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Whalers refuse help from Sea Shepherd to search for lost sailor

Wednesday 07th January, 11:18 AM JST

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  • uperjer at 10:29 PM JST - 7th January

    under the premise of scientific research

    this is bias. how do you know it's not for legitimate scientific research?

  • bakabaka at 10:58 PM JST - 7th January

    I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the previous incident when a Japanese whaler died due to the fire. At that time they refused help from the greenpeace boat. And the time the Japanese refused help when one of its Jumbo jets crashed. It's known that some lives would almost certainly have been saved if the Japanese had accepted the USAF offer of assistance. Saving face is far more important than human lives to the rulers of Japan.

  • OssanAmerica at 11:01 PM JST - 7th January

    If I say, "Can we help you find him?", it sounds quite a bit better than, say, "We'll help you find the corpse, mates!" You get it?

    Spudman- obviously. Please explain that to those who think otherwise. Read the posts before commenting smith. Many people are posting on the assumption that SS's help would have saved the lost sailor. To wit; ">this Whaling Ship Captain has let his own politically clouded views to >get in the way of doing the right thing." ">They would rather see their comrade go down freezing than to accept >help?" ">Wow pride gets in the way of a human life, how sad on the whalers part. >How do you explain that to the lost sailer's family? Sorry we were not >going to allow that boat to save your sons / husbands life?"

  • Molenir at 01:18 AM JST - 8th January

    Unless he was wearing a survival suit, the man was dead, minutes after hitting the water. If he was wearing a suit, he might have had up to 12 hours or so. Since its been significantly longer then that, he is long dead. And considering the man was probably not even wearing a life vest, they'll probably never find his body.

  • imacat at 01:46 AM JST - 8th January

    I didn't know that traditionally Japanese whales were all the way in Antartica.

    sf2k, it's a very good point. People are sick and tired of hearing from Japan about their very important and unique whaling "food culture". Since when did Japan's culture stretch to include the Antarctic?!

    If you have a look at the JWA homepage you will find some pamphlets in Japanese, one of which is called "Whales and the Japanese". http://www.whaling.jp/info/pamphlet/index.html

    On the front it says in red: "Whales are Japan's Food Culture". It states that very clearly.

    Does this mean that Antarctic whales are "Japan's food culture"?! Can't they understand how arrogant this looks to the rest of the world?

    It's time that Japan started to think more about the very important and unique Antarctic environment, instead of selfishly grabbing resources from the far-flung corners of the earth to provide a luxury food for a tiny niche market.

    If they are going to shove this "food culture" stuff down everybody's throats then they would do better to take the whales close to home.

    Their own data shows that there is an abundance of whales in the seas around Japan. More than enough for this tiny niche market. And as the population drastically declines in Japan over the coming decades this market will need less and less supply.

    This tragic incident has reminded everybody of the danger Japan is putting the pristine Antarctic environment into. Remember the terrible fire on the Nisshin Maru... it could easily have got out of control and led to a huge oil spill in this beautiful wilderness area.

    This risk is unacceptable, especially when we consider the wonderful spirit of the Madrid agreement which aims to preserve the Antarctic for peace and science. What an amazing and beautiful thing that countries could agree to something like that. So what does Japan do? It sends a huge fleet of killing vessels and factory ships to grab resources down there, in the face of opposition from every single country in that region... South Africa, Chile, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM OPPOSED TO WHALING!!

    The Japanese often complain of how the West is trying to impose it's culture and values on Japan in relation to whaling. The simple truth of the matter is that Japan is imposing its culture and values on the Antarctic... and people are getting absolutely fed up with it.

  • imacat at 01:47 AM JST - 8th January

    Time is not important any more. It seems that all sailors were fully understood "really in case" before vessel departure.

    What on earth does this mean? Perhaps it was translated from Japanese using "honnyaku soft".

  • OssanAmerica at 01:52 AM JST - 8th January

    The Japanese often complain of how the West is trying to impose it's >culture and values on Japan in relation to whaling. The simple truth of >the matter is that Japan is imposing its culture and values on the >Antarctic... and people are getting absolutely fed up with it.

    This is after Britain and Norway decimated the Whale and Seal populations in the Antarctic waters to the brink of extinction from the mid 1800s to early 1900s. Japan started whaling there in 1937. Who was absolutely fed up with what Europeans were doing in Antarctic Waters for decades before Japan?

  • Taka313 at 01:54 AM JST - 8th January

    All of them are sailors and even if their ideologies are different no-one likes to see a fellow sailor lost at sea. Sure it helps them in the propaganda war, but I'm sure that they would have preferred to see no-one drown.

    Smartest thing posted on this thread, in my opinion.

    Taka

  • Bento at 02:28 AM JST - 8th January

    it will be interesting to see if the slippy bombs now get dropped(as in mothballed rather than airially launched.) as an anti whaler weapon after this incident, quite a tricky call for the popularity contestants.

  • ca1ic0cat at 03:29 AM JST - 8th January

    The offer was too late but the refusal was bogus. The guy had no more than 15 minutes in the water at 4C. It's a tragedy. But the offer and refusal lift the whole thing to the level of farce. Maybe everybody ought to just go home for the year. The whales aren't worth a human life in either case.

  • MeanRingo at 06:38 AM JST - 8th January

    Ossan posts: "This is after Britain and Norway decimated the Whale and Seal populations in the Antarctic waters to the brink of extinction from the mid 1800s to early 1900s. Japan started whaling there in 1937. Who was absolutely fed up with what Europeans were doing in Antarctic Waters for decades before Japan?

    Wow Ossan, you really are digging deep to support your point. With arguments like that, how can you possibly lose? I'm surprised you aren't writing to warn everyone how the whalers and SS are at risk of falling off the edge of the flat world we live on. Oh, and weren't you the one commenting on how the majority of posters here lacked intelligence? It was you, wasn't it? Hmmmm, me finks you should look in the mirror.

  • OssanAmerica at 09:43 AM JST - 8th January

    MeanRingo at 06:38 AM JST - 8th January Oh, and weren't you the one commenting on how the majority of posters >here lacked intelligence? It was you, wasn't it? Hmmmm, me finks you >should look in the mirror.

    No you wrong. Anyone can scroll up and see that what I said was: "Why are people here so short on intelligence as to not be able to realize that an offer made a day after a man falls into feezing waters is worth absolutely nothing in terms of saving his life?"

  • cleo at 09:46 AM JST - 8th January

    Who was absolutely fed up with what Europeans were doing in Antarctic Waters

    The whales?

  • Papawhale at 12:26 AM JST - 14th January

    Why aren't the whalers packing it in and going home in the face of losing a crewman? Oh, yeah...RESEARCH! What a bunch of liars and greedy fools the Japanese whalers are.

  • PaulWhatson at 11:57 PM JST - 22nd January

    The researchers aren't "Packing it in" for the same reason NASA still flies the Space Shuttle after two major accidents; The quest for knowledge goes on. The slightest research makes Paul Watson a liar!

    The IWC doesn’t make laws it makes suggestions to member nations. Member nations are allowed to implement or ignore them as they wish without repercussion as long as they lodge their protest within 90 days of the ruling. They may also withdraw from the convention altogether this is how Norway is legally hunting whales. Norway is still a member of the IWC how can that be if they’re breaking IWC “law” or any International whaling laws for that matter ? The same thing applies to Japan and Iceland.

    http://www.iwcoffice.org/commission/members.htm

    IWC Website excerpts:

    THE OBJECTION PROCEDURE (Convention Article 5 (3)) “Any government can 'object' to any decision which it considers to seriously affect its national interest, provided it is done within 90 days of notification of the decision. Should this happen, further time is allowed for other governments to object. The government or governments that object are not then bound by that particular decision. This mechanism has been strongly criticized as rendering the Commission 'toothless', but without it the Convention would probably have never been signed. In addition, without such a right (common to many international agreements), a government would still have been able to withdraw from the Convention and thus not be bound by any of the regulations”.

    “The purpose of the Convention is to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry”.

    “As part of their response to the decision for a pause in commercial whaling, some member governments have implemented major research programmes which may include the sampling of whales caught under special permits which the Convention allows them to grant”.

    Article XI Any Contracting Government may withdraw from this Convention on 30th June, of any year by giving notice on or before 1st January, of the same year to the depository Government, which upon receipt of such a notice shall at once communicate it to the other Contracting Governments. Any other Contracting Government may, in like manner, within one month of the receipt of a copy of such a notice from the depository Government give notice of withdrawal, so that the Convention shall cease to be in force on 30th June, of the same year with respect to the Government giving such notice of withdrawal.

    http://www.iwcoffice.org/commission/iwcmain.htm

    http://www.iwcoffice.org/commission/iwcmain.htm#committee

    http://www.iwcoffice.org/commission/convention.htm

    The IWC and Scientific Permits A major area of discussion in recent years has been the issuing of permits by member states for the killing of whales for scientific purposes. The use of such permits is not new. The right to issue them is enshrined in Article VIII of the 1946 Convention. Whilst member nations must submit proposals for review, in accordance with the Convention, it is the member nation that ultimately decides whether or not to issue a permit, and this right overrides any other Commission regulations including the moratorium and SANCTUARIES. Article VIII also requires that the animals be utilized once the scientific data have been collected.

    http://www.iwcoffice.org/conservation/permits.htm

    A balanced article was written for the New Yorker in it you will find among other things: 1) Watson isn’t an actual Captain 2) Watson’s Legal claims are put to rest by a legal expert 3) Watson’s claims of sinking ships are overstated (the author could only confirm two)

    http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/11/05/071105fafactkhatchadourian

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