Anti-Whaling "Activists" go too far

[Archaic]

Original Article

The latest in the ongoing battle between radical animal rights defense organization Sea Shepherd and the Japanese whaling fleet, from CNN:

Four crew members on board a Japanese whaling ship in Antarctic waters were injured Monday when an anti-whaling group threw butyric acid on board, a top Japanese official said.

Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Itsunori Onodera announced the incident at an international seminar for African and Asian delegates to the International Whaling Commission.

Onodera said someone on the activist boat, the Steve Irwin, threw bags of butyric acid aboard the Japanese vessel the Nisshin Maru.

Onodera did not elaborate on the extent of the injuries, simply telling the audience that the crew complained of injuries after the bags of acid hit the ship.

Sea Shepherd responded to the Japanese reports by claiming that they were just throwing harmless rotten butter at the ship. Stuff.co.nz has an article entirely from the Sea Shepherd point of view:

“The crew deployed over two dozen bottles of rotten butter, sending a stench throughout the whale-killing ship that will remain for days,” the group said.

They said they also threw packets of an undisclosed “slippery chemical” on to the deck of the Nisshin Maru. This will make it very difficult to cut up whales.

The substance becomes even more slippery with water so it will be difficult to wash it off the decks.

“I guess we can call this non-violent chemical warfare,” said Captain Paul Watson in the statement.

“We only use organic, non-toxic materials designed to harass and obstruct illegal whaling operations.”

So, is butyric acid harmful? A quick Google search found this information:

Appearance: colourless liquid with the extremely unpleasant smell of rancid butter

Stability: Flammable. Incompatible with strong oxidizing agents, aluminium and most other common metals, alkalies, reducing agents.

Toxicology: Harmful if swallowed or inhaled. Corrosive. Extremely unpleasant smell may cause nausea. Liquid may burn skin and eyes. Readily absorbed through the skin. Severe skin, eye and respiratory irritant.

Based on that information, it is unlikely that the acid could have seriously injured any Japanese crew members, but one couldn’t exactly say it was harmless.

Update: Here’s a video showing some of the Sea Shepherd members throwing acid bombs.

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The video was filmed from the whaling ship and released to the press. The Sea Shepherd members throwing the objects at the Japanese ship appear to have their faces covered, either to hide their identities or to protect against the harmful fumes from the chemicals.

Terrorism: “the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.”

The actions of these "activists" would certainly seem to fall under that category. It's one thing to protest non-violently, simply making a nuisance of one-self, and disrupting the catch. It's an entirely different thing to go and throw a potentially deadly acid (the 50% lethal dose for dermal toxicity of butyric acid is 0.53g/kg, that means you can kill a man who weighs 70kg by administering about 37g onto the skin) at crew members, contaminating the vessel, and preventing the crew from even coming up to the deck.

 

[Girafarig_Magcargo]

I'm pretty ashamed that Americans were implicated in this incident (judging by the American flag and mention of Americans), and it's really sad for the whalers because they'll be out of work for a long time. Really, who gets worked up about whales so much that they sail around the ocean vandalizing whaling ships?

 

[I Started A Cult]

This isn't the first example of crazy people. I've heard of anti-deforestation leagues putting spikes in trees so the chainsaws would bounce off and turn on their owners.

 

[Calvin]

Oh. Even though that is sad, they went overboard.

And acid bombs??

Wow. D:

 

[I Started A Cult]

Yes, acid bombs.

 

[1Eevee1]

Archaic, it would also be considered an act of piracy at least, at most, an act of war. God, fanatics just ruin everything. (If you don't believe me, 1939-1945.)

 

[the gadfly]

Sorry to go off topic concerning whaling.

Just in the last few days, the Earth Liberation Front set fire to million-dollar homes under construction in the state of Washington. The ELF has torched homes in Aspen, Colorado. They've vandalized cars at car dealers. And yes, they were the ones who put steel spikes into trees that were going to be cut down.

While they may have valid points for discussion, all they are doing is making environmentalists look bad through their actions.

I don't know if I would call them terrorists. That would imply they are making some point others will understand. I would call them what they are--criminals.

Really, who gets worked up about whales so much that they sail around the ocean vandalizing whaling ships?

Really, who gets worked up so much about whaling they go against the worldwide consensus and do it anyway?

 

[Zeta]

The first thing that popped into my mind is "You'd think the whales would learn to keep the fuck away from Japan if they're as smart as everyone claims".

 

[the gadfly]

The first thing that popped into my mind after reading your post was "Japan will just pursue them wherever they go." It's not like they go a few miles/kilometers offshore now to whale.

 

[Lilac Hill]

Japan likes Australian-Antarctic Waters.

 

[Ben Cousins]

The Japanese shouldn't be hunting whales then, they deserve everything they get!

 

[Archaic]

Japan likes Australian-Antarctic Waters.

I'm Australian, but I'll play devil's advocate to that.

Australia has no legal basis to claim ownership of any amount of Antarctic waters, nor to any land on Antarctica itself. While there is an Antarctic treaty which a number of nations have signed in which each signatory nation recognises the claims made by each other nation that has co-signed that treaty, Japan is not a co-signatory to this treaty (only a small percentage of nations are), and does not recognise the validity of any of these claims, not only those made by Australia.

Further, the treaties Australia is bound by as a member of the UN have a greater precedence over that treaty in international law, and these separate treaties state that no nation may claim ownership over the territories at either of the poles. (These are the same set of treaties barring space weapons, or nations claiming parts of the moon)

Finally....where Japan is whaling is clearly outside of the bounds of the waters that Australia illegitimately claims as its territory anyway.


It's also worth noting that there are a significant variety of different species of whale, and that the variety of whale that comprises the vast bulk of the Japanese whaling effort is relatively abundant compared to other whale species, and the combined whaling efforts of Japan, Iceland, Norway, South Korea, North Korea and probably a few other whaling nations I've missed, do not have any demonstrated long term impacts on their population levels.

I don't like using Wikipedia, but I'll refer to them for the next image.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Japan_whaling_1985-2006.svg

Commercial whaling stopped in 1986. As you can see, the whale catch of Japan is significantly smaller than it was at that period of time. I can tell you that at the current levels, that's far below the level that would actually be needed to sustain a proper, profitable commercial catch.

As for why (some) Whale meat is later sold for food....it's simple really. They're required to. It's a requirement of the International Whaling Commission that the remains of the whales used in lethal research do not go to waste. All proceeds of the sale of whale meat, or any other portion of the whale (I vaguely remember something to do with parts of their bodies being used to make candles, for instance), must be sold, to help meet the costs of the expedition.

To expand on that point actually...it's worth noting that some species of whale which are caught for this research are not sold for food whatsoever. 5 Sperm Wales per year are captured as part of the hunt, for instance. None of these carcases are sold for food.


One last point...for those wondering what Japan's stated purpose is, the official line is that they're researching population dynamics, collecting data regarding age, reproductive status, etc. I believe there was also talk about research into whale fertility, attempting to increase the ability to breed whales in captivity, and/or to somehow increase the numbers of whales long-term through fertility treatments, etc (Whale Viagra!).

 

[Lesley_GSC]

Ah, I'm on two sides of a Bronzor with this. I'm an animal person, so it pains me to see the whales get killed, but on the other hand, I don't think that violence is the answer. Violence isn't the answer to anything.

 

[Fig]

Commercial whaling stopped in 1986. As you can see, the whale catch of Japan is significantly smaller than it was at that period of time. I can tell you that at the current levels, that's far below the level that would actually be needed to sustain a proper, profitable commercial catch.

As for why (some) Whale meat is later sold for food....it's simple really. They're required to. It's a requirement of the International Whaling Commission that the remains of the whales used in lethal research do not go to waste. All proceeds of the sale of whale meat, or any other portion of the whale (I vaguely remember something to do with parts of their bodies being used to make candles, for instance), must be sold, to help meet the costs of the expedition.

That, or else it's just that tired old Japanese nationalism rearing its godawfully ugly head again. You know, in a "we will never let anything stand in the way of our customs!" sorts of way.

Using a very broad, hypocritical version of "our customs", of course. Wouldn't be Japan otherwise.

 

[Perxio]

That, or else it's just that tired old Japanese nationalism rearing its godawfully ugly head again. You know, in a "we will never let anything stand in the way of our customs!" sorts of way.

Using a very broad, hypocritical version of "our customs", of course. Wouldn't be Japan otherwise.

QFT.

Jeez, you throw in terrorism and you're screwing EVERYONE. No one's unaffected. I'd say this is terrorism. Not one that would call for war but enough to take the crap they pull seriously- but nothing about their stances, just about what they're doing. They want the attention, but you'd hope it'd be the kind they wouldn't want. It fits the definition anyway.

 

[Fig]

To be fair, we only have the word of a Japanese politician, given before a panel of the International Whaling Organization, specifically members of that organization Japan has spent the past few years trying to bribe on and off, regarding people being actively hurt, how they were hurt, etc.

Similarly, we only have that one representative stating it was butyric acide (as oposed to rancid butter, which has relatively low amounts of butyric acide).

Healthy (not rancid) seasoning advised.

 

[I Started A Cult]

Okay, but I'm still worried about this one.

 

[Ben Cousins]

It's about time people stood up to the arrogant Japanese.

 

[anonymous920314]

This isn't terrorism. The entire thing is mostly a nuisance to an industry that (very) slowly is loosing steam due to the majority of the world being against the business.

It's a crime, most definitely, as someone pointed out, but it isn't terrorism.

 

[Perxio]

It's about time people stood up to the arrogant Japanese.

Thousands of weaboos and AZNs would've just shit themselves in horror that you'd say such a thing.