Anybody watch Whale Wars?

the IWC established the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in 1994... so its quite a bit more official than your scenario there

the Sea Shepherd enforces international conservation law by upholding the United Nations World Charter on Nature, to prevent the illegal slaughter of endangered species

Sections 21-24 of the Charter provides authority to individuals to act on behalf of and enforce international conservation laws

so what they are doing is 100% legal

 

Do not concur. International Law Of the Sea makes specific provisions for boarding and vessel interaction, going as far as including defining piracy as

The sections for the charter you mentioned make NO specific provisions for boarding or enforcement of sanctions. SOOO...Being that they aren't actiung under any specific authority to attack and disable those ships....They are nothing but pirates (and piss poor ones at that).

It's a grey area which is why both sides of the argument get to continue what they are doing without someone stopping one or both of them. Sadly- The boats/crews killing whales (while not what I want them to be doing) DO NOT put human lives in danger. The Sea Shepard does- on a regular basis. Both it's crew and the crews of other ships (the ones they attack and the ones they operate near).

 

the two members of the Sea Shepherd that boarded the Japanese whaling boat did so because the the Japanese were failing to respond to radio communications...

they boarded carrying a letter of intent as well saying this...

“I am not boarding your ship with the intent to commit a crime, to rob you or to inflict injury upon your crew and yourself or damage to your ship. My reason for boarding is to deliver the message that you are in violation of international conservation law and in violation of the laws of Australia. It is my intent to deliver this message and then to request that you allow me to disembark from your vessel without harm or seizure.”


the Japanese tied them up because they thought they could be carrying bombs or weapons (which they had neither of)

not sure how long these two were held... i think a week or two-ish... but were eventually realeased by the austrailian government with no charges and went back to the sea shepherd

apparently its not illegal if you try to contact the ship and they don't respond or if you have the letter of intent or whatever...

don't know much about these kinds of laws but i would have expected this to turn out very differently if they were breaking a law

 

The Boarding/Right of Visit is a very loose idea...and is restricted to warships only to determine the nationality of a given ship. It does not provide any protections for trying to board or impede a vessel for not communicating. It is required that a ship have radio communications on board- not required that they respond to a private vessel hailing them

 

World Charter for Nature: Implementations
21. States and, to the extent they are able, other public authorities, international organizations, individuals, groups and corporations shall:

• (a) Co-operate in the task of conserving nature through common activities and other relevant actions, including information exchange and consultations
  (b) Establish standards for products and other manufacturing processes that may have adverse effects on nature, as well as agreed methodologies for assessing these effects
  (c) Implement the applicable international legal provisions for the conservation of nature and the protection of the environment
  (d) Ensure that activities within their jurisdictions or control do not cause damage to the natural systems located within other States or in the areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction
  (e) Safeguard and conserve nature in areas beyond national jurisdiction

22. Taking fully into account the sovereignty of States over their natural resources, each State shall give effect to the provisions of the present Charter through its competent organs and in co-operation with other States.
23. All persons, in accordance with their national legislation, shall have the opportunity to participate, individually or with others, in the formulation of decisions of direct concern to their environment, and shall have access to means of redress when their environment has suffered damage or degradation.
24. Each person has a duty to act in accordance with the provisions of the present Charter, acting individually, in association with others or through participation in the political process, each person shall strive to ensure that the objectives and requirements of the present Charter are met.










not sure what you were referring to but these are the sections i was referring and i think it is fairly clear

 

apparently it still applies because i am sure the Japnese would still have those two in a hole somewhere if the could have had any law stick which would have found them guilty

 

2 wrongs dont make a right!
But i do find it funny when the crew complain that the other ship was trying to harm them by throw stuff back and shoting them with water canons. LOL Duh I think they should look at what they are doing.

 

the point i was trying to make was that if there was anything wrong with what they did, defined by any law out there, i'm sure the Japanese would have done everything they could have to punish them to the fullest extent... but since it looks like they weren't breaking any laws they were released without being charged with anything and went back onto the Steve Irwin to continue what they were doing

 

Yeah....No where in there is it specifically detailed that any one can go onboard or impede another ship. That says "safe guard" but that does not rise to a level where is supersedes other international treaties.

The treaty outlining law of the sea was signed by Japan and 159 other nations and the charter was voted approved by 110 or 111 (not including the US)...The treaty is straight up international law. The Charter is loose form ofr the same and needs several over documents to be anywhere close to as clear as the UNCLOS II treaty is.


Right of Visit applies to warships only...So they aren't doing that. Throwing entangling devices and chemicals at other ships (never mind the whole litter and chemical introduction thing) is an act of damage. They are a private vessel attacking another vessel on the high seas.

Again- It's a gray area because they aren't trying to take the ships for a private interest- that and that alone saves them from being seized as pirates.

 

The Japs did hold them for quite a bit of time. And were charging them with piracy. Both sides made accusations against the other. And in the end the video footage hurt sea Shepards side of the story.
I am not for whaling. But think these people are ass hats with nothing better to do.
I also love how England Struck the "Steve Irwin" from it's ship registers.
The show is not bad, i love watching these people fail at piracy.

There are laws and such governing whaling. And if it was as bad as it is made to look, why dont they close the loophole that allows the japs to hunt whales?

Somali pirates = Sea Shepard In my book.

 

Your argument for them not going to jail only takes part of the influences at work into account- While the Sea Shepard takes international law into it's own hands- The Japanese gov't had to work within tthe international frame work to both make it's case and retain friendly relations with everyone.

So- I would postulate that politics had FAR more to do with the crew not being charged. How many times do folks get out of DUIs or other criminal charges because of some small inconsistency with the execution of the case?? Japan knows it's a hot button issue and has received enough heat for it already. Instead of make the situation worse by going after them to the fullest extent possible- They just let it go and moved on.

PS- If you feel it's a good idea to wear a bullet proof vest while approaching another ship- You are probably doing something that is a bad idea...Just saying.

 

i agree there are a lot of "gray area" activities going on here on both sides... however, neither side is blatantly breaking the law so nothing has been done on either side... the japanese can't officially charge the sea shepherd for being pirates because of the charter and such and the japanese aren't being charged with poaching because of their research claims.... if either side had concrete evidence that the other was breaking specific laws you better believe that they would pursue that

but since neither can make a claim like that stand... the sea shepherd uses provisions in the charter to continue doing what they do and the japanese put up with it because they have no other choice

 

i would wear a bullet proof vest when i go to the grocery store if i had one but thats because i live in baltimore... not because there is anything wrong with going to the grocery store


i believe he wears that bullet proof vest half for show and half because he thinks the whalers would shoot him if they had the chance

 

Oh no....They have choices....The day will come when the Sea Shepard puts another ship in true harms way and that will end the whole escapade very quickly.

They are at best poor seamen...It's only a matter of time before they goon something up so bad that they have no choice but to stand down...all the while hurting their own cause by casting eco-conservatives in a fanatic light.

 

let me rephrase... up until now the japanese have had no choice but to deal with it

i can't speak for what the sea shepherd will do in the future

 

The bullet proof vest thing scenarios are a bit different- You scenario You might be caught in crossfire...That's a safety thing (altho-If I was you...I'd move)
When you are a approaching another ship on the high seas (you may go days without seeing one) and you are EXPECTING to get shot at...and you AREN'T a warship...You are probably doing something that isn't a great idea.

I wore a bullet proof vest for every one of 350+ boardings I went on- Every single boat had the potential to have drug smugglers on it considering the area I was working in. It's my job so I'm trained to do it- Still not a great thing to have to do-I'd rather folks didn't smuggle drugs and people and I'd be alot safer. ENforcement of laws and treaties- puts officers in danger...so they need protection. If they didn't do that- They would need the protection.


His actions are so close to obvious piracy and ships are authorized to defend themselves as sovereign territory of the nation they are flagged from...so I'd want protection too...or I'd stop doing it...

 

Why do they fly a flag that is eerily similar to a pirate flag?

 

You know what I find quite facinating? It is the amount of money it must take to keep the Sea Shepherd going. I mean it must take millions of dollars for one of the vessels journies. That is probably in fuel alone. Not to mention the little boats and heli's that they ride around in...who is flipping the bill for these people? Is it Greenpeace or something like that? It is crazy, and while I am watching it I just keep thinking about the money being wasted. Now I am not in favor of whaling, but they really aren't stopping anything. They hassle a ship it runs off and it continues operations the next day or two after they clean up the mess. It is a vicious cycle.

I also suspect most of the younger kids on board are Biology and Marine Biology majors, who are just a little more extreme that your normal students. You also notice some are enginge people, some are radio and computer experts.

Somebody before mentioned they are taken off the street, I doubt that as the probably are all part of some anti whaling org, Greenpeace, or something like that. Probably explains there lack of sea skills.