If you are a fan of the TV show Whale Wars, or if you’ve been keeping track of the news lately, you may have heard quite a bit on the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The most recent news involves one of the Japanese ships (Shonan Maru No. 2)ramming the Ady Gil (part of the Sea Shepherd fleet). The Ady Gil‘s bow was tore off, one of the crew members was injured, and they are trying to take legal action however they can.

It seems like a pretty cut and dry situation, but many people are arguing the point. Some say it is Japan’s fault for the ramming. Others say the Ady Gil is to blame. You can check out the video footage posted here to see for yourselves. It was filmed from the Ady Gil right before the incident happened. As you can see, the Ady Gil is more or less keeping on a steady path as Japan’s ship approaches from behind. The Japanese ship clearly had enough time and distance between them to navigate around the Ady Gil, but in the last moments you can see they actually move towards them instead of away.

I don’t think it’s hard to guess who I support in the matter. The Sea Shepherd crew most certainly has my full backing and support on the issue–not that it will do them any good (I’m not a lawyer and also flat broke at the moment). But, considering they were on the receiving end of the damage and they are the ones trying to stop the whaling, it’s really a no-brainer situation.

If you’re unfamiliar with the show or group, here is a brief bit of info:

Sea Shepherd is a group that opposes things like Japanese whaling, seal hunts, and so forth. Their yearly campaigns of attempting to stop Japanese whaling can be witnessed on Animal Planet’s show Whale Wars. Tactics they have used include throwing “stink bombs”, trailing ropes and chases–basically things to annoy or interfere, but not to cause harm. This year’s campaign included 3 ships: Steve Irwin, Ady Gil, and Bob Barker.

Now, commercial whaling was banned years ago–the only form of whaling allowed today is for scientific research. The Japanese whalers claim to be whaling for research and are sponsored by the Institute for Cetacean Research. However, Sea Shepherd believes it is all a ruse–that the Japanese are doing commercial whaling under the guise of scientific research.

There is also the problem that their whaling is conducted in what has been designated as a whale sanctuary and even in recent years, some of their kills (not many, but some) have included endangered whale species. Sea Shepherd is attempting to put a stop to this once and for all.

Tags: Ady Gil, Animal Planet, conservation, destruction of the Ady Gil, dispute, Japanese whaling, news, ramming, Sea Shepherd, Whale Wars, whaling

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 21st, 2010 at 10:18 pm and is filed under animals, conservation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.