Whale War Heats Up as an Anti Whaling Boat Is Rammed by a Japanese Whaler

Posted by Rolf Joho on February 3rd, 2010 filed in What Causes Global Warming

Payday Loans Won’t put it Back Together Again

“He piled upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart’s shell upon it.” – Herman Melville, “Moby Dick”

Whaling is an ancient practice that most of the modern world views with abject horror. Sure, it may provide employment and a large number of export products (making payday loans unnecessary for the beneficiaries), but the dangers of excessive hunting and the resulting legacy of blood are too hard for many to ignore. Japan is one of the few nations that still permits whaling, and they harvest from the Antarctic “for research purposes and the sale of surplus meat”. They can take in excess of 1,000 whales per season thanks to a loophole in international law that permits this activity.

Groups protesting whaling are labeled often as “terrorists” by the whaling industry. The Ady Gil, a Sea Shepherd anti-whaling pursuit craft, appears to have been a casualty of the whale wars, bearing the brunt of that hot heart’s shell. The Japanese whaler Shonan Maru 2 blasted the Ady Gil with water cannons – before, during and after the time that they sawed the smaller vessel in half via collision.

You Can’t Stop that Great White Whale

The Ady Gil is a small pursuit craft belonging to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an activist group that opposes Japanese each season in the Southern Ocean, which is south of Australia and New Zealand and encircles Antarctica. While Sea Shepherd Australia Director Jeff Hansen told the New York Times that the Ady Gil wasn’t sunk, “it’s in two pieces, and we’re trying to salvage what we can.” Ady Gil crew was rescued by an accompanying vessel, the Bob Barker. One crew member sustained injuries.

The Price is Wrong, Whaler Man

The video below shows the Shonan Maru 2 plow through the Ady Gil, breaking off the nose of the smaller ship. The Japanese Whaling Industry may consider this payback for Sea Shepherd harassment and stalking, but they certainly won’t be saying that. Sea Shepherd is not impressed. The whale wars will continue, at no doubt a great expense. Might payday loans be necessary?

“They’ve really upped the ante this year,” Hansen said. “But we definitely won’t be leaving.”