That’s the thing, what they are doing is legal.
I hope I made myself clear that I am against whaling, and also against Sea Shepherd’s methods.
But IMO this is a picture of the Japanese interpretation of the whaling laws.
Ethnicity depicted in the photo is coincidental.
They have a noble cause…but they’re nothing more than eco-terrorists. Their tactics remind me of that group that burns McMansion developments and Hummer dealerships.
Nope. While it is true that some whale hunting “for research” is technically legal, the Japanese whalers do not hunt whales for research, just food. Next, they are well known for killing about 2-3X what they are allowed to.
They also kill species that are not allowed.
Note about half the “whale meat” sold in Japan is dolphin.
There is no “Not allowed” there is only the rules that they agree to play by. They can pull out of the agreement any time they like. While I’ll not defend Japan’s actions, they certainly can do as they please.
They entered into certain agreements, and they are violating the spirit and the limits of that agreement. (They are lying about the number and species they are taking, and there’s little or no “research”)
Although Japan could withdraw, they’d face international sacntions for doing so. Just like any nation could withdraw from any Treaty or international law- but they’d have to face the sanctions.
Exactly, and that should be how this issue ought to be handled. The activists are no better than pirates, and it wouldn’t bother me to see them scuttled and abandoned to the zodiac.
I admire and condone protests or other activist activity, but I agree that violence is not the proper response.
I’m not clear on whether it’s legal or simply officially tolerated. Anyway, smashing CRTs to bits may be legal in East Timor, and I’m pretty sure it’s officially tolerated in China, but that wouldn’t make it right.
I agree with someone up thread that they should be putting themselves between the harpoon and whales, rather than endangering the ship and lives of people, whatever kind of bastards the whalers are.
Frankly, if whale poaching is such a volatile industry that it can be effectively threatened by hippies in an inflatable raft, the whale poachers would probably be better off getting out early and finding work in a safer and more respectable line of work like drug smuggling. Very few drug smugglers ever find their livelihood endangered by rafts of hippies.