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Originally posted by Chadwickus
reply to post by stanguilles7
Tell me this isn't endangering lives:
Originally posted by Chadwickus
reply to post by stanguilles7
Tell me this isn't endangering lives:
Originally posted by stanguilles7
I notice several claims (totally unsubstantiated) that Watson and the Sea Sheppard endanger people's lives. This isnt true. They trow butter at whalers, and have disabled a few ships in a way that prevents them from continuing to operate illegally. They have never damaged a ship in a way that has endangered crew. AT ALL...
...That's not what was stated. It was claimed that he has endangered other peoples lives. All you are saying is being on a ship is dangerous. Thats not the same thing AT ALL.
Paul Watson was convicted in Norway in 1997 and has an outsanding warrant in Costa Rica for the attempted murder of a fisherman. A long, but far from complete, list of his and the Sea Shepherd's crimes are detailed below:
1979: An S.S. ship rams the whaling ship "Sierra".
1980: The "Sierra" is sunk in Lisbon harbor. S.S. claims responsibility.
1981: The S.S. claims to have sunk two whaling vessels, "Ilsa I" and "Ilsa II".
1986: S.S. activists ordered to leave Faroese waters during whale harvest. Ignoring the order, Faroese police try to board the S.S. S.S. crew fires a line rifle and throw signal flares at police dingy. Petrol was poured into the water around the dingies and flares were used in what was preceived by the police to be an attempt to set the petrol on fire.
1986: The S.S. claims responsbility for the sinking of two Icelandic veseels and damage performed against an Icelandic whaling station.
1988: Paul Watson demands to be taken into custody in Iceland for the sinking which took place in 1986. He later recants his confession.
1991: A U.S. fisherman reports his vessel being rammed by an S.S. vessel.
1992: The S.S. makes three failed attempts at ramming Costa Rica fishing vessels.
1993: Paul Watson, captaining the S.S. vessel "Edward Abby", orders his crew to open fire on a Japanese fishing veseel. The crew refuses. The encounter can be seen in the 1993 documentary "Ocean Rider - Defenders of the Wild".
1993: The S.S. claims to have sunk 8 vessels and rammed and/or damaged 6 others.
1997: Paul Watson convicted in Norway and imprisoned in Netherlands for scuttling of a whaling vessel and ramming of a Norweigan coast guard vessel.
Despite considerable proof, pro-S.S. activists still try to deny this fact. Here are two Pro-S.S. sites that confirm this piece of the Sea Shepherd's sordid history.
Intekom.com
Whales.org
2002: Arrest warrent issued in Costa Rica for Paul Watson for attempted murder and destruction or property resulting from an altercation with a Costa Rican fishing vessel.
2002: "We should never feel like we're going too far in breaking the law" - Paul Watson, Animal Rights convention 2002
2008: The S.S. vessel "Farley Mowat" is confiscated and two members of the crew arrested.
2009: Two S.S. crew convincted in Canada for their 2008 crimes. (note: this conviction was passed down AFTER Paul's comment to Larry King)
2010: Peter Bethune is convicted in Japan of all five counts he's charged with including assault, trespassing and vandalism.
2010: Paul Watson put on Interpol's wanted list.
According to its mission statement, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society "uses innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document, and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas".
Those actions have included scuttling and disabling commercial whaling vessels at harbor, ramming other vessels, throwing glass bottles of butyric acid on the decks of vessels at sea, boarding of whaling vessels while at sea, and seizure and destruction of drift nets at sea.
As of 2009, Paul Watson has said that the organization has sunk ten whaling ships while also destroying millions of dollars worth of equipment.
Their practice of attacking and sinking other ships has led to reports of injuries to other sailors as well as the Sea Shepherd crew, including concussions and complications from chemical attacks
Originally posted by OccamAssassin
All Paul Watson has to do, is film the crime being committed and then pass on the footage to officials in the home-port of the boat.
Originally posted by Chadwickus
reply to post by intrptr
Just hasn't sunk any ships
Salvagers have raised and refloated the two whaling ships scuttled in Reykjavik harbor by environmental activists.
''The boats popped up from the sandy harbor floor like a cork,'' Kristbjorn Thorarinsson, owner of the salvage company which contracted the job, said Tuesday.
The sabotage caused $2 million in damage, the Hvalur Whaling Company said. The 430-ton vessels, insured for $4 million each, were coated with heavy oil residues from leaks sprung in the scuttling.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an international antiwhaling group, claimed responsibility for the Nov. 9 sabotage and for wrecking an unguarded whale-processing station 50 miles north of Reykjavik.
www.nytimes.com...
They steered the Ady Gil into the ship, plain and simple.
Originally posted by Chadwickus
reply to post by stanguilles7
I have to disagree with you.
There is no guarantee damage won't happen from carrying out such an act.
Originally posted by intrptr
reply to post by Chadwickus
They steered the Ady Gil into the ship, plain and simple.
Aww dude. Watch it again (to the end) There is no wake on the vessel. The Sea Sheperds vessel was sitting still in the water and the crew were outside sitting on the hull. The Japanese vessel turned and advanced on the motionless vessel bearing down and closing to "disable" at the last moment. The Japanese deck crew hosed them down with water cannon as they passed by.
Originally posted by EarthCitizen07
reply to post by Drunkenparrot
So why isn't some official body arresting the japanesse for illegally fishing whales in the antartic?
Somebody has to do the dirty work. Might as well be Paul Watson! We can give him his medal of honor afterwards although I feel he is too modest to accept it.
Carry on with you're trumped charges though. Its hillarious!
There is no excuse for it being anywhere near the bow of the whaling vessel.
I hope Germany complies with Costa Rico's extradition request and lock Paul Watson in prison.
Originally posted by stanguilles7
reply to post by OccamAssassin
You keep characterizing the sea shepherds actions as being dangerous. How do you square that with the fact that no one has ever died because of their actions, in over 30 years, if they are as dangerous as you claim?
Originally posted by Chadwickus
reply to post by stanguilles7
Tell me this isn't endangering lives:
In 1982 the IWC adopted a moratorium on commercial whaling. Currently, Japan, The Russian Federation and a number of other nations oppose this moratorium. The IWC allows non-zero whaling quotas for aboriginal subsistence and also member nations may issue 'Scientific Permits' to their citizens. Japan has issued such permits since 1986, Norway and Iceland whale under objection to the moratorium and issue their own quotas.
---
Traditionally, the IWC meets annually, usually in May or June. Meetings are composed of one voting representative (called a Commissioner) from each state party who may be accompanied by experts and advisors. They are generally extremely divisive — demonstrating a complete split on all major issues between the pro-whaling nations and their supporters and the anti-whaling nations.
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IWC is a voluntary international organization and is not backed up by treaty. Therefore, the IWC, in essence, is a voluntary organization which has substantial practical limitations on its authority. First, any member countries are free to simply leave the organization and declare themselves not bound by it if they so wish.
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Third, the IWC has no ability to enforce any of its decisions through penalty imposition.
International Whaling Commision
Originally posted by OccamAssassin
Originally posted by EarthCitizen07
reply to post by Drunkenparrot
So why isn't some official body arresting the japanesse for illegally fishing whales in the antartic?
Somebody has to do the dirty work. Might as well be Paul Watson! We can give him his medal of honor afterwards although I feel he is too modest to accept it.
Carry on with you're trumped charges though. Its hillarious!
It has a lot to do with international law and the anti-whaling treaties that Japan did not sign.
Japan has chosen to opt out of being a part of the anti-whaling treaty so it could continue its whaling under the guise of "scientific research".
Personally, I don't have a problem with it as long as it remains sustainable.
When the industry takes more than the environment can handle, then we have a problem and should act accordingly . Until, that time....I see it as no different than any commercial fishing or farming operation.
As Smart as the Primates
Intelligence research was done with pigs in the 1990s. One of the experiments was to train the pigs to move the cursor on a video screen with their snouts. When the pigs used the cursors again, they were able to distinguish between the scribbles they already knew, and the scribbles they were seeing for the first time. The pigs learned this skill as fast as the chimpanzees.
All species of pig are smarter than dogs, and capable of abstract representation. “They can hold an icon in their mind, and remember it at a later date,” says Professor Stanley Curtis of Penn State University, who discovered that pigs dominate at video games with joy sticks. Curtis goes on to say, “Pigs are able to focus with an intensity I have never seen in a chimp.”