OUTRAGE! Ady Gil (Earthrace) trimaran rammed and sunk by whalers!

"MAP" of Antarctic..

 

'The Australian Antarctic Territorial Waters' are those adjacant to the chunk of Antarctica that Australia claims as a territory. Only four countries in the world recognize that Australian claim: United Kingdom, New Zealand, France and Norway.

Japan happens to be one of the 190 countries in the world that do not recognize Australia's claim to part of the Antarctic, and therefore to control of the surrounding waters. If Australia used its Navy to seize Japanese ships in the area, the Japanese (along with most of the world) would consider it an act of war, not a law enforcement operation.

 

Note that this map is not approved internationally. There's marked some Australian research stations like Casey, but not any others like US, Russian, Chinese etc. Russian in fact have 3 or 4 stations in this so called "Australian territory".. Have a feeling they never will ask Canberra if they can stay there

 

Whose waters were they in?
If in waters of a territory where whaling is legal, then surely, the mission of the whaling ship was legal?

I do not at all agree with what the whaling ship did, but neither do i agree with what the Ady Gill was trying to do. It was, technically, economical terrorism. Are we, as sailors, going to stand by and let THAT take place?

Both parties in this situation were wrong.

 

Interesting.

My father was one of the first 18 to winter over at 90 deg South. It was IGY 1957 (International Geophysical Year). Hough glacier is named for him.

I seem to remember an agreement to NOT claim territorial rights in Antarctica?

When did that change? Did someone see profit?

 

and this is something else Ive heard SS mention
that the ilegal fishing is a form of piracy
that it represents taking by force for profit an animal protected by international treaty as an endangered species and then attempts to market animal products from that endangered species. Which is also completely illegal also by international treaty

no mater how you look at it the Japanese are either illegally fishing against international agreement or are marketing endangered animal products

either way they were engaged in an illegal activity which could be considered pirating the worlds natural resources
as such SS in within its legal rights to interfere with that illegal activity

and old captain whats his name even reads the statute that allows him to take action before each engagement

 

First of all, the most reliable estimates of Minke whale numbers I've seen give them a population of over 800,000. Their population seems to be growing, not declining, and it isn't really an honest argument to claim the Japanese are going after an "endangered" species.

Secondly, when it comes to things like whale hunting in international waters, the relevant law under which the whalers operate is that of the nation conducting the hunt--not some international treaty. Any adherance to a treaty is, and should be, voluntary on the part of a sovereign nation. And the fact that their government may or may not be in violation of treaties it signed hardly makes the Japanese whalers violent criminals, to be attacked by do-gooder vigilante groups.

A sovereign nation has the right to conduct its business as it sees fit; it is not bound by 'laws' imposed on it by other nations.

I will repeat my opinion that the SS are staying away from Norwegian whalers (who kill almost as many whales as the Japanese do, from a much smaller North Atlantic population, and do so quite openly for commercial purposes) because they know they'd be arrested, convicted and sentenced for attacking a Norwegian ship. The Norwegian whaling is conducted closer to home within reach of the Norwegian Navy, and the Norwegians have already convicted Watson once for his crimes.

Japan, on the other hand, doesn't normally have a Naval presence in Antarctic waters, and would face significant logistical problems and expense in deploying and maintaining such a presence that far from home.

 

There's 16 pages of posts here so maybe I've missed it, but has there been posted as reference the text of treaty provisions the whalers are violating?

As the whalers' intent has been referred to, is there any publicly accessible documentation of their intent available?

There is this about Watson's intent:
http://www.democraticunderground.com...ress=231x20052

http://www.highnorth.no/library/movements/Sea_Shepherd/pa-wa-se.htm

Gee, do ya think it looks like he's done it again

It keeps being said the Japanese are illegally harvesting whales: show me the treaties and sections within those treaties they are violating.
Show me the Japanese documentation of the size of their catch.

I'm from Missouri, remember, you have to show me, not just tell me about it.

I've done what I can to find some kind of documentation of the navigation rules that I said I think were broken; and of the definition of piracy; and of SSCS's intent; and then post those for reference here. But I'm not going to do everyone's work that way.

 

Japan issues permits to take whales through the Institute of Cetacean Research, and has a solid legal right to do so, regardless of claims to the contrary. Here are quotes directly from the International Whale Commission's website:

All proposed permits have to be submitted for review by the Scientific Committee following Guidelines issued by the Commission but the ultimate responsibility for their issuance lies with the member nation.

While the Commission cannot interfere with the right of a member nation to issue a permit, it can comment on the permit, after receiving the report of the Scientific Committee.

http://www.iwcoffice.org/conservation/permits.htm

The Japanese have said quite openly that the ultimate goal of their whale taking is to use the data obtained to prove that Minke whaling is a sustainable harvest.

 

And by the way, I too would like to see some of the relevant international laws and treaties. I've seen all kinds of dramatic claims about how they're being broken, but no one has actually named them, linked to copies of them, or even quoted them.

 

There's no laws being broken on the Japanese side. It's a little like the Canadian seal hunt - They're cute, or special, and a lady on a sailboat in Cali...somewhere is gonna' say what these people can, or cannot, do.

 

If it was illegal hunting, which it is not, it would be poaching. Piracy is an agressive act against a vessel in the high seas.

 

Here's a link to some info:

http://www.iwcoffice.org/commission/convention.htm

Having read some other links, it seems that the convention was started by whaling/fishing nations with the goal to maintain a sustainable number of whales that would also support/allow commercial whaling.

However, membership in the convention was not limited in any fashion, and it turned out some countries had politically powerful groups against whaling in any form. Those countries then encouraged other countries to sign onto the conventions, even though said countries had no direct interest in whaling. Of course the pro-whaling countries then followed suit.

So in short, the IWC has morphed from an entity for figuring out how to successfully maintain commercial whaling activity (and a healthy whale population) to another useless political money burner where whale huggers are trying to stop all whaling, forever.

I couldn't find where it has ANY legality (or legal/enforcement powers) what so ever, other than the powers granted to it by the voluntary participants. In fact, Japan has/is reconsidering its participation in the IWC.

So based upon what I could find, Japan should simply withdraw from the IWC and then they can hunt all the whales they want without any political worries. But instead, they keep trying to work with other countries to ensure a healthy whale population that allows some commercial whaling. I don't know why they bother.

A couple of interesting paragraphs:

Article VIII

1. Notwithstanding anything contained in this Convention any Contracting Government may grant to any of its nationals a special permit authorizing that national to kill, take and treat whales for purposes of scientific research subject to such restrictions as to number and subject to such other conditions as the Contracting Government thinks fit, and the killing, taking, and treating of whales in accordance with the provisions of this Article shall be exempt from the operation of this Convention. Each Contracting Government shall report at once to the Commission all such authorizations which it has granted. Each Contracting Government may at any time revoke any such special permit which it has granted.
2. Any whales taken under these special permits shall so far as practicable be processed and the proceeds shall be dealt with in accordance with directions issued by the Government by which the permit was granted.

The convention is plain. Basically any country can do whatever it wants.
The Japanese ARE NOT engaged in illegal whaling.

A link to the research permits information:

http://www.iwcoffice.org/conservation/permits.htm

 

I wonder what would happen if OIL was discovered in the land mass under the antarctic ice cap. ???

 

So, speaking somewhat sarcastically, multiple pages of legalese which in the end say this document ain't worth the tree we killed to print it?