Sea Shepard Conservation Society Enlists Godzilla

I am sure everyone has seen a clip of or has heard of the Animal Planet show "Whale Wars". The extremist Sea Shepard Conservation Society has gotten a new weapon named after the dreaded Japanese monster, Gojira.



While I agree with protecting endangered species such as the fin whale, which doesn't even have an agreed upon population estimate in the Antarctic, the Sea Shepard Conservation Society should not interfere with the lively hood of others or resort to violence. Using a loophole to get around the International Whaling Commission ban against commercial whaling by claiming the harvesting is for research is equally absurd as the antics of the Sea Shepard Conservation Society.

I am all for protecting endangered species, but when the minke whale is the main target and only one fin whale was harvested last year, it is hard to claim that there is any detrimental affect on the minke whale population. The harvest limit of 900 is based on population estimates as well as reproduction rates. The Antarctic minke whale population is roughly 670,000. Leaving the 900 specimen harvest rate at a measly .1% of the total population.

Neither the Japanese whaling fleet nor the Sea Shepard Conservation Society are in the right. The Japanese should not be using a loophole to harvest whales and the Sea Shepard Conservation Society should not be resorting to terrorist acts to get their message through and try to prevent the harvest of the minke and sometimes fin whale.

Read the full article here.

 

I had some minke whale in a recent trip to iceland... And let me tell you, i now understand why the Japanese are so persistent. Talk about a glorious tasting steak! The Icelanders view the harvesting of whales no different than people in the US view hunting of any other species. If your maintaining a sustainable harvest of the species, how is whale hunting any worse than hunting a whitetail deer?

 

One of my top 10 fav episodes of south park ha ha. Without Paul Watson and his group of recruited idiots, i think the group be far better off...

 

The level of intelligence of marine mammals makes it a huge difference. No whale can be viewed as a " sustainable harvest ". tisk tisk........

 

That is true, they are far more intelligent. However, if were going to start taking into account intelligence when we harvest an animal, where do we draw the line? I'm not really for or against whaling as a whole... What I am against however is when they ( Or any animal for that matter) are harvested in-humanely. In my schools Ichthyology and Aquarium Science Society organization we did a screening of The Cove. Great documentary. If you ask me, more light needs to be shed on operations like that.

 

Intelligence has nothing to do with sustainable harvest. Population size, reproduction rates, death rates, viable young, harvest and natural mortality rates and the number of sexually mature animals in a population decide weather or not it is possible to sustainably harvest a population or species.

If intelligence had anything to do with sustainable harvest, we should not harvest quail or fish. I have seen multiple quail stand in a group and not move before being hit by a car. This car was driven by my grandfather who probably did not see the quail. He shouldn't have been driving either. I have caught the same fish multiple times during mark recapture trips to estimate the populations of different species of fish in the Cheat Lake/River. It would not be a fair hunt.

According to project Minke, females reach sexual maturity between the age of 6 and 8 years old. Males reach sexual maturity between 5 and 8 years old. Whales give birth to one calf 2 times every one to two years. At a maximum one female can have 4 calves in a two year span and a minimum of 2 calves in a two hear span. Removing 900 minke whales from a population of 670,000 whales, is not detrimental to their population.

 

I reckon this thread will have a very short life. Politics and religion are supposed to be touchy topics, but the gloves come off when whale killing is at hand.

I'm with Watson on this one. I'd like to see the whale fleet bankrupt or rusting away at the bottom of the sea.

I mean they're whales, right. This isn't survival nutrition for people. We domesticated specific species hundreds of years ago for that.

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Conssidering this has nothing to do with religion or politics it should not be an issue as long as no one starts flaming or being vulgar.

 

I don't think they should be killing the whales. I'm sure they can survive on a LOT of other food sources. However, is it just me or is everyone of thier crew member's dumb? I don't think any of them can drive a boat. What were they thinking when they didn't move their million plus dollar ship and got it sunk?lol