Whale Wars
 

So Animal Planet is on a free preview for a month or so, and I was flipping through tonight and came across Whale Wars. I know who Paul Watson is and the Sea Shepherd Society, they all seem rather incompetent on a ship, or just plain incompetent in life in general.

Tonight I watched them take off after a Japanese research boat in two little Zodiacs, with rough ass seas, and they weren't even keeping the same speed or gaining ground. Then some woman slammed her face off the boat when they hit a wave, it's insane the stupid things they do. Hell they even have a helicopter. Oh yeah the clincher, they almost ran out of fuel on the way back to Hobart, oh how I wish they would have.

Now after watching this, I'll watch again I like train wreck TV and I reckon someones going to die on this show, but am I the only one who roots for the Japanese research vessels while watching this show? Maybe it's just me.

While I appreciate the sentiment of saving whales, the people on board the ship are fucking morons.

As PETA has already shown, nothing hurts your cause more than being a complete jackass.

This.

Those guys are crazy. The one episode I saw the first officer was like "I dont trust GPS, ice charts, or really any technology"

I can't imagine what life on that boat is like.

Where do they get the funding?

I think animal planet is doing the show precisely based on the train wreck principle. If they were safe, sane people, it'd just be a bunch of guys roaming the sea and shaking their fists at the Japanese. Almost all reality tv is now based off this unfortunately and I'm not surprised anymore. Although this show in particular...

Shows like this make me glad I don't have any outside signals invading my TV (No cable or anything)

So why were they after a research vessel? Did you mean to say a whaler boat? Or do they just not like the Japanese perhaps...

The Japanese claim it's a research boat.

The folks on the show say it's a whaling boat claiming to be a research vessel.

They seem to come across these two ships quite often:
Nisshin Maru - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yushin Maru No. 2 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

...Either way they are harrassing a foreign flagged vessel in international waters.

If the Japanese grew tired of this and sank their boat (or boarded them and arrested them for interfering with a peaceful and legal research/fishing expedition) I would cry crocodile tears.

I'm kind of shocked by the ignorance being displayed in this thread. It's been shown time and time again that the Japanese "research vessels" are whaling ships. They are conducting illegal whaling. YouTube it. New York Times it. Google it.
Even if you don't like how the Sea Shepherds are going about trying to stop it (I'll grant that they have the failings of most grassroots human and animal rights groups), they are the ONLY ones doing it. No government body has dared to take action against these ships, because Japan is such a crucial economic partner for anyone that has the power to stop them.

There is tons of evidence out there that these japanese ships are responsible for massive, illegal slaughtering of whales - many species of which are endangered. While the rest of the world is too busy fighting wars, defending their borders, etc, with their ships, the Sea Shepherds have one boat that they do their damndest to try and stop these other boats with.
It may not be safe, but given the means, can you think of a better way to stop the illegal whaling? If not, you should probably consider doing something to support the people that *are* doing something, even if that's just writing them a letter, explaining how this Animal Planet show makes them looks like total asses and sensationalizes their downfalls.

The Sea Shepherds rarely conduct any illegal activity. In International waters, if you observe (and can prove... which they usually can, thanks to hand held video cameras) illegal activity, you're allowed to stop it. This includes boarding the offending ship, blocking its path, etc.

PETA sucks. They're idiots. The Sea Shepherds are fighting a necessary and nearly impossible battle, but, from my perspective, are doing a damn fine job with their resources.

---------- Post added at 10:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:16 PM ----------

PS - - The whole running out of gas thing is a great example of a stupid network sensationalizing a normal day at sea... almost everyone does this at sea. You have enough fuel to get you out, hang out, and get you back. Any more than that is useless weight. Stupid TV.

PulpMind, while I agree with your facts and most of your opinions, it does nothing to change my opinion that most of the folks on that show are at best minor-league fools being exploited by the show's producers or at worst a soon-to-be-lethal concoction of complete morons, attention whores and jackoffs. My mom knows one of the guys on the show (I can't remember which one) from her days as a public school social worker, and she's said he's lucky to have survived until adulthood.

I'd say Animal Planet is doing a fine job of making these folks look entirely unsympathetic, especially when I know folks that actively root for cast members to fall off boats.

For the sake of argument....

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...5-2006.svg.png
This chart is pretty self explanatory

There is also this paper(Warning: PDF) where Japan responds to questions from the IWC about it's research program.



The whale harvest is down, clearly. They've also published 91 papers based on the research. That's a lot of papers. They are doing some research, whether they're going overboard with the lethal take I don't know - I'm not a marine biologist even by hobby. I'd love to hear from one to see why this is too many whales being taken, if it is.

A huge reason those numbers have dropped is because whale populations have declined drastically in the last 30 years because of, *drum roll* WHALING.
There's no real reason for whaling. They don't reproduce fast enough to make any kind of commercial scale whaling sustainable. Whales don't provide humans with anything we can't get somewhere else in a more sustainable fashion. Except that it tastes delicious, which is hardly a reason.

The reason the numbers in the chart fell off is due to the International Whaling Commission(IWC) declaring a moratorium on commercial whaling. Japan is claiming the remaining whale take is for research purposes only. There are papers that have been published using the data gathered. Population decline is mentioned nowhere, but if what the chart shows were due to population decline I would expect to see a continuous gradual decline. Not a sudden instantaneous reduction followed by stability at that reduced level.

Please provide evidence for this statement

Tasting delicious is a perfectly sufficient reason to kill all kinds of other animals, why are whales an exception to this rule?

Also, if the animals are being killed for research purposes, the researchers are required by law to sell what is useful that is left from the animal. This makes it much more difficult to tell if the meat is being gathered solely for commercial purposes, although it certainly increases incentive to do 'research'.

Kill a whale, save 1,000 chickens!

The answer is clear, whaling saves lives.

Seriously though, Japan is absolutely whaling, but they are 100% serious about finding a way to keep whaling long-term. It doesn't do them any good to exterminate the whales completely.

Also, that drop in whaling was voluntary due to anti-whaling agreements and not by population pressure...at least not directly, there were still plenty of whales waiting to end up on dinner plates which Japan could have been harvested to extinction had Japan not backed off.

Thirdly, I really don't care whether they are using a 'loophole' or not, the fact is the words in the anti-whaling agreements clearly allow that behavior. Japan is not breaking the law, regardless of whether they are 'researching' in order to sell the meat.

That's your opinion that ignorance is being displayed, it's my opinion the people on this boat come from the shallowest end of the gene pool, and the world would be a far better place if they took a walk off the boat.


You mean failings like deliberately ramming ships, throwing 'stink bombs' made from butyric acid and glass bottles, yeah these 'failings' as you put it, seems an awful lot like eco-terrorism on the high seas. As for being the only ones doing it, maybe that's because others are too smart to put their lives at risk in such a stupid way as the seas shepherds.

If by damndest you mean, foolish, dangerous, then yeah they do their damndest to try and stop them. Oh yeah, they used to have two boats, then they went and pissed off the Canadian Coast Guard, now the RV Farley Mowat is waiting to be sold, RV Farley Mowat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So then, because there's no other way for them to stop 'illegal' whaling, they get carte blanche to do whatever they consider necessary to stop it, regardless of how many lives are put at risk, yeah that makes a lot of sense.

As for writing them and telling them Animal Planet makes them look like idiots, any person with a half a brain would know the things they do make them look foolish, they shouldn't need to be told bu others.
Ummm what illegal activity are the sea shepherds observing? Or is this something that's illegal in their minds?


Seriously a normal day at sea? You're really going to play they it happens all the time card? I reckon any captain with half a brain isn't going to let his ship go out to sea with an insufficient amount of fuel on board to complete the trip and have enough in reserve to get through any problems or bad weather that may come around, so I'm going to have to call bullshit on this 'it's a normal day at sea' excuse.

Another funny quote from the show is when the First Mate says:
Sounds like a safe ship in competent hands, keep up the good work:rolleyes:

I caught an episode on youtube.

They strike me as a bunch of fanatics who care more about dumb animals than they d human beings. I dont know enough about whaling to have a view on it, but the Captain of the Steve Irwin is a self righteous jerk in my opinion.

Sailing in the southern ocean is a tough business, not well suited to malnurised vegan hippies and pot smokers.

No sailing in the southern ocean for me:lol:

Exactly.

Hence the reason I donate my hard earned Cash to Sea Sheppard.

Even have the T shirt.

God's Speed Paul Watson.

to the bottom of the ocean i hope, or the heart attack people are waiting for:lol:

Wonder what it feels like to condone and monetarily support eco-terrorism, may as well give the money to any other whack job organization, or wipe your ass with it, it would at least serve a purpose, better than these chuckleheads pissing it away with their 'captain'(used very loosely no captains license) leading them on pointless missions.

Actually, they are breaking the law. I don't know where you get your information from.

The only country to actually do anything about it is Australia and they basically ran the Japanese Whaling Ships out of their waters.

Court rules Japan whalers breaking Aust law - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

If the Japanese had their way, they would hunt the great whales to extinction. I have no doubt of that.

While you might think it perfectly acceptable to hunt an endangered species to the brink of extinction, I do not. Add to that, these are wild animals, animals that are intelligent and gentle and as such, I do not believe that humans have the right to kill such creatures period.

I would be very happy to see the Japanese whalers sunk and every last soul on board drown.

BTW, Fuck Omar Kahdr

It's one of those shows you want to feel good about watching, but you just either can't stop chuckling at how many wrong things these guys do throughout their expedition, or you can't stop slapping your forehead in disgust of how obliviously reckless and inherently stupid some of their decisions are.

It's a "trainwreck factor"-type of show, alright. But to be honest, the real reason I got caught up into watching this riveting mess, other than nothing else being on this summer, on a Friday Night, in peek primetime, was that "world is a vampire" promo they kept running.

I was like, "Did that song just say 'the world is vampire'? Did I hear that right, or not? I better check this out to confirm it." And yeah... that's how they reeled me in, like a big blue unaware whale, the Animal Planet seriously obtained a viewer because one person both liked and was confused by the theme song. :rolleyes:

Kinda the same way I feel about the crew, if you'd like to take it so far.
I want to like them, but they confuse the blubber out of me.

And intentionally ramming ships, throwing glass bottles with acid in them isn't breaking the law? Oh but they're the only ones saving the whales so it's alright haha funny shit.
Proof? Or just a general statement with no back up?
Haha with the idiots they have running the Steve Irwin, take a guess what ships going to sink first.....I'll give you a hint, it's the one with the clueless crew, who intentionally rams other ships.......nope no tears for me if any of these asshats dies, they're dumb enough to follow Watson, be my guest and die with him.

Funny, I recall the Japanes ships having to go back to port.

Damaged Japan whaling ship arrives home early with haul of 508 whales | Mail Online

Too bad it didn't sink with the loss of all hands, but hey, there's always next time.

My signature has what to do with the OP? Stick to the topic at hand rather than taking shots at something that has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Otherwise continuing this discussion is about as pointless as your comment about words in my signature.

Nice of you to edit your post 16 minutes after just to add a shot at my sig, very pathetic james and totally useless grow up.

Edit: Also if you're going to take a shot at it, at least spell the name right, it was right in front of you, read with your eyes open remember, that's the key to seeing what's in front of you.

...

This is a thread about whale wars. Either discuss the topic at hand, or find something else to do. Kirk didn't need to bash your signature, and you didn't need to respond to him. Both posts derailed this thread. That's what's going to stop. "Now."

If either of you have further commentary about this, PM staff.

---

-+-{Important TFP Staff Message}-+- Ok. so here's the deal if you want to talk about how you feel about Omar Khadr then make a thread about it. If you want to talk about a television show about whales then do it here. This is getting beyond stupid.

I haven't seen the show, but now I'm curious.. I don't have any real position on whaling and it's practice so hopefully I can watch it for the benefit of developing one as well as entertainment value.

heh. I'm watching an episode right now 'cause I got curious too.

I don't really understand why they're throwing acid and pipe bombs at the whaling ship. Why don't they just stick a sonar transducer in the water and broadcast recordings of a whale in distress? No whale is going to come to a place where another whale is screaming it's head off that it's being murdered. Drive the whales away and you shut down the whaling ship.

Got one right here for james to talk about Khadr so my thread can stay on topic.
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/tilted-...guatanamo.html
My thoughts as well, all they're doing throwing acid at the ships is making the deck slippery for a time, and the bombs well, that's just stupid to throw. Seems to make more sense to use what you mentioned and try to scare the whales away from the scene because as you put it "No whale is going to come to a place where another whale is screaming it's head off that it's being murdered."[COLOR="DarkSlateGray"]

---------- Post added at 09:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:07 AM ----------

wouldn't a sonar transducer be expensive? perhaps the anti-whaling bunch has extremely limited funds and resources to fight these whaling ships.. pipe bombs are cheap..

/me goes off to find an episode

I reckon that's what it is, cheap is better than expensive, although cheap also looks more like eco terrorism than expensive as well, but that doesn't seem to be an issue with them, they enjoy looking like cowboys, albeit really dumb, dangerous, hippyish cowboys.

Eh, they have enough money for a large ship, with a helicopter, and a Zodiac. . .You'd think they could stick a speaker in the water ;)

The helicopter surprised me on that show, must be quite the cost to fly that on their 'missions', I also wonder if their 'pilot' is an actual pilot, as most other crew have no qualifications, especially Paul Watson who calls himself 'Captain' yet he isn't a captain..

The Zodiacs were funny as hell, they launch them late, in rough seas with the Japanese way far ahead, they they try to fly over these huge swells, just a matter of time before someone goes overboard, then we get to see how they really have no clue what to do as they try to mount a rescue.

Well, that would require like a millisecond of forethought, which is probably the main reason they haven't done it. Even if they did, I'm inclined to think they would dismiss it cause it's boring and doesn't get you on TV where you can pretend to be a hero.

I'm honestly a tiny bit surprised Japan hasn't sent an escort ship along with their vessel - for when the Sea Shepherds start in on the pipe bomb and flash-bang garbage I would imagine a few rounds from a 50mm across the bow would amply make Japan's point and send them packing.

Dunno how much it is for that little whirlybird of theirs, but at my old station the pilot of our chopper told us it was a grand just to start the engines. An average flight was easily over $5k.

Yeah, but flying helicopters is hard. Takes actual instruction. Dunno if his license is current, but he was taught at some point how to fly.

Reading this thread has been fun. When the moderators show up it's like the Buddha's Palm from the end of Kung Fu Hustle. Resistance is futile...

Anyway's back on topic.

What the Sea Shepards are doing is definitely pretty extreme. I'm not sure we should label it terrorism however. Some of what has been said on both sides had been right. Kirk's point about the acceptance of vigilantism on the open see is technically true. As are some of Jay's points about the Shepards overall ineptitude, and general disregard for safety. These people really are pushing it at times. However the producers & editors of the show are guilty of seriously over-sensationalizing the events their cameras capture. A casual viewing of the show makes this much immensely clear.

As for the actual whaling going on in the Southern ocean it is pretty clear that if your country is a signatory of the IWC treaty and you are collecting/hunting/killing whales in the status quo you are breaking the law. Unless you are of course a native/sustainable harvester, then you get a quota.

There is a sort of wishy-washy research loop-hole that Japan tries to use to make it's whaling look legal. I believe what has been said earlier about the Japanese having no problem hunting whales to extinction is probably false. They don't want that; they like whale meat to much. However what has been said about whales being a particularly vulnerable species due to their biological/reproductive cycles is also very, very true. That's why the IWC enacted the international moratorium in the first place.

The Japanese insist that a sustainable harvest is possible. Others do not see it that way. Part of the research the Japanese are in fact doing is striving to have a more complete understanding of whales to see if this is possible. Whether or not they get any where remains to be seen. Whether or not the amounts the Japanese take is excessive is up to debate in my mind. I'd like to know more.

As far as I'm concerned though the Sea Shepards ought to go fight the Norwegians. They're the ones who are all "F--- IWC we will whale if we want to, We practically invented whaling" (Which they didn't). At least Japan maintains a pretense of membership in the IWC and a stated desire to settle out everybody's differences.

-Cheers

This is the kind of statement I just cant understand.

I dont support hunting for fun, but hunting for food (with some common sense restrictions to not kill of species) seem rational to me.

But even if I was a vegan, even I wanted to close down zoo's and ban furcoats, I cant get my head round preferring fisherman to die than whales.

Yep. This is an excellent point. If you want a good example of how these reality show producers fuck with reality, go watch Ice Road Truckers season 3 ep 1. They made a missed downshift into a life or death "ohshitthey'reallgonnadie!" festival of idiocy. A downshift!

In fact, it's entirely possible that the helicopter and pilot were provided by the producers of the show.

Yeah. Collecting tissue samples. But they seem out to get a tissue sample from every whale in the ocean, which rather eliminates the point of getting a tissue sample in the first place.

They don't WANT to hunt whales to extinction, but they aren't WILLING to ease up on the hunting enough to make that happen. There's too much money to be made with whale meat, and the attitude is, if I don't kill this whale, someone else will, and then the whale's dead anyway and I don't make any money off of it.

I ate some whale meat when I was in Iceland. Icelanders also like to hunt whales. I must say it tasted "of the sea" and the meat was beef like in texture, but saltier than expected.

Personally, I don't care if they or Japan hunt the whales.

eh.. us editors often try to put the best looking thing together.. and if it's over-sensationalized then it's most likely because we have dumb producers standing over our shoulders until our 'h' button is smoking. (add edit)

/end

I'm just sitting here trying to figure out how and what they do with all that meat.. I mean.. whales are FUCKING HUGE.

soon we'll be able to blame it all on one person, the preditor.

Can't help the way I feel.

There are 7 billion people in the world. There are a few thousand humpback whales. The Japanese are angling to hunt every type of whale, even those on the verge of extinction. If a few Japanese whalers die - good news - it really won't matter in the grand scheme of the world anyway.

I despise whaling, or sealing, or any hunt for that matter. Simply not my thing. I always vote for the bear in the bear hunt.

Though I hate the idea of anyone slaughtering whales - I am astounded by the incompetence of the crew of that ship... Unbelievable...

They were all shitting their pants that the Japanese would have LRADS on their ships this time, then the crew started to cut out pieces of foam for earplugs, yeah that's going to work about as well as plastic wrap and duct tape would for making a safe room in your house. Hope to see the LRADS used next week, would be nice to see the crew flopping around like fish out of water.

Joking aside, the Southern Ocean is a tough place... and these guys are a mixture of idealistic kids with no experience, and self important jerks who have no clue how to lead and who dont even care about human beings. People have a right to hunt for food, and killing a whale in the wild seems to me a lot less fucking cruel than a factory farm with 10,000 chickens crammed into a shed with no natural light.

From what I have seen of these "sea shepherds" - they behave like pirates, trying to ram other boats, throwing chemical bombs onto the other ships... Im afraid to say that behaving in such a way in international waters makes them fair game. Like I said, I dont ever in my life wish or hope for the death of others, no matter how stupid or criminal their actions - but these people make their choices and one day they will end up paying the price for them, and I wont weep about it.

People are lost at sea all the time just doing their job.

I'll feel sorry for them before I feel sorry for the fat prick who captains the "Steve Irwin" (I use the word "captain" advisedly because he does not deserve to be called such) or the gullible college drop outs that follow him.

They are an accident waiting to happen.

Totally agree with every word SF.

Couldn't agree more about Watson, he's a captain like I'm the fucking pope. Saw his new 'first mate' on last week's episode, the kid had such a wispy high school mustache I was impressed when he talked and his voice didn't crack.

I know it's late and I'm tired, but if I read this correctly, some are accusing the Sea Shepherds of throwing pipe bombs and flash bangs. I believe I have watched all episodes of the current ( the second) season, and they have not done that. What I have seen, they throw butyric acid bottles and some colored dye if I remember correctly. The Butyric acid is rancid butter according to the intrepid whale protectors. The point here is they say it makes the area hit stink to the point of retching if you are there too long, so they try to get where the harpoons are, or where they process the whales, which they say ruins the meat, making it unsellable. I have seen the Japanese whalers throw flash bangs at the Sea Shepherds, as well as hurling brass nuts at the zodiac occupants. The Sea Shepherds say that they only target the ship, while the Japanese were intentionally trying to hurt the zodiac occupants.

I am conflicted by this show. I understand that the loophole exists, and therefore the argument could be made that the Japanese are within their rights to snag this many whales, but it seems to me that they shouldn't need to "research" this many whales. Also the fact that apparently they are researching a delicacy makes it seem kinda fishy ( sorry for the pun, but I'm tired).


That being said, either the Animal Planet is excellent editors for their purpose or the Sea Shepherds are complete morons in many respects. They don't seem very organized or anything.

Regardless of the fact if the Japanese are doing illegal acts.. Regardless of the fact if you think they should be stopped or not. Regardless what anyone thinks they know about whales/whaling, how many they are, are they going extinct.. Are they tasty? etc..

Remove all that from the argument.. What's left?

You have a group of incompetent retards floating around on a boat, putting their lives in danger on a daily basis. FFS, get some training.. Get some Real knowledge under your belt. Learn and know wtf you're doing beforehand. Get equipment that actually Works, or even that was Meant to be used in the way you intend to. If you have any kind of ship and/or a very large, very expensive structure, being run by complete and utter morons.. that's just asking for bad things to happen. Someone is going to seriously get hurt here..

Steve Irwin would be rolling over in his grave if he could see this show.. Yes their hearts are in the right place.. Yes it's a "good cause".. but come on! Have some common sense before a lot of people get really hurt or even worse, killed.

To recap:

Illegal or not (for either side), doesn't matter..
Incompetent people running a ship not even meant to do what they're doing... Check!
Failing at every corner... Check!
Everyone loves a good rubber-necking TV show... Check!

Did I miss anything?

That's why they had to film season 2 on a different ice road, the mining companies that own the road weren't impressed with the way the producers made the truckers look like cowboys and the way they turned everything into a life or death situation with snazzy editing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Roa...ers#Season_2_2

Tonight's episode was another funny one, not only did the Japanese take the 'prop foul line' that the Sea Shepherds were trying to use against them, and Watson referred to it as 'stronger than steel', but the Japanese had a surprise of their own for the zodiac crews by throwing brass nuts at them. Then the Sea Shepherds were surprised they were being targeted in a 'violent way'. What do they expect they're throwing butyric acid on the deck of the ship, they say they aren't targeting people on the deck but how can they tell if and when they're going to hit someone? I say good for the Japanese.

they explained something on tonights episode...i was half listening.

they dont need to be worried about being arrested seeing how they;re flying under the dutch flag or some shit of that nature.
as long as they throw nothing from the ships(Steve Irwins) deck, they are aye-okay with the government they're "working" for.

...but someone threw something from the deck, so lets see how this goes.

oh, yeah. the japs also hit the helicopter pilot with an LRAD, UH-OHHHHH! wonder if he crashes.

Also, i wonder what Steve Irwin would think about his name being used on such a vessel.

The editors of the IRT need to lay off the cracking-ice track...it's worse than the laugh track of an early-90's sitcom.

Scene: a graceful snowshoe hare gingerly scampers through the snow
SFX: Popping ice out of an ice cube tray, pretzel sticks being snapped, bricks being dropped onto granite counter tops.

---------- Post added at 11:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:34 PM ----------

Also, from Wikipedia:

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisshin_Maru emphasis mine)

Has this episode aired yet? LOL...in case anyone doubts the level of douchery we're dealing with.

Yeah - I watched tht a couple of weeks ago. It was so "dramatic"... He suddenly colapses and clutches his cest.... A couple of minutes later they show the projectile lodged in his bullet proof vest, but strangely - no bruising or any markings on the skin under the vest.

Clearly staged to milk max media attention.

I'd love to see these idiots get hijacked by Somali pirates or something. :thumbsup:

Just saw this episode tonight, looks like they're trying to say it was 'defending their boat' because the Japanese were 'getting too close'. Yet they seem to cry and moan any time the Japanese try to do anything to protect their boats, such hypocrisy from the Sea Shepherds, also I'd much rather the Captain of any one of the Japanese boats being in control while they're maneuvering close to a ship than that idiot Watson, I wish they'd quit calling him a captain.
Saw the one guy in the zodiac dropping to the side, I laughed, oh the drama they try to get going, like we all don't know the helicopter didn't crash.
His wife let them name it that, guess she doesn't care what his name is associated with.
MV Steve Irwin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I did see my first shred of common sense on this show tonight though, when the zodiac crews refused to throw grappling hooks from their inflatable boats at the nets on the Japanese 'mother ship'. I noticed the people who wanted to try the hooks, weren't actually going to be on the inflatable boats, so of course they didn't care if it worked or not, or if they got tossed back at the small boats or not.

I'm seriously going to send that first mate a supply of razor blades, his wispy facial hair is starting to get really annoying, shave that fuckin armpit that's around your mouth off you silly bastard.

I know it really is sad how much they use the ice track, someone farts and the ice cracks for days on that show.

I started watching American Loggers as well, they're the same way with the trucks rolling over, anytime they go around a corner they feel the need to explain the truck 'may' tip if the driver goes to fast, and use the same CGI truck rolling down a hill. Also they were talking about working in 'extreme cold', then the narrator said it was -25, fuckin hell that isn't extreme, that's downright balmy compared to the -40 or -50 and above I used to work outside in, and I didn't have a nice warm truck cab to sit in, I was on a damn ski doo, sometimes driving across a lake, now that's bloody cold.

ahh, they werent THAT close. i mean, one of the deckhands REALLY had to lob that bottle of stinky acid.

wow, had no idea the wife gave the "okay" for that.

I noticed that too, they were really trying to play up how close the Japanese actually were to them, if they were as close as the Sea Shepherds thought they were that deckhand wouldn't have needed to throw the bottle that hard.

Yeah I didn't mind Steve Irwin, he was good for a laugh, surprised his wife gave the go ahead for renaming the boat after him though, seems like bad publicity to have your name associated with these guys.

wtf?!
 

illegal or not the Sea Shepherd's efforts and tactics are quite pathetic. at best they are just letting the whalers know that they are against what they are doing. other than that their efforts to stop them are a waste of time and energy, in fact it makes them look quite helpless and powerless. what are they trying to achieve? i was confused watching the show. the cause is noble and the whole reality aspect of it caught my attention. theres nothin on tv like it. but i must admit they have brought a knife to a gun fight. a plastic knife at that. these whalers are killers. that means you are risking your life in order to stop them. someone is gonna get hurt or even killed. you need to fight fire with fire. but i know that will never happen. all i can say at this point is for the sea shepherd crew to recieve better training and tactics. the last couple of shows showed me that they were not prepared, lacking effective skills, lack of resources, etc. the only thing that they dont lack is their passion. more power to them but i think they are going to need more than just power. good luck SS! you are going to need it!

Finally- Australia Government Initiates Legal Action On Japanese Whaling - Sea Shepherd

It looks like they were successful at getting the Australian government to bring their cause against the Japanese government.

(And I think they are right in doing what they do. Although I would think they would use a few other tactics to stop the whalers)