Sea Shepherd — the environmental organisation defending whales against arsehole Japanese whalers on “researcher” cosplay — have a powerful new weapon: unmanned aerial vehicles. They have located a Japanese whaling fleet 1600km north of the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary using a drone.
The good news is that one of their new drones has intercepted the fleet before any captures. Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin is now on course to intercept the Japanese fleet. Captain Paul Watson says that they now have an advantage they never had before: “Eyes in the sky. We can cover hundreds of miles with these drones and they have proven to be valuable assets.”
According to Sea Shepherd’s Jeff Hansen, “Right now we’ve deployed a drone which has gone up and taken aerial surveillance which has located the factory vessel, but we’ve also picked up three harpoon ships on our tail and security vessels but that’s not going to deter us in our mission.”
Last year Sea Shepherd ships blocked the Japanese whalers saving 858 whales out of 1035 — the number of whales the Japanese had planned to hunt down.
It’s too bad they don’t have Predators carrying torpedeos or some AGM-65 Mavericks. That would save a lot of fuel and provide with some nice underwater environments. Heck, give me an old Avenger and I will do the grunt job myself. [ABC News Australia and SMH]
skylerbrooke
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 9:52 AMNice photoshop picture, next time you might want to use the real toy drone along with the old photo from Greenpeace.
Titsnass
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 10:05 AMF*ck I hate those God damned Whalers. The Japs really need to take a good hard look at themselves. Same goes for those Nordic countries that just aren’t getting the hint. Makes me sick, how they pay poor countries for their votes on whaling!
Corey
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 11:27 AMF*ck I hate lefty do gooders who think they can force there opinions on other people/nation by terriost tactics. The “evil” whalers are doing nothing but their job so as they can provide for their families. They don’t deserve to have flashbangs
Corey
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 11:32 AM….and shit thrown at them. If you don’t like Whaling then write a
letter to your Labor MP and demand they actually follow through on
their election promise to take the Japanese to court and stop this
LEGALLY. For the record I’m not a fan of Whaling, but the methods
these attention seeking idealistic children is just counter productive
and embarrassing.
Jaezass
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 1:30 PMIf someone didn’t make a stand, nothing would get done. If the activists are getting a lot of attention that’s a good thing. They haven’t done anything wrong and they are risking their lives for a cause they and a lot of other people believe in. Your attitude is childish at best and very ignorant. Now pull yer head in and shut the F*ck up!
Samantha
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 1:42 PMCorey, where do you get your information form, If you are so mis-informed then maybe you should rethink your whole dogma again. First off; it was the Japanese security forces that carry guns in the non militry Anartiic treaty zone and they were the ones throwing the “flash bangs” at the SSCS, you got it the wrong way around Corey.
Secondly; the Japanese are breaking maritine law by using heavy grade oil below the 60th parrallel in their factory ship.
Three; the Japanese are refeuling their ship below the 60th parrallel, that is another law broken.
Four; they are dumping over the sides of their factory ship over 1000 tons of offal into the pristine waters of Anartic marine environment. I believe that if you or I where to drop a coke can over the side there would be a heavy fine involved for littering. Which abattiors do you know would be be allowed to dump offal into a national park?
These are just a few of the laws they are breaking. In your words Corey they maybe doing nothing but their jobs but how many laws are they allow to break in doing their job? Can we tollerate Police brutality, the beating up of innocent unarmed servillans because the police are just doing their jobs and they are not accountable and are above the law. When does the doing of ones job gives one the rights to break as many laws as one wants and not be questioned or challenged.
I have pointed out four actual laws which the Japanese are breaking, so why has not one single country or authority stepped forward and fined them?
If they even have the right to be down there to do so called “scientific whaling” it still does not give them the rights to disregard and break laws.
Gray
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 4:09 PMMost reasoned and researched post on gizmodo. Ever.
Erik
Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 4:13 PMthe heavy oil use does not start until THIS year… and since the irwin and the barker use the SAME fuel oil they’re in violation the same… Firearms are perfectly permissible in that area, as watson, he has a locker full of them. He also brags about having them for “protection”. Your dumping of offal may or may not be true, you have no way of verifying any amount, still is it simply fish food… the same cannot be said for the dumping of thousands of sponge rubber toys by the sea turds… Next we have the interference of a foreign vessel underway lawfully by a privateer… I can’t find any law allowing this, esp since the whalers are acting under IWC jurisdiction, you know, the ONLY agency the UN recognizes as having jurisdiction over all matters whaling. And further, I cannot find “sea shepherd” on the list of nations in the United Nations… so if not a member, they don’t get to pick a law that does not apply, on a country that is not their own….
Nick
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 5:04 PMGood question. Why is it that no authority has stepped forward. I too would like to know.
david s
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 10:30 AMI believe that many want to say something about the harm the japanese fleet is doing. I was told by an official here in syracuse which i go out and eat with every once and a while that many countries including USA recives money in bailout from the japanese government. Isn’t it always about money. So they bought their way in aswell as bought poor countries and indeed used them for votes.
Ozoneocean
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 8:41 PMVery well said!
Mark
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 9:34 PMSamantha I like that you have an impassioned defense of the Law of the Sea.
So you will obviously be opposed to Sea Shepherds tactics as they break the laws of the sea in many ways.
You might disagree with what the Japanese whalers are doing, but the whaling that they are doing they are doing legally, by exploiting a loophole in the law. Sea Shepard are not. They are relying on the end justifying the means; rather than an interpretation of the law.
If you you are going to base a defense in law then you don’t get to pick which laws you like and which laws you break.
Ozoneocean
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 8:40 PMYou’re really a very unpleasant fellow. The Sea Shepard people are really quite heroic and deserve our support for making such a sand.
Timmahh
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 12:39 PMWow dude, that has to be the most stupid thing I’ve ever heard on these comments! Such a short sighted view on the subject of killing whales! Oh wait, they’re doing it for scientific study aren’t they? Hundreds and hundreds of whales for science! Oh, OK then you must be right, keep up the good work mate!
Nick
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 12:43 PM+1. most whaling activists know nothing on the subject they are fighting for. Just like the occupy activists.
David Shears
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 12:50 PMSomething you fail to take into account is that this industry will end one way or another.
Does it end with the extinction of an entire group of mammals or do the last few remaining whaling countries stop now so that we can have whales in the future?
Dave
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 4:47 AMThat’s a fallacious question if I’ve ever seen one. Hunting does not equal extinction. There’s a certain level of hunting that can be sustainable. For example Americans have been hunting deer and turkey for more than 400 years and they’re nowhere near extinction.
I say, if a species of whale can be hunted sustainably, go for it.
Ozoneocean
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 12:50 PMWhat silly examples! What about timber wolf, beaver and bison? All those animals were hunted to extinction in their habitats in the US and took many decades, a century in some cases, to painstakingly reintroduce from populations elsewhere.
It has already been proven that you can’t hunt whales sustainably, neither in a biological sense or even a commercial one.
Antonia
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 1:27 PMIts can still be evil even if you are “just doing your job” or “just following orders”.
Sailing 10K to shoot a whale with an explosive harpoon so that you can use its meat as dog food is, in my opinion, evil.
BTW the ban on whale hunting was supported by almost all right-wing governments of the IWC.
Dave
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 4:37 AMWhat hint are they supposed to be getting – that the world doesn’t like them? They already know perfectly well, and taking a page from the American playbook: not giving a damn.
Kroo
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 11:01 AMAnd the fact the Japanese government gave tsunami relief money to the whaling industry really pissed me off. The whole fuckin country can be washed into the ocean and wouldn’t give a shit or aid money. Their own people should stop this, as with the brutal slaughter of dolphins in “The Cove”. The Australian government should grow a set and tell them to fuck off from whaling in our southern ocean.
Nick
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 3:45 PMThis post is exactly why people like you give activists a bad name. By your logic an entire country should pay for the so called ‘crimes’ of a few people? Hell, might as well say australia should be washed into the ocean because of all the animal cruelty going on in aussie farms (ie caged egg farms). The truth about anti whaling activists is that most of them know nothing about it and your post proves just that. So keep wailing about your whaling (baha see what i did there?)
Antonia
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 7:03 PMDo you work for a large corporation, or a multinational, that is busy raping the world so you therefore feel compelled to describe activists as having “a bad name”? The hunting of whales by corporations (who incidentally have the support of their government) *is* evil.
Dave
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 4:41 AMHow is it evil compared to, say, killing cows or chickens for food?
Point of fact, it is NOT evil. It’s only your subjective judgment.
Antonia
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 6:51 AMe·vil [ee-vuhl]
1. morally wrong or bad; immoral;
2. harmful; injurious
3. characterized or accompanied by misfortune or suffering; unfortunate; disastrous:
hmm, I’d say that the Japanese whaling actions satisfy the requirements to be characterised as evil.
When Australians found out that cows were being killed inhumanely in Indonesia their was an outcry and they stopped sending them cows. When you kill whales using exploding harpoons that’s very inhumane. When you travel halfway around the world to kill them so you can drag them back home again to feed them to dogs that *is* evil.
david swank
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 11:37 AMlol I hate when people compare it to our cows and chickens. The differecne is that we breed them and dont take them from the wild. Which means we dont directly impact the wild population in eating bred livestock. Do the japanese breed whale or dolphin? The answer is no they take without ever giving back to the ecosystem they hunt from as well as pollute it. We as americans even plant trees when we cut through a forest which in turn regrows to be harvested again which makes it renewable and sustainable just like our livestock. We will never run out of beef or poultrybecause they are not wild. We grow them. It is very unwise to decimate a natural resource like that especially when they openly admitt that the market for whale anything is a dead market. Plus over fishing leads to jelly fish population boom which renders the fish caught in a net with them unable to be consumed. So we are destroying the ocean in more than one way when you take the predators out. Whales being the biggest predators
Franz
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 3:46 PMSea Shepherd should do something more useful and massacre asylum seekers, it’s all about priorities.
Charles
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 6:08 PMCorey got owned.
Elly
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 6:16 PMIt seems to me the Sea Shepherd likes to go after Japan than lets say, Northern Europe, who does the same thing, hunting whales! Is it too far to travel up to Europe or Sea Shepherd is afraid to hurt the feelings of their fellow Caucasian people?
pauly7
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 6:32 PMSea Shepherd DO go after other countries, they are known for anti-sealing and anti-dolphin-culling protests as well. It is just that we mostly hear about the Antarctic anti-whaling – it is in our back-yard after all.
Dave
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 4:39 AMNo, Sea Shepherd hasn’t gone after sealing in about 5 years now. And the dolphin hunting is also Japan….
Erik
Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 4:04 PMthey sure are known for their antics on sealing… 2 of them were convicted of their crimes in attacking sealers.Had their ship confiscated for that. Meanwhile watson is still wanted for attempted murder in Costa Rica for ramming fishing boats and shooting rifles at the occupants…
SSCSDK
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 10:47 AMSeaShepherd ARE doing something against the whaling in northen Europe (the Faroese Islands ,Norway) and has been doing it for a long time so I suggest that you maybe got your facts straight before showing how uninformed you are!! And BTW I know about it and are DANISH !!
Erik
Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 4:06 PMwatson knows better than to return to the N Atlantc waters… Fishermen there are not nearly as law abiding as the Japanese…. He won’t take the chance of being stopped and arrested on currant warrants in several of the N Atlantic countries.
simulacrum
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 10:35 AMFallacious argument. The one ship that Sea Shepherd is confirmed to have rammed and sunk was a Norwegian whaling vessel. The fact is that Japan is the biggest whaling nation.
michael
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 7:15 PMi know we cant stop them from getting some whales.so is there some way we can throw something at the dying whale,like what they throw at the whaling ships that would tant the whale meat so as they can not use it,we havent saved the whale,but stopping them from useing its meat will help us
Erik
Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 4:02 PMgo ahead… they still get their samples and you’ve ruined the use of that whale for total use… congrats on spreading waste….
Trevor
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 7:15 PMYou would think after the tradgic tsuami and all those lives lost that the Japanese goverment would be restpectful to the enviroment and stop whaling. We all should boycott Japanese products . Tsunami relief aid going to whaling reportedly. Why aren’t the Japanese people protesting in the streets. Karma is a wonderful thing.
Christian
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 8:14 PMQuestion is how did they get a drone? I want one!!
Chuck
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 10:23 PMI thought the Japanese public actually have gone off whale meat but the Govt and their cronies don’t want to stop as it will be seen to be losing face.
Urchin
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 2:41 AMOne day I’m going to make good on my promise to do a dirty protest in a shop selling whale meat for consumption, I think it might help give a rational sense of perspective to the issue.
Dave
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 4:55 AMThat’s irrational and not going to work for a handful of reasons.
1. If you protest *in* a shop, you’re going to get removed pretty quickly. Or if you refuse to leave, you’ll be arrested for trespassing (among other possible charges).
2. Protesting *in* the shop leaves only the staff and patrons as your audience. Since these are people who already make the conscious choice to participate in the whale food industry, they’re not going to care for what you have to say.
jeremy
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 10:27 AMJapanese sushi science … would love to see the Aus navy boot them out of our hemisphere – they can do what ever the hell they like in thier own waters – oh hang on they KILLED most of the whales there ages ago, that is why they are done here. Sink the fuckers, armed drones indeed :-)
James
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 10:18 PMUrrrm, it was us Aussies that killed most of the whales in our own waters, you know that there was one of the biggest whaling station in the world in Tangalooma (Morton Island), right?