Whale Wars
yak2you2
2009-07-20 09:29:37
Whale Wars. Now their's a show designed to bring out the passion in people. Pretty clever bit of strategic spotlighting on the part of the environmentalist movement, got to give them that. I do have to say that I admire their passion and ingenuity towards their cause, but thats about where my admiration of them ends.
Most of their illegal actions are outright harassment, dangerous, and some even border on acts of piracy.
How many of us agree with every law that's on the books? But we still abide by them. The simple facts are, no nation or group of nations appointed these people to be able to take justice into their own hands. Japan has a permit to harvest whales under the international whaling commission for scientific research. It's dubious, sure, but it's the law.
Now, on a more philosophical note, who are they or anyone to judge what someone else wishes to eat? As long as harvesting an animal doesn't put that particular species in danger of extinction, it really shouldn't be anyone else's business. Whales were, and some still are, endangered for a time do to over harvesting for their fat which was rendered into oil and used to lubricate the beginnings of the industrial age, this was wrong. But, harvesting them as a food source for those who wish to eat them, is another matter entirely.
Why should a whale be excluded as a food source? because they sing beautiful songs? or because of their immense size? or because their mammals that breath air like ourselves?
I guess my main point is, anyone who eats anything must consider themselves a hypocrite to condemn whale eaters. Cows are mammals, most of us eat them, true the mooing isn't quiet as haunting as whale songs, but fair being fair they each have an equal right to life. There's people who like to eat dog, doesn't sound very appealing to me, but again, different strokes for different folks right? Are we judging by beauty here? Chicken good, peacock bad! How about Eskimos they don't really have any choices other than whales, walrus, seals, and maybe the occasional seabird. Should they just starve in order to appease others sensibilities? Have fun telling the Tlingets to stop eating seal by the way!The people of this planet eat all manner of things, snakes, bats, locusts, elephants, kangaroo, etc., etc.
PETA doesn't think that ANY animals should be eaten, including fish, which they refer to as sea kittens. So I would like to ask what should we eat then? Only fruits and vegetables? is that fair? What if corn actually has feelings but just can't tell you about it? Sounds silly, but no more so than referring to a salmon as a sea kitten. If were using intelligence as a base line for what's ok to be eaten, I know plenty of humans who should be eaten.
Don't get me wrong, I love whales and am not the least bit interested in eating one, I am just a little worried about an ever increasing world of totalitarian narrow mindedness, leading into the ideals of some being pushed off on to others until the next thing you know, were all wearing a beige jumpsuit and standing in a long line waiting for our daily artificially produced mystery wafer.
hopeless chuck
2009-08-01 04:31:14
Having commercially fished for over 20 years I have seen hundreds if not thousands of whales and dolphins , and the last whale I spotted from shore recently gave me the same thrill I enjoyed over 40 years ago seeing my first whale.
You accuse Sea Shepherd (SS) of breaking laws but don't point out that the Japaneses whalers are the ones that are violating International laws. Paul Watson of SS has stated that he wishes that the Japaneses would take SS to a International Court, Japan refuses because they would lose. Watson is upholding International law!
If you would educate yourself you would find out that Mr. Watson does not interfere with legal whaling such as the Alaskan natives subsistence hunts.
Just a few more things,
A whale is not a cow, chicken or a salmon.
They have 40 million years of evolution over we humans.
Their brains are 5 times the size of a human.
They don't kill for sport, financial gains or amusement as we humans.
Grays whales and recently humpbacks have been coming up to boats to interact with humans. Why they would do this after what we humans have done to them is mindboggeling.
They (some species) can communicate thousands of miles across the seas.
They have their own unique languages.
We humans have killed into extinction many species of whales and many are close to extinction.
Finally, there is no way to kill a whale humanly, no way!!
If Cows were harpooned, fired on by guns and grenades then made to struggle for their lives for up to a half hour or longer I'm sure the beef industry would soon disappear from our local food stores.
We humans are slowly evolving, we now to some extent realize that there is few other species that maybe we don't need to put on the barbe, gorillas, chimpanzees, pandas, elephants, manatees, eagles, condors, whales and dolphins.
And I take it that you have not looked into the eye of a whale, you should try it and maybe evolve yourself a little.
Hopeless Chuck.
yak2you2
2009-08-01 09:37:16
I guess I'm not willing to except Mr. Watson's personal legal perspectives as presented on the show, as gospel. Since when was boarding another sovereign nation's vessel then accusing them of holding you hostage upholding the law???
Hopeless chuck makes some very good points about whales evolution and communication skills. As I had hoped to make abundantly clear in my previous post, I have the deepest of respect and admiration for whales, and I agree 100% that their probably the more advanced of our two species.
I am simply defending the freedom of others to harvest and eat them if they want to, so long as it doesn't endanger that particular species. You think eating cow is more condonable? The Hindus might argue that point with you. Likewise Muslims and Jewish folk wouldn't much approve of pork being eaten either. Still others would argue that the greater travesty by far is the vast tracks of tropical rain forests that are destroyed each day just to plant more vegetables. Japan is an island nation, and they eat all manner of things from the ocean. So where exactly does the Sac roe fishery fit in? You could argue that Herring are much more plentiful, unless of course you lived anywhere around the Atlantic. How about killing urchins for their sex organs? should we declare war on the divers now too? While were cleaning house of everyone who doesn't look, act, or think the same, why not get rid of the fur trappers and the assault rifle guys,,,, where does it end??
I say this only to point out that there's a lot of different points of view out there, if we are going to ever evolve, were going to have to learn to be a little more tolerant of each others idiosyncrasies. My biggest concern is,,, there are people out there who honestly believe killing fish is wrong, i.e. - PETA's branding of us as the sea kitten killers. They lump us salmon folk in with the high seas driftnetters, and the guys who bleach the reefs, and wage all out campaigns to get the uneducated populous to believe that what we do is destructive and endangering. Many, many people find fighting and playing fish with a sport rod to be distasteful, ( a good fight with a halibut on a rod can last for a couple of hours by the way, before he's finally dragged to the boat and shot) Sorry but the whale wars guys are cut from the same kind of fanatical Kook cloth as PETA, and they display the same type of tactics in my opinion.
The good news? it's only my opinion,,,, fortunately we all still have the right to one.
hopeless chuck
2009-08-01 19:05:52
You don't have to take Mr. Watson's opinion as gospel, it is the Laws of the International Whaling Commissions (IWC) that Japan is violating. And if SS is violating Maritime laws don't you think Japan would take SS to court, or arrest them at sea? The fact is SS is enforcing International law, something the IWC fails to do. To me, it is no different than than if I were to stop a idiot from throwing a bag full of puppies off a bridge or a nut from target practicing on seagulls, what SS is doing is just on a grander scale.
Tsukiji Market, Japan, the largest fish market in the world, has been exposed as to selling almost every species of whale, endangered or not. Blue whale, almost extinct western grays, etc, etc.
As far as PETA and others, I don't personally have a problem with their tactics as long as they don't physically hurt anyone or break laws, other than civil disobedience. And should be accountable if they do break laws.
As far as salmon and other fisheries, I gave up salmon trolling many years ago, the only job I truly loved and miss more than anyone can imagine, partly because of financial issues (no salmon to catch) but more because of being part of the problem and not part of the solution. I can't believe what has happened to the beloved salmon, there are so many runs that will never return. The Feds eliminated the only fishery (salmon trolling) that should have been allowed to fish salmon, other than a few runs that must be gillnetted or seined.
We humans have done such a bad job managing resources it seems to me that any effort that is legal should be enacted to insure our children's children will have the opportunity to hold a fishing pool in their hands, or to support their families.
I believe it comes down to personal choices and actions, locally we fight for habitat protection for salmon and marine mammal issues, many fisherman have and are taking steps as these to help restore fish runs and to protect what there is left to protect.
The Gov. and the Corporations have just about eliminated the small fisherman, look around you, it's the big trawlers, the big crabbers,etc, etc, that are dominating the fisheries at home and abroad, they pay crews the minimum and wipe out whole runs with one sweep, and give back nothing!
If we as humans can't even save the largest creatures ever to swim the seas, how are we to save the little fishes of the seas. Enjoy what you are doing, it is only a matter of time before all small fisherman will be dry docked, either because of no fish or because the Gov. and the Corporations have taken total control, which many of us believe they already have.
If not us, maybe it will be our children to see the last leviathan or the last salmon, I can only thank those fighting and bring to the public eye these issues, I think it is their last hope (and ours) to survive mans greed.
Hopeless Chuck.
Salty
2009-08-02 15:53:20
Hopeless Chuck,
Well I just looked around the boat harbor here in Sitka. It is almost all small vessels under 58 feet and the vast majority are under 40 feet. Sitka has the most boat harbor berths in Alaska.
The salmon runs in SE Alaska are healthy and have been sustained at high levels in SE Alaska since the late 70's. We outlawed groundfish trawling in both State and Federal waters off SE Alaska years ago so we don't have any trawlers running around. We ended the whale slaughter nearly 100 years ago and whales have been increasing in SE every year of my life. We replanted the Sea Otters and there are now more than enough cute otters floating around to satisfy anyone.
I just had a wonderful month trolling salmon and am looking forward to a great August. I just had dinner and a great conversation with a leading conservation activist who has been fighting for Alaska habitat for many years. She was tremendously optimistic about the future.
Think about this, Ted Stevens is gone from the Senate, his replacement, Senator Mark Begich will be making his first floor speech tomorrow in the US Senate. It will feature what we need to do about global warming and why dealing with it is so important to Alaska. Ted Stevens, the man who tried to insert a rider into the budget declaring that the primary purpose of the Tongass Rain Forest in SE Alaska was for "Timber Production", is defeated.
The situation is not hopeless Chuck. Good people are changing the world for the better every day. Just look at the Anchorage Daily News and read about local "Farmers Markets" springing up around the state.
hopeless chuck
2009-08-02 21:28:57
Yes the Alaskan salmon industry has come back from the dark days when they almost lost it all. The State of Alaska has done a great job and should be commended for what they have done. But as you know Alaska has first shot on salmon heading south, those runs have all but dried up, correct me if I'm wrong but most of the fish you folks are catching are Alaskan spawned or Canadian. Canadian fish have their own set of problems, the atlantics have thrown a crowbar into their fisheries and are letting more in. (big Corp. again) And from what I've heard the Feds are working their way into the salmon arena up north, if true, watch out! Remember S.E. Ak. is just a small part of what was, don't fool yourselves, you are not out of harms way!
As far as the big Corp. boats, just look north of you, factory trawlers are wiping out the ground fish (these are the feeding grounds for some of your fish, the domino effect may find it's way to your fisheries), the king crag and other crab fisheries have bowed out to the big boys, they went from almost 300 boats to under a 100, I don't have a problem with down sizing but not at the expense of the small boat operators in favor of the big boats.
The Wa., Oregon and CA. salmon trollers have all been pretty much eliminated, the few friends I have left in the industry have all had to diversify into other fisheries. The Feds now have GPS locators on all fishing vessels down south here (big brother is watching), don't know if it is the same your way, even many small boats have to put on observers, you can't enter the 100 fathom line (even to anchor) with out having to come in and sell their loads. The Feds are putting up as many road blocks as they can to drive out the remaining small guys down here.
Same goes for halibut, the IFQ's will eventually end up in the hands of a few boats.
I can't help being so pessimistic, I started fishing at the end of the glory days, we never thought we would see what has happened ( you know the old saying, we'll never run out of salmon), most of my friends are out of the business , some are fishing north but most as myself can only dream.
All I can say is don't let yourselves be caught off guard, if you think your safe, well I remember that feeling, it only took me 20 years to get my head out of the sand, good luck.
Hopeless Chuck
hopeless chuck
2009-08-02 22:51:07