VIDEO: Anti-whaling boat rammed on the high seas by vessel piloted by allegedly illegal whaling crew

[Amerigo Vespucci]

VIDEO @ the URL below:

Posted Feb 6th 2010 1:00AM by TMZ Staff

http://www.tmz.com/2010/02/06/bob-barker-boat-rammed-video/

The anti-whaling boat Bob Barker was rammed on the high seas early this morning during a showdown with a vessel piloted by an allegedly illegal whaling crew.

According to the Sam Shepherd Conservation Society, the B.B. was blocking the shipway of a Japanese whaling fleet's factory ship when the collision occurred. One of the Japanese boats slammed into the Bob Barker, creating "a 3-foot long 4-inch deep gash in the mid starboard side."

No one was injured.

The boat was retrofitted thanks to a $5 million donation from Bob Barker, thus the name.

[Duckhunter935]

1. Sea shepard rams Japanese on high seas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIYdmM6eBQY

[MineralMan]

6. Yup. That video shows a deliberate ramming.

I like whales. I don't like pirates.

[Cetacea]

16. Good. nt

[flvegan]

2. Well, the whalers got off unpunished after intentionally ramming the Ady Gil

and sinking it. They've already proven that they don't care about human lives either. They obviously won't be happy until they've murdered some humans along with the whales they're illegally hunting.

[MineralMan]

3. Oddly enough, the whaling boat was taking evasive action.

The Bob Barker actually hit the whaler. The boat that gave way and attempted to avoid the collision was not the Bob Barker.

[NYC_SKP]

4. Again? Jeeze, it's happened before but I thought maybe after that other boat sunk...

...things would be different.

Ah well, carry on sea shepherds!

[Beaverhausen]

5. "Sam" Shepherd Conservation Society?

Funny typo- and by the way fuck the whalers.

[MineralMan]

7. Let me pose a question. I like to fish. Some people are opposed

to fishing. Would it be OK if those people came up in their boats and hit my little 12' fishing boat and tried to sink me? Even if they were just trying to save the fish from my predation?

Look at the videos. That is exactly what is happening in them. The Japanese vessel was taking evasive action. It did not ram the anti-whaler's boat. In fact, just the reverse happened. See, too, the YouTube video posted earlier. The anti-whaler's ship deliberately rammed the Japanese vessel.

I don't like whaling. I dislike piracy and attempts to sink other vessels even more.

[jtuck004]

11. It depends...

Short version...

This incident occurred in an area known as the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, established by the International Whaling Commission in 1994. 23 countries supported, and Japan opposed it.

Japan has had a whaling industry for decades, not only for food but for the byproducts. After WWII we had pretty much decimated their production of many things, so we encourage them to continue and rebuild their whaling fleet to feed the millions of starving people.

As some whales became endangered, the IWC created the sanctuary. While most of the whales taken are plentiful (in relative terms, because nobody really knows that that means) the fin whale is endangered, and there are thought to be just over 2000 left.

Japan mostly takes other whales, but after they killed around a dozen 2-3 years ago, they announced that they had permission to take 5 times that many the past couple of years. There are other sources and ways to get their protein, even from fish and other whales, they just don't like being told what to do, and, frankly, don't seem to care if they kill these particular whales into extinction.

And instead of sending out clearly marked "whaling" boats, they send out whaling fleets marked as "research vessels".

So, in answer to your question, if you were killing an endangered species, and using subterfuge to do so, and fishing on a lake where the fish had been protected, and refused to stop even after being given plenty of warning, and there was no law enforcement that ever came, and you were being so totally selfish about something that might affect others besides you (what do we lose when a species goes extinct? That is a hard question to answer for people who really seek to understand the chain of life around us. - the answer to your question might be yes, I could sympathize with someone who is trying to stop you. I have no problem with shooting for self-defense, and I support those soldiers protecting endangered apes and rhino, up to and including shooting poachers who won't stop. I think whales deserve as much protection.

Btw - there is no piracy - the Sea Shepherd crew is not trying to steal their boats, not trying to starve their people, and they consistently use nonlethal means of protest - fouling props, throwing stink bombs, etc. But they are also not going to be intimidated by people who think they can just bang into a Sea Shepherd craft a time or two and they will be scared away.

[Merchant Marine]

12. Fouling props and ramming...

Are both violent and potentially deadly acts. I can cite multiple examples of ships that have been rammed with deadly consequences to the crew and the environment. Prop fouling has the potential to disable a vessel, leaving it helpless and unable to maneuver in the most hazardous ocean known to man. A vessel without power in the arctic sea could drift into an iceberg, become holed and capsize, or lay broadside to heavy waves, swamp, founder and sink.

Oh, and legally the definition of piracy is any violent or felonious act committed by private individuals on the high seas. The SSCS are legally pirates, hell they claim to be pirates like its some kind of damn badge!

[jtuck004]

13. You are right, of course

But killing a whale isn't potential, it's just dead. And these folks aren't out on a pleasure cruise, they are illegally taking whales. The Sea Shepherd folks are protecting the whales. 88 nations are members of the IWC, established long ago to manage the population of whales which were being threatened. And although Japan agreed, by virtue of being a member of this commission, to the protections offered in other waters where it benefits, they are sending these "research" vessels into the Southern Sanctuary to harvest and sell whales on their own commercial market.

Yes they can sink. As was recently proved when a Japanese ship ran over a much smaller Sea Shepherd craft injuring the people on board. While there is argument over who turned where, the Japanese ship could have slowed to avoid the collision, or simply not been taking protected whales from the waters.

Propellers can be fouled, and the ship could be rudderless, this is true, but this is a fleet of commercial whalers, not lone vessels, so it is not like they are helpless. The Sea Shepherds even offered to help them one time when they were put out of commission, and were rebuffed, so it is not like they are desperate. They chose to push this, and yet they want other nations to stay away from whaling in other waters when it benfits them.

You are correct about the legal definition of piracy, though the allusion to piracy is mostly theatre used by Sea Shepherd to dramatize what is going on. This is protest, and people trying to stop the elimination of an endangered species. By that same definition the private individuals killing animals in the sanctury are also pirates. In my mind they have no moral high ground to claim, and they need to stop killing endangered whales.

[Merchant Marine]

17. It's not illegal.

I would agree that it is immoral, but the Japanese are exploiting a research clause in the treaty that allow them to conduct lethal research. The treaty also requires that any meat obtained from the research be sold as food.

And no, a 150+ foot ship will not slow appreciably in the time it took for the whaler to hit the ady gil. I've sailed ships of that size, and changes in engine speed are the worst way to avoid collision.

[Cetacea]

14. Most of the civilized world isn't opposed to fishing.

No more excuses for murdering warm-blooded, thinking, feeling, sentient beings any more. It's just so 1800s.

Sink the bastards.

[petronius]

8. It's hard to tell - from the glimpse of the vessel ahead it looks like the Barker

is making a slight turn to starboard. The Japanese vessel makes a much harder turn to starboard before the hit (an attempt to avoid?) but what happened in the minutes before the collision? where did the vessels approach from?

we need a lot more information before the admiralty lawyers, naval strategists, and all-around sea-dogs of DU can make a final determination here...

[AzNick]

9. Bob Barker treats animals than he does people, apparently...

[Merchant Marine]

10. It's pretty clear that the SSCS is at fault in this collision

Yushin Maru had the right of way.

The "ramming" (I use quotes because ramming implies intent, this shows only incompetence) occurs as the Bob Barker overtakes on the port side of the Yushin Maru and crowds her. The Yushin Maru turns hard to starboard to avoid a collision, which would work if the Barker had gone hard to port to also avoid. But they don't, and the two ships "slap" together hard on both vessel's beams. You can see the Bob Barker start to come to port a few seconds before the collision, but she has crowded the Yushin Maru too much and is inside her turning circle. Too little, too late. This looks, much like the Ady Gil collision, to be an attempt at harassment that crossed the line into collision due to inexperience and poor seamanship.

Landlubbers may say "Ah, but the Yushin Maru swung her stern into the Bob Barker!" To which I say, read about ship-handling and collision avoidance. ALWAYS go right in traffic. If you're in the path of part of a ship trying to evade you, that is your fault, especially when you're the give-way vessel. No maritime court will EVER fault a skipper for ordering right full rudder and astern bells in extremis, as it appears the Yushin Maru's master did.

People will continue to interpret this the way their allegiance dictates, as happened with the collision earlier this year. However, in my professional opinion (Such as it is) I think that the SSCS is once again at fault for causing a dangerous collision in hazardous waters.

[Cetacea]

15. Sink the bastard whalers and take out the Cove slaughterers while your at it.

Of course if Obama had some b---- he'd aim economic sanctions at the Japs like Clinton did.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Cetacea]

19. Welcome to DU! You learn quickly!

Murder enabler.

[spoony]

20. Hey, look. Our new Palin crusader is still here.

YAWN, lol.

[Biker13]

21. The Bob Barker Was At Fault...

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.