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Sea Shepherd attack Japanese whalers with laser

A Sankei News video shows a ship belonging to the radical animal rights group Sea Shepherd as it fires what appears to be a green laser at Japanese whalers:

Crew from the Japanese “research” whaler Shonan Maru No 2 said they had been subjected to three hours of harassment by Ady Gil in Antarctic waters yesterday.

A statement issued by the Japanese whalers read: “The activists onboard the Ady Gil repeatedly irradiated a green laser device aiming at the Shonan Maru No 2 crew. They fired ball-like objects with a projectile launching device.

“Neither injuries to the Japanese crew nor damage to the Shonan Maru No. 2 resulted from the Ady Gil attack.”

The Japanese-controlled Institute of Cetacean Research urged the New Zealand and Dutch governments to take appropriate measures against their protest ships.

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59 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - December 25, 2009 at 9:02 pm

Categories: Anti-Japan Tags:

Yom

When did Sea Shepard get hold of the Bat Boat?

cooooool
madne0

That is one cool looking boat, i’ll give ‘em that.
Sonic

That boat is shaped like BAphomet it’s not a coincidence.
adam

the boat was designed as first named earth race and was designed to break the circumnavigation record using renewable fuels.
robert

radical animal rights groups think that they can do what they want against japanese whalers.
James

I don’t like the Whalers, or the sea shepherd folk. But one thing is for sure, that boat kicks ass!! I mean come on people, lasers!!
who

This light harassment will stop those Japs from killing our whales!
Liam

As an Australian, this harassment of the whalers by both the protesters and in the media truly sickens me, and makes me ashamed of my country.
Dev

In before Dr. Evil reference.
Ian

“As an Australian, this harassment of the whalers by both the protesters and in the media truly sickens me, and makes me ashamed of my country.” -Liam

Don’t worry, Liam. Once your country starts censoring the internet, you won’t be able to see videos or obtain information about this sort of thing. Educated debate about controversial topics can be stopped and everyone can go back to the rock they were living under.

On another note… Lasers! *pew-pew*

St John

Is Japan censoring the Internet? I don’t think so.. As for ‘reasoned debate’ there’s nothing reasonable about the Sea Shepherd bunch and their wealthy backers. Only the Dutch will register their ships and Greenpeace regard them as criminals. The Japanese are being very restrained because any other nation would have taken drastic action against them by now.

helical

I think you misunderstood …
Australia is noted for being an overbearing nanny state when it comes to freedoms like the internet and media.
There’s a movement for Internet censorship ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_Australia ) and other examples include how only now are the contemplating allowing the sale of video games having an M-rating by the ESRB. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Australia#Video_games )

level3

I’m pretty sure that the use of lasers is a war crime.
Or at least, use of lasers with intent to blind, which we assume is part of what they want to do.
[Strangely, if lasers become strong enough to actually kill, such use would NOT be a war crime.]

So, they’re moving up from pirates to war criminals.

Luckily, whalers can just buy laser safety glasses that counter the typical green laser wavelength, 532nm, and they should be safe. I bet (I hope) at least one Sea Shepherd idiot will blind himself playing with the new toy. I also hope whalers will invest in some retroreflectors.

LB

“I’m pretty sure that the use of lasers is a war crime.”

Yes, but they’d have to be used in an actual war.

Best we could hope for here would be assault with intent.

http://www.binary-apotheosis.com/blogs/index.php Rob A

Except that laser isn’t going to hurt anyone…unless somehow both boats become still enough that it can sit in someone’s eye for a second. Then, oh boy, watch out.

Weirdo

You think stillness is required for green lasers to cause damage? Not quite so.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUpmLbkzyEI
helical

We don’t know the class of the laser.

There are Class IIIb green laser pointers regularly available on the market.

http://www.beamq.com/class-iiib-green-laser-pointer-p-78.html

Laser in the class IIIb range “can cause permanent eye damage with exposures of 1/100th of a second or less depending on the strength of the laser”.
Even reflections can be dangerous, and lasers in this class may cause burns, the article below says.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_safety#Class_IIIb
jc

@Rob A

Pointing green lasers at people is essentially the same as firing bullets and lobbing homemade grenades – someone is bound to get hurt or killed.

Quite frankly, sir, you are an idiot.

level3

True, it isn’t actually a war, though I’m sure the Sea Shepherd people think it is, and of themselves as warriors. And like most war criminals, they don’t think war crimes rules would/should apply to them, as the ends justify the means.

http://blog.havill.com/ Eido Inoue

Using lasers for targeting (angle and distance measurement) is a pretty common military application. The laser itself is unlikely to be powerful enough to damage anything.

Still, the purpose of the laser is not benign; it’s being used to assist another weapon for the purpose of accurately striking the ship with another projectile.
http://blog.havill.com/ Eido Inoue

Using lasers for targeting (angle and distance measurement) is a pretty common military application. The laser itself is unlikely to be powerful enough to damage anything.

Still, the purpose of the laser is not benign; it’s being used to assist another weapon for the purpose of accurately striking the ship with another projectile.

It could be that the design and small size of the funky boat makes it susceptible to heavily rocking and swaying, necessitating the need for high tech targeting/aiming systems. It’s a lot easier to fire a weapon accurately on a big boat that doesn’t bounce around as much in choppy water.

helical

The laser itself is unlikely to be powerful enough to damage anything.

Human eyes?

In all likelihood, this isn’t a laser targeting system for some advanced weapons platform, but just a regular high-powered laser pointer.

The laser in this case has a beam visible in daylight in a transparent non-smoky or contaminated atmosphere, which is pretty frickin’ bright. I’ve never heard of military applications using targeting lasers that are that bright and conspicuous before.

HamachiMan

That boat is pretty cool.

Now if only these people could use this passion and energy (and boat) to combat the Somali pirates.
http://www.binary-apotheosis.com/blogs/index.php Rob A

Good for the Shepherds. These whalers are some lying bastards. I would honestly have less of a problem with their ‘research’ if they just came out and admitted that they’re doing it for the meat and stuff, and that they don’t need to set a 900+ whale quota for ‘research’. It still sucks that they have to hunt the most defenseless, docile animals of the sea, in a sanctuary no less.

(for the record, if even the poster has to put ‘research’ in quotes, it’s bullshit through and through)

Also, almost every country in the world has stopped whaling, why has Japan got to be so difficult on this? Just stop. You’re pissing people off and now you’ve got boats with frickin’ laser beams coming after you.

Yes, Alaskans hunt whales…but it’s a few Inuit people with spears hunting by hand in the open sea, not a fleet of boats rounding up 900-some whales in a sanctuary, with their own processing factory tagging along.

Dan

Sure sure. Hopefully what will happen is the Sea Shepherd fleet and the whaling fleet will both collide one day and everybody will end up at the bottom of the ocean, then we don’t have to hear from either of lying hypocritical bastards. If I just had access to a submarine.. Sea Shepherds and whalers would never know what hit them.
Jarvik7

Chickens are also defenseless, as are cows and just about any other animal killed for meat. Pigs are considered very intelligent too. Why should whales get special treatment?

The “whale sanctuary” is in international waters and not recognized as a sanctuary by anyone but Australia. The whales harvested are not among the endangered species (same for the species of dolphins harvested).

I don’t really care about whaling/dolphin hunting one way or the other (whale doesn’t taste very good and the dolphin meat has high mercury levels), but I wish people would be more logical about the issue.
helical

Oh no not again.

Also, almost every country in the world has stopped whaling, why has Japan got to be so difficult on this? Just stop.

Hah … and to think people accuse Japan of having strong social pressure to conform. The irony is killing me. Like lasers. Pew pew.

Maybe if I can get on a fancy boat and start yelling, throwing crap, and shining laser pointers at Australia, the the rest of the world will accost Australia of doing something so wrong that it pissed this guy off …
Aaron

Japan can’t say they’re hunting the whales for meat, because the international treaties forbid that, for no rational reason.

If you want to ban all meat, I can understand your (“you, in general,” not “you, the poster”) position. If you specifically want to ban whaling, you’re simply choosing your definition of which animals are “special” as the universal one. Hindus don’t eat cows because they consider them sacred, but you don’t see them flying down to Australia harassing the vast beef farms. Different cultures consider different animals “special.” Japan does not consider whales to be “special,” thus has no problem with eating them. Personally, I don’t like whale meat–I find the taste to be a bit unpleasant. But I don’t like the idea of Australia getting to dictate to Japan what animals its okay to eat.
japanobserver

You sir are a hypocrite. Yah the Japanese hunt whales, so what? Now ask who drove the whales to extinction from the 17th to the 20th century (hint: USA, Britain, Europe) What did we do to atone for this. Maybe a few half ass museums and boo hoo campaigns about how other countries (Japan, Iceland, or wherever god knows where) are still doing his horrific crime that oh, the civilized west no longer do but we’re mostly responsible for. Besides half the activists are racists, with Australia gleefully leading the charge in this respect (http://www.japanprobe.com/2009/10/14/eldery-jap-beaten-to-death-in-australia/), (http://www.japanprobe.com/2009/08/28/anti-japanese-hatred-grows-after-the-cove-is-shown-in-australia/). If all the original perpetrator nations maybe spent even about 0.5% of their GDP for saving the whales, that might convince people that they’re legitimately sorry about it, instead of bitch, bitch, bitch, and bitch.
jc

@Rob A

“Good for the Shepherds. These whalers are some lying bastards. I would honestly have less of a problem with their ‘research’ if they just came out and admitted that they’re doing it for the meat and stuff, and that they don’t need to set a 900+ whale quota for ‘research’. It still sucks that they have to hunt the most defenseless, docile animals of the sea, in a sanctuary no less.”

What makes that anymore different than politicians attempting to censor entire populations, using the catch-all phrase “child porn” as an excuse? Or people making the process of getting past airport security an unwanted hassle because OMG there are terrorists in the midst?

“Also, almost every country in the world has stopped whaling, why has Japan got to be so difficult on this? Just stop. You’re pissing people off and now you’ve got boats with frickin’ laser beams coming after you.”

Many other countries regularly engage in illegal fishing and hunting of endangered species. They simply don’t admit they’re doing it.

“Yes, Alaskans hunt whales…but it’s a few Inuit people with spears hunting by hand in the open sea, not a fleet of boats rounding up 900-some whales in a sanctuary, with their own processing factory tagging along.”

I, for one, am relieved you do not believe in economies of scale. As an aside, I cannot be held responsible if you are exposed to green lasers even for a fraction of a second, sir.

prolonging the problem

Sea Sheperd’s tactics ensure that the continuation of whaling remains a politically viable position in Japan. Sea Sheperd gets fame and attention for “sticking it to those dirty whalers”, while the whaling industry remains politically valuable as a “valuable tradition to be protected from violent foreign interference”.

Win-win for everyone, except for the whales. But that’s what happens when radicals are more concerned with just acting the part, rather than actually pursuing meaningful solutions.
Asa

I stand with those against the whaling.

prolonging the problem

I stand with those who will actually end whaling, instead of with Sea Sheperd and other fools whose actions “against” whaling actually play right into the hands of the whaling industry.

king of jamos

these fools are doing more harm than good and make anyone who is against whaling seem ridiculous………. wait a minute maybe that’s what they really want!! maybe that’s why there ship is shaped like baphomet’s head.
tokyojesusfist

You’d think the Japanese Navy could just apprehend these guys. Or sink them.

japanobserver

That would be a glorious sight if Japan re militarized and put more emphasis on rearming and having a cruiser escort the whaling ships. Everyone in the world thinks Japan is a pussy nation because it has no military. Arming the nation to the teeth and telling all these jerk offs to fuck off is a good way to send a message. The Chinese are doing well and scaring the bejesus out of the world because they’re nuclear and got a huge army. Japan ought to do the same. Obviously it is stupid to repeat history considering the destruction and considerable suffering but to be a force capable of unleashing mass destruction while maintaining a decent economy is the only way to be truly respected in this world. Anime and all that garbage soft power won’t do anything against terrorists and hostiles.

Space Cakes

All of these anti-dolphin hunting activists are just misinformed. I am not going to raise my voice, but merely recommend you to read this website and determine for yourself whether or not these creatures are as innocent as portrayed:

http://www.andymasteroffish.com/dolphin/index.html

Point is: they hate our way of life (read: American) and everything we stand for (read: America).
DarkKunai

It was chicken and cow, not dolphin and whale!
Ann

I can’t believe some of the comments people are making on this blog, Whalers need to be shut down! and if these people are bringing attention, GOOD FOR THEM! I don’t care how stupid that laser approach may be, but there just isn’t enough exposure! They have gone to extreme lengths to get people to see what is happening to dolphins and whales but the Whalers + Government are the ones that are keeping it under a bloody veil. Wake up people! do you know where all that money they make is going to!?

Kate

This comment makes no sense.

esl

whaling is a part of japanese culture. they’ve been doing it since before all these animal right’s nutjobs existed! essentially, the protesters are being intolerant of japanese culture!!! that’s bigotry and racism!
pixel_bomber

This whole laser thing is so ridiculous and childish. Really though they need a much better way to spend their millions than this. Granted the boat did look pretty cool.
Maybe instead of spending all this money on annoying boats they should start some whale education programs. These whales are extremely intelligent and I am sure with the proper amount of education they could teach them to avoid being killed by fishermen.
Personally I don’t think they really want the whaling to stop. Once the whaling stops then so does the cash flow. They will all have to find actual jobs and stuff.
Monokuro

I love Sea Shepherd
Halal Islam

I’ll be the first one to say that I support Japan developing in vitro (cultured) meat from whale cells. Less long term problems and cleaner.
helical

This just in …

シー・シェパードの「未来型抗議船」、日本船と衝突し沈没
http://www.afpbb.com/article/environment-science-it/environment/2679824/5127080

Sea Shepherd’s “Futuristic Protest Ship” collides with Japanese vessel and sinks.

The article says the bat boat broke in half broken in half and sank to the bottom of the sea. And of course they’re blaming it on the whaling vessels for ramming them.
I think I’m allowed at least a smile at this news.

InJM

I just saw this on the MSN Sankei site. So the Bat Boat is no more. Both sides are pointing their fingers at the other too. Oh well. The Ady Gil wasn’t made for taking impacts like that anyways.

LB

Looks like Sea Shepard has been taking driving lessons from the PLAAF.

Note folks: when you are in a small, light, maneuverable boat, do not get in the way of a big, heavy, slow one.

helical

More news links and translations.

シーシェパード船が日本船と衝突＝乗組員は全員救助－南極海
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20100106-00000070-jij-int

オーストラリアのAAP通信が6日伝えたところによると、米国の反捕鯨団体「シーシェパード」（SS）のニュージーランド船籍の高速船「アディ・ギル号」が日本の調査船と南極海で衝突した。豪紙オーストラリアンによれば、アディ・ギル号は沈んだという。同号の6人の乗組員は全員が無事救助された。

According to the Australian Associated Press on the 6th, the American anti-whaling group “Sea Shepherd”‘s high-speed New Zealand registered vessel Ady Gil has collided with a Japanese research vessel in the Antarctic sea. According to The Australian, the Ady Gil has sunk. All 6 crew members have been rescued.

シー・シェパードの「未来型抗議船」、日本船と衝突し沈没
http://www.afpbb.com/article/environment-science-it/environment/2679824/5127080

【1月6日 AFP】（一部更新）南極海で日本の調査捕鯨船に対する妨害活動を展開している米環境保護団体「シー・シェパード（Sea Shepherd Conservation Society、SS）」がこのほど新たに導入した未来型の超高速抗議船「アディ・ギル（Ady Gil）」号が6日、捕鯨船団の1隻と衝突し、真っ二つになって沈没した。シー・シェパードが同日、声明で発表した。

　シー・シェパードは声明で、「（日本の）第2昭南丸が突然エンジンを起動させ、故意にアディ・ギル号に激突してきた。船首の8フィート（約2.4メートル）が完全にちぎれた」と主張。「いわれのない」攻撃の一部始終は、ビデオ録画してあるとしている。

　乗り組んでいた活動家6人は救助され無事だが、船の回収は難しい状況だという。

　シー･シェパードは同日、アディ・ギル号から捕鯨船に向けて「悪臭弾」を発射するなどの妨害活動を行っていた。

　シー・シェパードの「スティーブ・アーウィン（Steve Irwin）」号のポール・ワトソン（Paul Watson）船長は、「過激な対応でわれわれの残る2隻の船が撤退すると考えているのなら、それは間違いだ。われわれは今や真実の捕鯨戦争に突入した。撤退する気はない」と話した。

　アディ・ギル号は炭素繊維とケブラー繊維製の三胴式で、わずか61日間で世界一周を達成した超高速船。以前は「アースレース（Earthrace）」号といったが、反捕鯨活動に100万ドルを支援した米ハリウッド（Hollywood）のビジネスマンの氏名にちなみ、アディ・ギル号と名を変えた。(c)AFP

Jan 6 (Updated) The newly introduced super high-speed vessel Ady Gil of the American environmental conservationalist group “Sea Shepherd (Sea Shepherd Conservation Society、SS), which has been continuing to engage in interference against Japanese research whaling vessels in the Antarctic sea, has collided with one of the vessels in the whaling convoy, broke in half, and sunk. Sea Shepherd announced this on the same day.

In the statement, Sea Shepherd claimed “The (Japanese) Dai-ni Shonan-maru suddenly started its engines and intentionally rammed the Ady Gil. 8 feet (2.4 meters) of the bow has been completely torn off”. They claim to have video footage of this “unwarranted” attack.

All six activists on board have been rescued and are safe, but the ship it said to be difficult to salvage.

Sea Shepherd had been engaged in interference operations that same day, firing “stink bombs” from the Ady Gil to the whaling vessels.

Sea Shepherd’s captain Paul Watson of the Steve Irwin has said “If they think our remaining two vessels will retreat at this extreme response, that is a mistake. We have now entered into the true whale wars. We have no intention of retreating.”

The Ady Gil is a trimaran constructed of carbon and kevlar fibers, and is a super high-speed ship that has circled the globe in 61 days. Before, it was named the Earthrace, but was renamed the Ady Gil in honor of the Hollywood businessman who donated 1 million dollars to the anti-whaling cause. (c)AFP

Whale Wars: Boat Sinking After Antarctic Clash
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,582115,00.html
helical

Here’s a page with footage filmed from the Japanese ship.

http://gigazine.net/index.php?/news/comments/20100106_sea_shepherd_ship_collision/

At the end, you can see the wake of the whaling ship veering away from the Ady Gil, which means they were trying to avoid the bat boat approaching them.
If the Japanese ship did speed up, I suspect that must have been to get up to speed so that the rudders could be used effectively to steer, and to get ahead of the Ady Gil so they could try to avoid actually chopping them in half … which didn’t work in this case.

LB

Actually, if you watch just before the impact, you can see the pilot of the Ady Gil opened up the throttles and drove right into the whaler. Watch the Ady Gil’s wake – they were accelerating into the crash.

Ajapa

Their sunken ship body seems to be mainly made of a reinforced composite, a combination of aramid fiber (Kevlar) and carbon fiber. Is this a so-called eco-friendly material?

japanobserver

Jim–> Australian nuff said.

Please refer to commentary:

http://www.japanprobe.com/2010/01/06/sea-shepherds-high-tech-speedboat-heavily-damaged-after-collision-with-japanese-whaling-ship/#comment-389772

Australians are like this so this is nothing new.

Mark

“Australians are like this so this is nothing new.”

I know many Australians who aren’t like that. How is it possible? Either the people I know are secretly not Australians or what you said is just ridiculous.

Joe

How do you spell bullshit in Japanese? “RESEARCH”. As for the collision with ADY GIL watch the video and see who turned into the other ship!
Bestower of bad news

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. The Ady Gil aka the BatBoat was sunk a week ago of the coast of antartica

have a nice day

http://www.chirimotsumoreba.net Jordan

lol that sucks.

Travis

Japenese whale hunters are the worst excuse for men I have ever heard of in my life. They shouldn’t even be able to be the captain of there boats, considering they can’t even miss a boat that is out of gas and is just floating in the ocean, that is just sad. I have never ev.en steered a boat and I bet I could have done better than that! Japanese whalers are not doing research that is just there excuse so they don’t get cought! Also the ady gill didn’t leave fuel in there boat while they let it go, first off they were out of fuel and secondly they drained what was left in the boat with pumps, and they wouldn’t have had to let the boat go if the shinmaru #2 didn’t hit them to begin with they wouldn’t have to had let the boat go to sink in the antarctic!
LB

I’d link to see a link to that. As a former aircraft mechanic I am having a little trouble grasping how a sound wave would disrupt flight instruments. I could see a powerful enough high-frequency sound causing the flight crew pain, or a powerful-enough low-frequency one causing them to literally soil their flight suits if it matched the resonant frequency of their sphincters, but disrupting electrical- or static-pressure driven flight instruments?
helical

Okay, this has been asked so many times before, but once again, which specific law or laws is Japan violating?

Sea Shepherd attack Japanese whalers with laser

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