months old..

[video=youtube;KEVUEQ3SDyU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KEVUEQ3SDyU[/video]

Here's the story that goes with this video.

A controversial group opposing Japanese whaling in the Antarctic region on Monday released video showing one of its ships, the Bob Barker, being sandwiched tightly between two larger vessels: a Japanese whaling ship and a Korean refueling tanker. It also shows what's said to be a flash-bang grenade explosion near the stern of the refueling ship, Sun Laurel. The dramatic incident surely ranks as among the most tense in the years-long history of clashes between the whalers and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

The latter group, which annually opposes Japan's whaling effort with harassment techniques, reports that the Bob Barker has been badly damaged but its crew is safe. Sea Shepherd also stated that another of its vessels, the Sam Simon, was dinged during another collision with the Nisshin Maru, and that there was a third collision that involved the Nisshin Maru.

All three Sea Shepherd vessels are experiencing engine room flooding caused by water cannons, the group claims.

"The Bob Barker has sustained major damage from being sandwiched between the Nisshin Maru and the fuel tanker Sun Laurel," Sea Shepherd stated on its Facebook page. "The engine room is now visible through a crack in the floor of the galley. The Sam Simon has massive scratches and dings along their hull, and a smashed satellite dome."

Sea Shepherd's boats, trying to thwart refueling attempts, had been trailing propeller-fouling ropes when the collisions occurred.

This is the second set of collision incidents that occurred during the whalers' attempts to refuel. After last week's incidents, the government of Japan and the Institute of Cetacean Research, which manages the annual minke whale hunts, announced that they had temporarily suspended whaling operations.

The ICR blamed Sea Shepherd for last week's collisions.

Japan annually targets nearly 1,000 whales, claiming the missions are scientific and using a lethal research loophole in the wording of an international moratorium on commercial whaling to skirt the ban.

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I have no opinion on the above story. NONE...

I stand on the Sea Shepherd's side and hope that they'll get a larger vessel, better to have armor hull to withstand impact from foreign ships!

Altough I do not want to put the issue in blank and white, this picture nicely illustrate the situation that human conscience is in and had always been in, with human desire and ambition.

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Court: Anti-whaling protesters are 'pirates'

Appeals court: Anti-whaling protesters are 'pirates,' must halt their aggressive tactics
By Paul Elias, Associated Press | Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Their supporters call them heroes. The Japanese government calls them terrorists.

Late Monday, the United States' largest federal court labeled them pirates.

In doing so, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals castigated Paul Watson and members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society he founded for the tactics used in their relentless campaign to disrupt the annual whale hunt off the dangerous waters of Antarctica.

"You don't need a peg leg or an eye patch," Chief Judge Alex Kozinski wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel. "When you ram ships; hurl glass containers of acid; drag metal-reinforced ropes in the water to damage propellers and rudders; launch smoke bombs and flares with hooks; and point high-powered lasers at other ships, you are, without a doubt, a pirate, no matter how high-minded you believe your purpose to be."

The same court in December ordered the organization to keep its ships at least 500 yards from Japanese whalers. The whalers have since accused the protesters of violating that order at least twice this month.

The ruling overturned a Seattle trial judge's decision siding with the protesters and tossing out a lawsuit filed by a group of Japanese whalers seeking a court-ordered halt to the aggressive tactics, many of which were broadcast on the Animal Planet reality television show "Whale Wars."

U.S. District Judge Richard Jones had sided with Sea Shepherd on several grounds in tossing out the whalers' piracy accusations and refusing to prohibit the conservation group's protests. He determined the protesters' tactics were nonviolent because they targeted equipment and ships rather than people.

The judge also said the whalers were violating an Australian court order banning the hunt and so were precluded from pursuing their lawsuit in the United States.

The appeals court called Jones' ruling "off base" and took the rare step of ordering the case transferred to another Seattle judge to comply with its ruling Monday. The appeals court said Jones had misinterpreted the Australian ruling, which didn't address the protesters' actions.

"The district judge's numerous, serious and obvious errors identified in our opinion raise doubts as to whether he will be perceived as impartial in presiding over this high-profile case," Kozinski wrote.

Charles Moure, an attorney representing Sea Shepherd, said he would ask an 11-judge panel of the 9th Circuit to reconsider Monday's ruling, including Jones' removal from the case.

"They are killing whales in violation of an Australian court order," Moure said.

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Just goes to show everyone has their own definition of a pirate.

He determined the protesters' tactics were nonviolent because they targeted equipment and ships rather than people.

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Since when has a pirate not targeted "equipment" and "ships." Harming people is more collateral damage for a pirate. In the last season of Whale Wars the Japanese sent out a mayday because one of the Sea Shepards' attacks injured a Japanese crew member. The Sea Shepards answered the call only because there's some law where if they didn't, they could be up for criminal charges. The Japanese wanted nothing to do with them and never answered back so the Sea Shepards had to call Australian authorities to get permission to leave and pursue the other ships.

The TV show shows how dastardly the Sea Shepards think so they aren't any more innocent than these whalers. One of the Sea Shepards tactics is to get one of their crew members on board a Japanese ship because that's illegall and thus the Japanese would have to use one of their ships to go back to Japan to turn over the Sea Shepard crew to police to be charged thus taking one of the whaling ships out of the hunt. What's dastardly is Paul Watson is always asking for a female crew member to do it so then they can send out press releases that the Japanese are sexually assaulting her while in captivity. They openly say this on the show. No woman has yet volunteered to do this.