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Ron
http://www.arken.net Engineering and Design
http://www.arkenstudios.com Professional Photography

It is a cool boat. Too bad the owner is a complete douche bag. While I hate to see whales killed, the way this guy is going about it is wrong.

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Sean Dotson, PE
RND Automation & Engineering
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Where's the helipad? Psshhh. It's not a real boat until it has a helipad.

Wasn't this boat the one where the guy drove it into a whale vessel or vica-versa...each side says the other one did the ramming.

Its called the Ady Gil, almost sank when it was hit.

I might be wrong but i think this is a new one.
Someone's got to much money.

I don't condone the killing of whales either, but they way they go about stopping it isn't right either. The boat shown isn't the boat that was hit by the japanese vessel. It may be the next one, but not the original.

I love watching this show. I am surprised they save 1 whale, let alone the number they really do. I have never seen such an inept group of people in my whole life. In fact, one of the reasons the Ady Gil got hit by the Japanese ship was because it was almost out of gas. That and the fact that when their mission was complete, they drove a few hundred yards away, stopped the boat, climbed out on the deck of the boat and watched the japanese ship come at them and then run them over.

The other thing I find funny is the "admiral" of the anti-whalers keeps talking about how the Japanese whalers get more and more aggressive each year. The Sea Shepherd oranization chases and terrorizes at every chance they get. They shoot fould smelling acid at the ships, they ram into the ships with theirs, or they play chicken with the japanese whalers. But it is the Japanese that are getting aggressive.

I think the Japanese captain would have gotten in trouble had they not been harrassed during every minute of every day. Why not seek a permanent ban on whaling through the proper channels? The whalers are working in a grey area, and the Sea Shepherd organization is interpreting the law they way that want to read it. But in my opinion, the Sea Shepherds are more in the wrong.

Someone will get shot or die in a sinking. I think I am pretty confident in that. Or admiral "I like whales more than people" will get his crew killed with the dumb risky moves he makes. Like driving a boat not rated to go through an ice pack right through the middle of an ice pack.

It is a cool boat, but it is to bad that is going to an group that has no sense of reality. Greenpeace won't even deal with these people.
I am waiting for the japanese to quit messing around and use lethal force now.
If seashepard pulled this stuff off the coast of Africa their ships would have been sunk and nobody would question it.

But who's bank rolling these guy's?

I am going to bet "viewership" of the show has help.

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Todd Hudgins

That is awesome, hadn't seen the new ship. I think Paul Watson is doing a great job, much better the piss weak Aussie government. Don't believe everything you hear in the news, most of it is fabricated by the japs to get them to back down. It is Australian protected waters, we should send in the Navy because what they are doing is illegal but we don't want to offend anyone now..

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Stew
"Oompa Loompas of science" - Sheldon Cooper
I thought I was wrong once but I was mistaken

I'm not going to say that I agree with killing whales. But I don't know that you can say that what the Japanese are doing is illegal. I understand that they are using a loophole. So they are working in a grey area. The Japanese interpret the law in their favor, and Sea Shepherd sees it their way. So why not get the skin research clause out of the wording and be done with it.

I still think Watson is an idiot. Anybody that says they are willing to risk peoples lives to save a whale is nuts. I also love how he complains about how aggressive the Japanese are getting as he plays chicken with them with his ship to see how they react.

The international Whaling Commission (IWC) banned whaling for any purposes a little while ago, however because they are not backed up by treaty the Japs choose to snub their noses at it. The UN convention (UNCLOS) still has not updated its stance, primarily because the Japs have been buying off voting nations that have no interest in whaling. This is illegal btw. Also there is clear evidence that whales do not need to be killed for the particular research they claim to be conducting. Furthermore whale meat continues to find its way to the dinner table instead of the laboratories. Hence they are breaching this 'loop hole' and it is not being enforced.

I couldn't care less if Watson is a great bloke or a loser, at least he is out there doing something. I know at least one war that have been started over less.

I think what really gets me is that they snub their noses at anyone who chooses the correct forum or avenue to peacefully negotiate a cease of whaling. They have no interest in changing, they feel it is their right.. maybe it is?

We closed our whaling stations years ago and are surviving perfectly well, so could the Japs. Whales are now a large part of our tourism, which is one of our primary industries. But maybe not for long.. who knows?

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Stew
"Oompa Loompas of science" - Sheldon Cooper
I thought I was wrong once but I was mistaken

Well of course they aren't doing research on the whales. I think it is pretty clear that they are using this to harvest whales to sell whale meat. In the beginning of the show, it says that they are given permits for the research. So I'm not sure how it is illegal. We don't think it is right, but they get the permits.

The UN is the biggest joke in the world. The US pretty much is the UN. I have a great idea. We will set the UN up in Australia. It will be win win. We get the UN out of our country, and the UN will be closer to the whaling so they can stop it.

Thanks for the offer but I will let you keep the UN. We already have enough useless organisations down here.

I guess this is a divided issue, personally I wouldn't lose sleep over any whaling ships that went down. The sea shepherd would still honour the code of the sea and offer assistance, so too would the navy. At least they would think twice when weighing up the cost of a replacement whaling vessel.
Then again maybe I should just hug a tree, smoke some cones and go with the flow..

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Stew
"Oompa Loompas of science" - Sheldon Cooper
I thought I was wrong once but I was mistaken