Whale Wars

[Tank]

As anybody else watched the show "Whale Wars" on the Animal Planet? The whole premise behind the show is that there are these conservationists called the Sea Shepards trying to stop the Japanese from Whaling the South Pacific near Antartica. Supposedly there is a law that went into affect in 1986 that designates this area as a safe zone for the whales and outlaws commerical whaling. The Japanese, however, have found a loop-hole in the law allowing them to kill the whales in the name of scientific research. So, the entire show is about the Sea Shepards attacking the Japanese whaling fleet and trying to stop them from killing whales.

The part I don't understand is how the Sea Shepards get away with their tactics of throwing acidic material on the Japanese deck, actually bording the Japanese deck with the notion of being taken hostage and looking good in the media and finally, ramming the Japanese fleet with their own ship? All of these tactics sound like piracy and acts of aggression to me.

Has anybody else seen this show and if so, what do you think?

[AIT]

As anybody else watched the show "Whale Wars" on the Animal Planet? The whole premise behind the show is that there are these conservationists called the Sea Shepards trying to stop the Japanese from Whaling the South Pacific near Antartica. Supposedly there is a law that went into affect in 1986 that designates this area as a safe zone for the whales and outlaws commerical whaling. The Japanese, however, have found a loop-hole in the law allowing them to kill the whales in the name of scientific research. So, the entire show is about the Sea Shepards attacking the Japanese whaling fleet and trying to stop them from killing whales.

The part I don't understand is how the Sea Shepards get away with their tactics of throwing acidic material on the Japanese deck, actually bording the Japanese deck with the notion of being taken hostage and looking good in the media and finally, ramming the Japanese fleet with their own ship? All of these tactics sound like piracy and acts of aggression to me.

Has anybody else seen this show and if so, what do you think?

Who's supposed to stop the Sea Shepards? If the Japanese are violating international law, they're probably not going to generate a lot of sympathy.

[Tank]

Who's supposed to stop the Sea Shepards? If the Japanese are violating international law, they're probably not going to generate a lot of sympathy.

Without getting political, the problem is that lawyers and other countries have stated that the Japanese are not breaking any laws, they have just found a loop-hole and because of that, they are in their right to do what they are doing. It is the Sea Shepards who don't like this loop-hole, therefore, they do what they do.

[DMBclone]

I've seen the show a few times. One thing they throw onto the ship is butyric acid which is pretty much stomach acid. They don't use it to eat away at the Japanese ship, its more of a really bad stink bomb. The other thing they use is, I dont remember the name of it but, it gets really corrosive when added with water. Which makes the deck of the Japanese boat deck super slick.

Now if using that stuff isn't an act of aggression I don't know

[AIT]

Without getting political, the problem is that lawyers and other countries have stated that the Japanese are not breaking any laws, they have just found a loop-hole and because of that, they are in their right to do what they are doing. It is the Sea Shepards who don't like this loop-hole, therefore, they do what they do.

I'm sure the Sea Sheperd is committing illegal acts of aggression. My point was who's going to stop them? Whaling is unpopular in most of the rest of the world, and I don't see too many countries rushing to help the Japanese whaling effort, even if the Japanese found a way to do it legally.