Posted on 07/07/2010 4:31:09 PM PDT by Dengar01
On January 6, 2010, Captain Hiroyuki Komura of the illegal Japanese whaling vessel the Shonan Maru #2 deliberately rammed and destroyed Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s vessel, the Ady Gil. Captain Komura almost killed six Sea Shepherd volunteer crewmembers and did not respond to the Ady Gil’s mayday distress signal. Japanese authorities refused to cooperate in investigations and declined requests by Australian and New Zealand maritime authorities to question Captain Komura.
Instead, Captain Peter Bethune, the man who Captain Komura almost killed and whose ship was destroyed, was taken back to Japan literally as a prisoner of war abducted from the waters of the Australian Antarctic Territory. Captain Bethune was incarcerated for boarding the ship that had rammed and destroyed his ship, when he had every right to board that vessel to confront Captain Komura face-to-face for his crimes.
Captain Komura should have been the man on trial. He was not, because in the waters of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, might—rather than the law—makes right, and Captain Bethune was taken back to Japan to be made an example of and persecuted for defending the whales.
The verdict of the Japanese court was always to be “guilty.” Sea Shepherd was never under any illusion that Captain Bethune would be given a fair trial. In court, there was no discussion of the reason why Captain Bethune boarded the Shonan Maru #2, and Captain Komura was not called as a witness; in short, the court never allowed any evidence of the Ady Gil’s destruction to be heard.
Sea Shepherd spent in excess of half a million U.S. dollars on Captain Bethune’s defense, not because we believed he would be acquitted, but in an attempt to mitigate his sentence.
Captain Bethune was facing up to fifteen years in prison. He was sentenced to two years and he will be deported back to New Zealand on July 9th with his sentence suspended.
Captain Bethune’s mission was successful. His efforts helped save the lives of 528 whales. He was able to take one of the harpoon vessels off the hunt when it was forced to return him to Japan. Most importantly, he exposed the brutality and illegality of the Japanese whaling fleet to the world. When you’re willing to risk your life to save the whales, five months as a Japanese prisoner is a good trade-off for the lives saved.
Captain Bethune is a hero to the Save the Whales movement and he will be welcomed home to New Zealand as a national hero for having the courage to do what his government was fearful of doing—defending whales from the Japanese poachers in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
Global support for Captain Bethune and negative publicity about Japan’s whaling program has led to this success. With Captain Bethune, the Japanese government was well aware that each day it held him would be a day that would generate protest against its abominable whale slaughter. This fact, coupled with protests over the showing of the Academy Award winning film “The Cove,” has helped to make the whale and dolphin slaughter the most embarrassing foreign affairs issue currently scandalizing the Japanese government.
The Japanese court acknowledged that Captain Bethune never intended to hurt anyone and was operating under his conviction to save whales from illegal whaling. The truth is that Japan wants Captain Bethune out of Japan and with the sentence suspended they can quickly send him home.
Sea Shepherd is proud of Captain Bethune’s achievements and satisfied with the results of this ridiculous trial that saw a man incarcerated for saving the lives of whales, yet ignored the crimes of a Japanese poacher who sank a ship and almost killed six conservationists.
Captain Bethune is free, and that is what matters. Sea Shepherd is free to return to the Southern Ocean again to defend the whales, and we intend to be even more effective next season than during our last highly effective season.
Captain Bethune is an inspiration in courage and dedication, and his efforts, his sacrifice, and his resolve will not be forgotten.
Check out that picture of the whaling ship in post number twelve. See the red thing below the water line that kinda "projects" out forward from the keel, in a kinda Freudian way?
What's gonna happen when those dumb@$$3$ cut across in front of the ship and drop their stupid rope thingie that's supposed to foul the props of the whale boat?
Even I can see that the rope is going to remain on the top of the water and get caught by that Freudian thingie like a cow-catcher on a train. But the hippies obviously can't see that or they wouldn't be doing that. What a bunch of utter imbeciles.
Which is what makes Whale Wars so entertaining! If they weren't imbeciles they wouldn't be doing that!!
He's coming home and the Hamilton father of anti-whaling skipper Pete Bethune says it's a ''terrific relief''.
Mr Bethune has been in Japanese custody since February after boarding a Japanese whaling ship in the Southern Ocean but yesterday he received a two-year suspended sentence in a Tokyo court. He is expected home on Saturday morning.
Don Bethune has not spoken to his son since he was first detained, but today said he was likely to give him a couple of days' grace to deal with media and well-wishers. They have had only limited contact through letters and Mr Bethune has not been allowed telephone contact since his arrest.
The suspended sentence appears to be the result of a deal struck between anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd and Japanese officials banning Mr Bethune from future expeditions. The suspended sentence means he will not go to jail unless he commits another crime on Japanese soil in the next five years.
Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson said last night that the organisation knew what the sentence was several days ago, ''because we'd already arranged for Pete Bethune's air ticket''. He did not elaborate on the deal.
Mr Bethune's wife, Sharyn Bethune, suspected a deal had been done. ''I've heard that rumour too. Good if they did - it got him home.''
Japanese prosecutors and prowhalers had pushed for a jail term for the former Hamilton sailor, who pleaded guilty in May to four charges of illegally boarding the Shonan Maru II - which earlier had been involved in a collision with his boat Ady Gil. But he denied a charge of assault. After the sentencing, Mr Bethune said he was ''very relieved and thankful at the decision from the Japanese court''.
''I am truly sorry for all the trouble and worry this has caused my family and am desperate to get back home to see them.''
I am dying to see the Ady Gill sunk, you could tell in the first few episodes it has no business in the Southern Ocean. It looks like a speed boat that belongs in Lake Michigan rather than the roughest waters on the planet.
They broke their radar before they were even half way to the Southern Ocean. Clueless, dumb libs in action.
Since their prurpose was to interfere with the Japanese vessels in any way possible, I'd strongly suspect someone cut the throttles when the figured they were in the way.
Good work Captain Komura. Thank you for your service.
Lots of ships have a bulbous nose under the waterline. I believe it is for stability in rough seas. Some of the more technical ex sailors around here can correct me. I was on subs, and those don't really apply to this situation.
These buffoons belong to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Greenpeace avoids them like the plague.
Actually it cuts down water resistance by creating a wave that counteracts the bow-wave.
Well, if this Bethune is caught a second time, I very much doubt that the Japanese government will show such leniency again. And Japanese prison time is very hard time.
On whaling ships they’re called “Ady Gil Crushers’. Very efficient, very.
The Ady Gil was built to race around the world, so it certainly was capable of handling the waters. And Bethune, unlike the Sea Shepherd crew, actually knew how to drive a boat.
And in fact, he actually had the intention of saving whales, rather than the Sea Shepherd, which seems to be about TALKING about saving the whales.
It looked to me like Bethune pulled in front of the boat and stopped, to force the whaling ship to stop — only the whaling ship didn’t stop. Bethune didn’t think they’d run him over, and he was wrong.
Then he boarded the ship and started throwing things at the crew members, getting a foreign substance in the eye of at least one crew member. So he was charged with assault, as well as illegal boarding of a vessel.
And since they found bows and arrows on his ship, there was talk about getting him on other charges as well. After all, you could see it as a ship with armed crew members chasing a legally operating vessel, attempting to cut them off, and then boarding. Kind of like pirates.
But I still respect Bethune a lot more than Captain Lard. Bethune put his money where his beliefs were, and was willing to take real action to stop what he felt was a criminal activity. Captain Lard just talks a big game to get rich liberals to give him money.
The bow of the USS George H Bush, CVN 77, before the water obscures the structure.
So... what is that thing? What’s it really there for?
From post#28:
“Actually it cuts down water resistance by creating a wave that counteracts the bow-wave.”
I enjoy watching episodes of “Whale Wars” but I always root for the Japense.
Theys ends DogS and CatS, That why theys goin for other types of nature..
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