Posted on 02/09/2011 11:51:05 AM PST by Dengar01
The Sea Shepherd scout vessel Gojira found the illegal Japanese whaling ship Sea Shepherd calls the Cetacean Death Star at 2115 NZST on February 9th. The Nisshin Maru was caught in the process of unlawfully flensing a whale on their aft deck at the position of 74 degrees 16 minutes south and 149 degrees 2 minutes west.
The Gojira immediately gave chase as the Nisshin Maru attempted to escape by entering a field of ice. The Gojira attempted to block the huge factory ship to buy time for the Bob Barker to arrive from some 28 miles away. Captain Locky MacLean engaged the Nisshin Maru in a skirmish, and notified the Japanese whalers that they were not to continue their illegal whaling.
The Nisshin Maru seemed to be engaged in flensing operations at the time it was discovered. Work lights illuminated the deck as water was being flushed over the sides and brown-red stains were visible along the aft deck of the vessel around the scuppers/ drain holes, while black smoke bellowed from the factory smoke stack.
Crewmembers observe the Nisshin Maru from the bow of the Bob Barker. Photo: Gary StokesCrewmembers observe the Nisshin Maru from the bow of the Bob Barker. Photo: Gary StokesThe Gojira was stopped in an area of growlers and floe ice as the Nisshin Maru proceeded to bear down on her. Despite several VHF calls to alter course, the Nisshin Maru closed in on the Gojira. When the Nisshin Maru was 40 meters away, Captain MacLean fired a flare to signal the Nisshin Maru to alter course. The Japanese factory ship altered course to starboard, as the Gojira slid 20 meters down her port side.
At 0220 on February 10th, the Nisshin Maru and one of the harpoon boats entered thick pack ice after several hours of zigzagging through loose floe ice. The Gojira kept up skirting the ice edge, meeting the Nisshin Maru on the far side of each floe using her speed advantage.
The Nisshin Maru proceeded to the south towards an area of pack ice. It appeared as if the Gojira was about to lose the factory ship in the thick ice when the Bob Barker arrived just in time to take over the pursuit.
At 0400 hours, the Bob Barker placed itself immediately aft to the stern slipway of the Nisshin Maru to block any further attempts to offload dead whales. The Bob Barker is now easily pursuing the Nisshin Maru through thick pack ice with the Gojira continuing to skirt around the ice looking for harpoon vessels.
The Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin departed from Wellington, New Zealand at 1800 hours on February 9th and is expected to meet up with the Sea Shepherd fleet and the Japanese whaling fleet in about five days.
The Bob Barker needs to hold position on the stern of the Nisshin Maru until the Steve Irwin can assist it. By blocking the stern slipway, the factory ship is unable to load dead whales from the harpoon vessels, allowing Sea Shepherd to effectively shut down their illegal whaling operations.
I am not familiar with kosher slaughter but I would find it difficult that they would let an animal die slowly over 2 hours. I mean come on that is insane. I HATE the eco wackos but letting an animal suffer is what serial killers do prior to murdering humans and if you don't know that serial killers start out by torturing animals you are living in a bubble.
I could care less about how dolphins are bludgeoned. You should see them saw open a live maguro or stick a chopstick down the mouth of an ayu and place it over a BBQ. Japanese like their food freshly killed. The fact is that dolphin slaughter is limited to about 5,000 people of the 125,000,000 in Japan, and they’ve been doing it for at least a thousand years. They’ve got a freaking festival for it.
I wouldn’t worry about mercury poisoning, if Abe Lincoln lived through it, so can I.
Do we have a Viking Kitties alert here?
[their running dog plastic and paint industry masters ]
H! I haven’t heard “running dog” used in ages! It brings back memories of when I was a bearded hippy at Stanford. It was a lot of fun being self righteous.
I don’t agree that all animals are to be eaten.
whales, domesticated dogs and cats are on my short list.
I guess it’s their intelligence, which is slightly higher than some of the comments on this thread.
Agreed. Just torpedo the dipshizzats. They have to eat everything and anything to perform in bed.
I’m just wondering how a noble eco-warrior such as you ends up on a conservative, seal-whackin’ site like this.
You’d have been better off hitchiking back from Canada. Lay down with dogs, get up with fleas.
If you think that’s bad, I just found out about other pelts that Canadians harvest for cash:
Kids In The Hall - French Fur Trappers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zJTNOxV4Qg
Forgive me if I don’t believe this dangerous extremist’s claim that the ship is engaging in illegal actions.
I've never eaten whale meat, but are you sure about the dolphin? See here:
Bottle nosed dolphin. Mammal.
Dolphin, aka Mahi Mahi. Delicious
Dogs are, as far as I can tell, the only one of our livestock animals who assist us in that process.
Whaling isn’t a crime.
“The killing of whales supports humans in a legitimate food chain business”
I don’t agree with your term “legitimate”. Nor do I think elephants should be hunted for ivory. Preposterous.
If you seriously think elephants should be hunted because their populations are exploding, you need to do a little research.
nor do I think elephants should be hunted so some Chinese jerk can get his willy stiff.
And besides, you Vegans, plants have feelings too!
Why do we eat sea bass and condem those eating something swimming 10 feet away?
RE: Elephants; that comment is from my own personal observation and multiple friends in Africa.
Sorry, but don't let yourself slip into the lib game of them telling us how the world “should be.’
Cats! You said the magic word - Google “The Cat In The Kettle”.
If you believe in the sanctity of life in the most important issue- the rights of the unborn child, then you are probably on the right forum.
When I posted “Captain Watson Sets the Record Straight” last year, I gotta lot of flak, but if you reread many of the moronic posts on this thread, the fact is, admiral Watson won. If I have time I’ll call out each of these morons in replies.
One of the morons even revels in his stupidity in his tagline, which says, in essence “Hey, I love being a moron and I don’t even read the articles carefully before shooting from the hip!”
Even “En Garde!” has to putdown the brave crews like you that have walked the walk. Understand, these are keyboard captains, some still living in tiny cramped apartments they have thrown together with or without their mother’s permission in what were previously primarily storage basements.
If you love Ronald Reagan, you’re probably on the right page. What many of the morons on this thread do not realize or refuse to acknowledge is that President Reagan loved the whales as well and played hardball with the Japanese (see Captain Watson Sets the Record Straight) to put an end to the killing.
“At some point there are going to be some dead hippies, you just cant play games like this at sea.”
Guess you were dead wrong. They weren’t playing no games. They were risking their lives for what they believe in. They won. Are you man enough to admit you were wrong?
“That fat bastard running Sea Shepherd is going to get some of his hippie followers killed if he keeps this up.”
Either that, or they’ll all come home to a hero/ heroine’s welcome. Oh wait! They won! Guess it will be the latter! Are you man enough to admit you were wrong?
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