Whale wars: Watch Eco-pussies attack japanese whalers, and fail hilariously

I agree, if something that significant happened it would have been in the news. See: the sinking of Ady Gill
 
Every time I watch this show, I keep thinking "These guys should not be have no business operating at sea."

You do NOT send Zodiaks out on blue-water missions without close support of a larger ship.
 
You do if Greenpeace throws you out for being too awesome.
 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jul/31/eco-pirate-paul-watson-flagship


'Eco-pirate' Paul Watson is in danger of losing his boat

Sea Shepherd flagship impounded in Scottish port after Maltese tuna fishery sues for ?850,000 in damages




Eco-pirate" Paul Watson is losing a race against time to recover his flagship boat, the Steve Irwin, which has been impounded in Shetland.

The world's most radical conservationist, Watson is being sued for $1.4m (?850,000) by a Maltese fishing company, Fish and Fish, one of Europe's leading tuna processors. The law suit against Watson's Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was filed last year after activists aboard the Steve Irwin freed 800 bluefin tuna from a pen in the Mediterranean.

Watson has just 10 days to raise the bond required to release the boat, which was named after the late Australian conservationist. It has been impounded in the harbour at Lerwick ever since the company sued him for damages. By last night, the society had raised about $500,000, after a global Twitter campaign and appeals to celebrities who have helped Watson in the past.

A co-founder of Greenpeace, Watson was picking up volunteer crew and restocking the Steve Irwin in preparation for a trip to protest against whaling in the Faroe Islands when he was served with the writ. The tuna cage that had been intercepted 40 miles off the Libyan coast in June last year held an estimated 35 tons of fish.

After a fracas in which there was hand-to-hand fighting between the two crews, Sea Shepherd sent in divers to release the 800 tuna.

Joseph Caruana, the owner of Fish and Fish, declined to speak to the Observer, but has claimed in the Maltese press that two of his divers were injured in the encounter, an allegation strongly denied by Watson. "Sea Shepherd cannot continue behaving this way. My aim is for justice to be done. I wanted to show that we mean business and we will fight our cause," he said.

Malta has become a global capital of tuna fishing, exporting ?80m-worth of the fish, mainly to the Middle East and Japan. Ships surround the fish with nets and then tow them to cages, where they are fattened for export.

Catches are limited to two weeks a year and ship owners have been given strict quotas to meet by governments, but, with little policing, the industry has been able to openly flout the law in Libyan waters.

Greenpeace and WWF called last month for a suspension of the Mediterranean tuna fishing season, saying that stocks were at critically low levels. "Mediterranean bluefin tuna is on the slippery slope to collapse," said Dr Sergi Tudela, of WWF Mediterranean.

In a statement last week, Watson said that if Sea Shepherd could not raise the money, the Steve Irwin could be held indefinitely and possibly sold. "This would not only be a financial hardship, but it could threaten our ability to defend whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary from the Japanese whaling fleet this December. Fish and Fish are claiming damages for bluefin tuna we believe were illegally caught after the season had closed," he said.

In a separate incident, the Namibian government has declared Sea Shepherd a "threat to national security" after it tried to film the annual slaughter of 90,000 Cape fur seals on the west African coast. It is a crime to document seal clubbing in Namibia.

"The group tried to document the seal slaughter, but was detected by Namibian special forces," said Watson. "It was a good plan, but Sea Shepherd is no match for the Namibian military." The group fled to South Africa, having had its rooms burgled and cameras destroyed.




https://pic.armedcats.net/d/d-/d-fence/2011/07/31/haha.jpg
 
This season has been so boring. No dying. No crying. No destruction. WTF! :)

The mayday maritime law kinda sucks though...for this case. So, everytime the Japanese vessels get's stuck with the propeller props, they can cry "foul" (aka mayday). This then compels the SS to have to help them. Sorta almost kinda defeats the purpose of stopping 'em in the first place. Funny how both the whalers and SS act like little children sometimes.
 
That's funny. And who names a boat after a croc hunter anyways?
 
If I recall, they named the boat in Steve Irwin's honor because he was a very active conservationist in Australia and around the world.
 
If I recall, they named the boat in Steve Irwin's honor because he was a very active conservationist in Australia and around the world.

And yet he's probably rolling around in his grave over what those assholes are using his namesake for.
 
Probably not the end of the world for Waston, there were rumours of a 4th boat for the next whale season anyway.
 
The loss of the Steve Irwin would really hurt their operation, as it contains the helicopter hangar and the helicopter may have been impounded as well.
 
At least if the helicopter is impounded, it'll be one less channel through which these people can kill themselves (or others).
 
At least if the helicopter is impounded, it'll be one less channel through which these people can kill themselves (or others).

Yes, them with their pesky helicopter... the only one in the Antartic... which has been used for search and rescue on multiple occasions. That'll show 'em.
 
And yet he's probably rolling around in his grave over what those assholes are using his namesake for.

His wife gave permission for the name to be used.

I'm really surprised they haven't killed some one yet. That incident with the inflatables where they huddled by the iceberg waiting for help really irked me. If I was on one of those boats we would have headed toward the big boat. Even if it was only at a speed of 3 knots they would shorten the time they would have been exposed to the elements.

I really love watching how nieve the crew is. They were searching for the boat for two months. They finally find it and lo and behold there is a whale on the deck. Everyone breaks down crying because there zero kill goal failed. Did they really think those whalers wouldn't have killed a single whale in that time span?

I'm really surprised the SS's are allowed to continue. What they do is down right terrorism. They cry foul when the whalers fight back by throwing things. Umm hello that acid your throwing on those ships is in glass bottles! I'd really hate to get cut and have that acid get into the wound.

The only sane voice on that crew I believe is Steve Aultman the pilot.
 
You have to be sane to fly a small helicopter off a ship down there.There are old pilots.There are bold pilots.There are no old, bold pilots.
 
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You have to be sane to fly a small helicopter off a ship down there.There are old pilots.There are bold pilots.There are no old, bold pilots.

This, there's nothing more annoying than the Paul Watson "you've only being flying to 18 hours, surely just one more flight" sulk.
 
And Sea Sheppard succeed. They seemed genuinely surprised that the Japanese packed it in and went home.
 
I was surprised how little the whaler's catch was considering the SS took forever to find 'em. Probably because they spent more time tailing than whaling.

Speaking of catch, Fiona McCuaig, is kinda hot when she's bathed and brushed her hair:

fiona-mccuaig-whale-wars.jpg
 
This, there's nothing more annoying than the Paul Watson "you've only being flying to 18 hours, surely just one more flight" sulk.

Being a flyer I found Paul's reaction appalling. The Helo is his crutch and needs that as much as the ship. Sure Altman was already at 19 hours of crew day (preflight-post flight) One more flight that day could have ended in the loss of life (SS prides it's self on saying they'd die for the whales so I don't think Paul would care if some one died, they knew the risks :?) but the loss of that helo would be a crushing blow to the SS efforts.

Just look how important it is to them. At first there was no hangar and the helo was grounded for excess corrosion so they built a hangar. Next the helo they had just didn't have the legs and couldn't stay arirborne as long so they went with the 500. I bet the next time they go down there there will be a total of two pilots so fatique while flying is a non issue.

As for the tailers. The Japanease have been sending an extra ship to do just that keep tabs on the SS' location.

The one thing I don't like about the show is how they can't convey how much time has passed. Iirc the narator said it took two months to find the Nishan and from what I gather they only trailed the Nishan for a week or two before the season was cancelled.
 
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