Remember, this is also bad for seals. They rely on sea ice for breeding.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/...721/story.html

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/...940/story.html

Wollte nur eben der Welt mitteilen wie toll ich das fand, als ich eben auf die SSCS Seite gegangen bin und meinen Augen nicht trauen konnte ;)

--> http://www.seashepherd.org/deutschland/

sehr sehr schön! Wirklich! Kanns kaum erwarten!

Dickes Lob an alle Verantwortlichen und Beteiligten.
Weiter so!

Grüße,
Patrick :happy:

Now, before you ban me. I would just like to say, that to have debate you need two sides. So I think you should hear what I have to say and respect my opinion , just as long as I respect yours.

there was a point in the film where the Japanese spokesman said "Ive heard no good reason that Japan should not kill Dolphins for food". I agree. Here's why.

1) Endangered - The dolphins the Japanese were killing are not endangered. Plus, they only killed 23,000 a year.

2) Captivity - I agreed with the flipper guy, no Dolphin should be in captivity. But that goes for any animal. I dont think animals should be used to entertain people. But I do think its natural for them to feed us.

3) Intelligence - I dont think there is any evidence to suggest they are any more intelligent than a monkey or a cow. They may be harmless, majestic, playful etc, but so are other mammals, and that doesnt save them.

4) Killing method - I dint see what was so barbaric about the final scene? killing means to kill something. Dead animals bleed. To eat them we need to cut them up. Abattoirs are no different to what was showed on the Cove.

5) Nature - Nature is horrific, savage and death is around the corner. In the oceans, in the plains of Africa, the jungles of the Amazon. The law of nature is eat or be eaten. Crocs eat Zebra, Lions eat Wilderbeast, Orcas eat seals, Sharks eat Dolphins etc etc Harpooning is barbaric to some humans, to the ocean its everyday life.

6) Custom - I'm not interested in eating Dolphin. But I like Lamb, Beef, Chicken. I wouldn't appreciate the Japanese telling me not to eat my favourite food and vice versa.

7) Ethnocentrism - Its a case of westerners believing their culture is superior to that of the Japanese and we must teach them our ways. I say let them be.

8) Free range - Dolphins and other seafood are free range. They enjoy freedom until they are killed. Provided that it is not an endangered species surely this is the best method of providing food? I would rather be a Dolphin to be slaughtered by the Japanese than a pig in an American factory farm. An animal without the room to turn around. That lives in its own feces, pumped full of antibiotics and steroids to grow quicker and cheaper to make money.

9) Island communities. Places like Greenland, Iceland and Faroe Islands depend on these animals for food, income, commodities and so on. They have hunted Whales for hundreds of years without problem. Why should they change now? These people live close to nature, their carbon footprint much less than the average American. So why do we need to change their habits? Shouldn't we be changing our own? It is us that are the main culprits who are destroying the world.

10) Modern / Industrialised Society - I think people have forgotten where their food comes from. Meat is a shrink wrapped plastic container that does not resemble the original animal. We have lost the need to catch and kill our own food. So what once was normal, is now barbaric. To kill something for food is a messy job. But this is what it looks like. Whether on land or sea. When you kill something, it will suffer. There is no humane way to kill an animal. Dead = pain. But I accept that I eat meat, I enjoy meat, so this is how it is and I'm fine with it.

Sea lions killed for eating too many salmon
Death sentences issued after deterrents fail

PORTLAND, Ore. - Wildlife officials have tried everything to keep sea lions from eating endangered salmon, including dropping bombs that explode under water and firing rubber bullets and bean bags from shotguns and boats. Now they are resorting to issuing death sentences to the most chronic offenders.

A California sea lion last week became the first salmon predator to be euthanized this year under a program that has been denounced by those who say there are far greater dangers to salmon — including the series of hydroelectric dams on the Columbia.

This is the second year of the program, which is administered by wildlife officials in Oregon and Washington and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Last year, 11 sea lions were euthanized. Another four were transferred to zoos or aquariums.

The sea lions represent a massive headache each year as chinook salmon begin arriving at the Bonneville Dam east of Portland, congregating in large numbers as they return from the ocean. Sea lions have become keenly aware that the dam is a great spot to feast on salmon, easy pickings as they wait to go up the dam's fish ladders.

"They learn. They come up here and know it's a good place to eat, and sooner or later the salmon are going to arrive," said Robert Stansell, a fisheries biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Repeat offenders
Officials are tracking 63 additional sea lions listed as repeat offenders. They are identified by scars or by numbers that were branded on them by researchers.

"To get on that list, we have to have observed them as distinct individuals," said Jessica Sall, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "They are not responding to hazing, and they're eating chinook salmon."

Sea lions have gobbled salmon forever. But their numbers have soared in recent years, as has the number of those cruising upriver to dine on salmon at Bonneville Dam. Frustrations peaked, especially among fishermen who have watched sea lions snatch salmon right out of their gill nets.

The Bonneville crowd of hefty mammals — they can reach more than 600 pounds and eight feet in length — have become the enemy of commercial and sport fisherman, who are allowed to catch and keep hatchery-raised fish, and a concern for conservationists trying to restore migratory runs, since sea lions don't distinguish between hatchery and wild fish.

At least three of the upper Columbia River spring salmon runs that pass through the dam are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, most significantly the spring chinook salmon run.

The sea lions' growing numbers forced state, federal and tribal agencies to intensify efforts to protect the region's multibillion-dollar salmon recovery program.

The sea lions are protected by a 1972 federal law, but an amendment leaves open the possibility that some can be captured or killed if the states request it. Oregon and Washington did in 2006 with the support of Indian tribes and sport and commercial fishing groups.

Two years ago, the National Marine Fisheries Service authorized Oregon and Washington officials to first attempt to catch the sea lions that arrive at the base of Bonneville Dam and hold them 48 hours to see whether an aquarium, zoo or similar facility will take them.

Otherwise, they could be euthanized, along with those that avoid trapping. Only California sea lions can be destroyed. Stellar sea lions cannot be killed because they are protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Supporters say the program works. The numbers of sea lions at the dam have dropped, although the 4,489 salmon they ate last year was the highest since tracking began in 2002.

Fishing, hydroelectric dams pose risk
Critics, led by the Humane Society of the United States, say that a far greater danger to salmon are hydroelectric dams on the Columbia, which are an obstacle to salmon both as they head out to sea and when they return from the ocean to spawn.

The Humane Society also says fishermen catch three times as many salmon as sea lions eat.

The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission this year has begun tracking the sea lions' movements with acoustic transmitters and cameras placed along the river. Instead of just reacting to the sea lions, the data might help authorities plan a more successful campaign, a fisheries scientist says.

"All of the counts that you hear, all of the impact on salmon, is based on what they can see from the dam," said Doug Hatch, of the inter-tribal commission. "That doesn't account for the whole 150 river miles below the dam."

The frustration comes as experts predict the largest spring chinook run since 1938. Thanks to good ocean conditions for young salmon, an expected 470,000 fish will head up the Columbia River, compared to 169,300 in 2009.

The primary weapon against the sea lions still remains hazing, but even that has limitations.

"The problem is, as soon as the boats go around the corner, they're right back," Stansell said. "Some of the animals that have been there a long time don't even move when they get hit in the back with a rubber bullet. They just keep eating their fish."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35767369...s-environment/

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1225838412544

Let the tuna/whaling vote buy out begin...

http://www.tempointeractive.com/hg/n...231343,uk.html

My opinion: Fishermen continue to over-fish themselves out of a job then attack regulators for trying to save the fisheries for future generations.

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/...308/-1/NEWSMAP

Okay so here is the scenario you have everything you need to make a hole the size of your choosing on the N.M. where would be the most effective place to make the hole, on the bow / aft or sides ?

Also take into consideration there is probably someone guarding the ship on the inside so the next thing to consider is, would it be likely that the person would be guarding the bridge or be in an office of sorts and no where near the area where you are going to place this hole ?

also how would you go about finding out those who are anti-whaling in Japan who could be a guide to help translate for you and show you around, because you are not fluent in the language,, where would you start looking?

you can not hire your local tourist tour guide because it would probably be a bit odd to the person why anyone wants to know where the worlds largest whaling ship is and how to get there.


or better yet would you try to get inside the bridge and disable very expensive computer equipment and render it impossible to use ?

what would be some things you would consider other than the basics or how would you approach the situation if the chance was given to you ???

http://www.themercury.com.au/article...ania-news.html

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/oc...ake-2-20100308

Sounds like a mighty fair judicial system there. :) I know there were some forum members here that were marveling at the efficiency of the Japanese judicial system.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/us/09sushi.html

OMFG...A new front the Japanese will need to battle.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movi.../the-cove.html

09-03-2010 05:18:AM

Antarctic Campaign Report – Success Defending Whales!



Ships are expendable, endangered whales species are not

2009-2010 Antarctic Whale Defense Campaign: Operation Waltzing Matilda

After three long weary and dramatic months upon the most remote and hostile seas in the world, the Sea Shepherd ships Steve Irwin and Bob Barker were welcomed by crowds of cheering supporters in the port of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, on Saturday, March 6th, 2010.

Sea Shepherd just completed the most ambitious and effective campaign to defend the great whales that we have ever undertaken and Operation Waltzing Matilda, the sixth voyage to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to oppose the illegal whaling activities of the Japanese whaling fleet, was astoundingly effective.


For three straight weeks from February 5th until February 26th we prevented the entire Japanese whaling fleet from killing a single whale. The month before, we had shut the whalers down for twelve days giving us thirty-three solid whaling-free days, which is one-third of their whaling season. In addition, our actions forced the harpoon vessels Shonan Maru 2 and the Yushin Maru 3 to break off from whaling activities to serve as security vessels to oppose Sea Shepherd interventions, and this prevented these two vessels from killing whales for almost the entire season.

We will not know the final results until the Japanese whaling fleet reports back to Tokyo in April, but we cut the kill quotas nearly in half during the three previous years and this year was much more effective, so the results promise to be very satisfying. We know we have cost the whalers tens of millions of dollars in lost profits.

But this achievement was not without cost. We lost one of our three ships when our newly acquired, fast interceptor boat Ady Gil was deliberately rammed and cut in half by the Japanese harpoon vessel Shonan Maru 2. The six crewmembers of the Ady Gil narrowly escaped the collision with their lives and the $1.5 million USD, high-tech trimaran Ady Gil sank and was lost.

This is, of course, something not unexpected when we deliberately sail our vessels into harm’s way to defend the whales from their remorseless killers. Our view is that ships are expendable, and that endangered species of whales are not.

The Ady Gil was, in fact, so effective in disrupting whaling operations that after only two days on January 6th, the Japanese whalers made the decision to destroy it in a cowardly act. The Ady Gil was struck while idling in the water. The Shonan Maru 2 made an abrupt and deliberate turn to strike the Ady Gil at full speed while all the time aiming their high-powered water cannons and long-range acoustic weapons on the Ady Gil crew.

Later in the campaign, we lost one of our crew when the Japanese whalers took Captain Peter Bethune of the Ady Gil as a prisoner. He had courageously boarded the Shonan Maru 2 undercover of darkness while the harpoon vessel was underway at 15 knots. He managed to make his way past the formidable anti-boarding spikes and nets on the whaling vessel – and he did so completely undetected. He stayed on the Shonan Maru 2 for over an hour and a half waiting for the sunrise so that our helicopter could be overhead filming when he calmly walked up to the bridge wing door. He knocked and calmly presented a citizen’s arrest warrant and an invoice for the value of his sunken ship to the Japanese whaling captain responsible for the criminal and reckless act.

As a result Captain Bethune was seized and taken prisoner – the first New Zealander to be taken as a prisoner of war from the Southern Ocean to Japan.

Amazingly, the Japanese harpoon vessel Shonan Maru 2 left the fleet for the express purpose of taking Captain Bethune back on the month-long voyage to Japan at enormous expense, and even more importantly, it meant that it would not be able to continue participating in whaling operations. By that act alone, Captain Bethune saved dozens of whales. The Shonan Maru 2 is scheduled to arrive in Japan in mid-March, and Sea Shepherd is mounting a legal defense campaign.

Despite the escalated aggressiveness of the Japanese whalers this year, Sea Shepherd crew was able to disrupt the whale slaughter without causing a single injury to any of the whalers.

We had a powerful secret weapon this year. Thanks to the generosity of American television personality Bob Barker, we were able to purchase a former Norwegian Antarctic whaling ship in Africa. We moved it to Mauritius and quietly prepared it for departure on December 18th for the Southern Ocean.

The Steve Irwin had departed from Fremantle in Western Australia on December 7th and the Ady Gil departed from Tasmania leaving Hobart on December 18th.

The deployment of the Bob Barker effectively countered the Japanese tactic of putting a tail onto the Steve Irwin that prevented our flagship from closing in on the whaling fleet because our position was being relayed in real time to the Nisshin Maru enabling them to avoid us. The Steve Irwin was forced to return to Tasmania to lose the tail. When we returned, the Yushin Maru 3 was assigned to search for the Steve Irwin, at the same time the Bob Barker moved eastward along the ice edge and disguised as a Norwegian whaler moved in on the whaling fleet taking them totally by surprise.

The Bob Barker would have been able to stick with the whaling fleet for all of January if not for the deliberate ramming and destruction of the Ady Gil by the Shonan Maru 2 which forced the Bob Barker to stop to rescue our crew on the Ady Gil.



This season marks the third year for the television series coverage of our Antarctic Whale Defense Campaigns. The Animal Planet show “Whale Wars” caught all of the drama of the conflicts and skirmishes in high definition, so there can be no doubt as to what is going down in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary this year.

In February, the Bob Barker was deliberately rammed by the Yushin Maru 3 and suffered a one-meter gash in the hull on the port stern side. The crew was able to make emergency repairs.


Sea Shepherd crew battled the whalers with water cannons, rotten butter stink bombs, and succeeded in painting over the bogus “RESEARCH” signs on the sides of the ship with blood red paint.

Our campaigns have indeed become a war to save the whales in every sense. From the water cannon battles between our ships, to the high-level diplomatic showdowns between Australia and New Zealand and Japan, this battle is being fought in many levels and in many places. With ships being rammed and sunk, and prisoners of war being taken back to Japan, the conflict was more intense this year than ever before.

But it is down in these cold and remote seas off the icebound coast of Antarctica where Sea Shepherd ships and crew are making the most significant difference by actually saving the lives of hundreds of whale and costing the outlaw whalers from Japan tens of millions of dollars in lost profits.

We also scored major political and media victories. The campaign was covered extensively in all international media and especially in Japan. The polls in Australia saw us receiving a 91% approval for our campaigns. This incredible public support in Australia finally forced Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to make good on his campaign promise to take legal action against Japanese whaling activities.

Now that Operation Waltzing Matilda has been the most effective anti-whaling campaign ever mounted by Sea Shepherd, we must address new strategies and new tactics in preparation of taking our ships back to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in December 2010 to oppose the Japanese pirate whalers once again should they return to those waters.

Our objective is simple – we need to sink the Japanese whaling fleet economically, we need to bankrupt them. It really is the only language that the whalers understand – profit and loss, and our job is to boost their losses and lower their profits.

The secret to success is to never surrender and to never give up the fight and to continue to hit the killers hard year after year until they are bankrupt and politically and economically forced to call it quits.



Click here for the original...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...pTSNwD9EAM5OO0