The episode can be found on iTunes for free. Just search "Whale Wars", the entire first episode is there called "needle in a hay stack".

When I was watching it on DVR, and they were lowering the small boat. I saw the bow fall off and said, oh boy this is getting good fast. And lo and behold, a flipper-roo!. The level of ignorance on that ship amazes me.

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I would say so. They are protected. It's not cultural, not tribal...I can't figure out how Japanese whaling ships would be legal, but I'm willing to listen.

Certain species are completely protected. Other species are allowed to be taken but with set limits on just how many.

From what I've been able to find out, Sea Sheperd ships sail under the Dutch flag.

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) allows the Japanese to kill whales for "research," but it's funny how the meat end up in their markets.

Thanks EX GM

Tip, the explained in the show that the law also says no parts of the whales may go to waste.

From the previous for the rest of the season, looks like there will be some unrest on the ship...

My last post was full of typos, I apologize.

Episode 2 will be on tomorrow at 9PM EST on Animal Planet.

In this episode, the captain of the Sea Shepherd is apparently "shot", however some are claiming conspiracy. They also decide to send two membes of their crew to board the whaling ship and deliver a letter telling them to stop whaling...that's right, they decided that it would be a good idea to board a vessel they had no business being on, and "deliver" a letter.

I can't understand why the Japanese fleet hasn't invested in the "Ray gun" or the high pitched sound producing device to protect their ships. It worked for the cruise ship being confronted by pirates off of Somalia.

One of the ships the Sea Shepard Conservation Society uses is an old Coast Guard 82'.

I think they gave the old Coast Guard cutter to some government.

It's a 95-footer, and last I knew it was in the Galapagos.

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Originally posted by tip_dog:
From what I've been able to find out, Sea Sheperd ships sail under the Dutch flag.

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) allows the Japanese to kill whales for "research," but it's funny how the meat end up in their markets.

The meat ends up on the market because the law states that no part of the whale can be wasted.

Watched the new episode last night, amazing how they think they can turn piracy into "kidnapping" and call them "hostages".

they are lucky those 2 people did not get tossed overboard. I hope the Japanese had peper spray at least

Or shot.

these sea shepard folks are a bunch of morons. i just watched the first 2 episodes and the mindset of these people amazes me. they have no business being underway on a john boat in a catfish pond.

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Originally posted by nekron99:
It's a 95-footer, and last I knew it was in the Galapagos.

Still is, just now she's crewed by the Galapagos National Park rangers. Same paint job.

I was partially laughing my larels off and gringin at the incompetence of not only that crew but the master.

I really hope one of our asset does a SOLAS boarding and finds something that would be cause for termination of voyage after going through through the proper channels.

They are a recovery waiting to happen!

Something tells me it wouldn't be hard to find.

I wonder how often they have a U.S. port call.

I caught part of the show a couple of night ago. IMO opinion I would consider their actions as domestic terrorist like (ELF, ALF, PETA) and they should be treated as terrorists. I would hope the CG or Navy will take for action and remove them before someone gets hurt or killed by their illegal, radical behavior.

Whales.....someone posted harvests of certain types of whales is legal. I'm ok with that. Along the same lines, I would like to see a controlled hunting season for seals and sea lions. They need some herd management due to their high population and the uncontrolled damage they do to certain fisheries. No "Save The Seals" needed here.

The Animal Planet continues to show their political/green colors by promoting this show. I suppose if it gets to ****ing me off enough, it would be time to go after the sponsors. Come to think of it, I wonder if the Animal Planet could be complicit in this illegal behavior and held responsible for it? That's an interesting angle.

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I would hope the CG or Navy will take for action and remove them before someone gets hurt or killed by their illegal, radical behavior.

The problem is 'who's CG or Navy'? The obvious question there is under what authority......

I was on a Polar Icebreaker in 2007 in Antarctica. We were diverted to "observe" a tense situation between the disabled (engine fire)Japanesse whaling mother ship and Greenpeace in the Ross Sea. At that point Sea Shepard was no longer present because they had to leave because they were almost out of fuel and no nearby country would allow them to enter their waters to re-fuel. They have no flag. Greenpeace was not violent, in fact they offered to assist the whaling vsl with their casualty. This was towards the end of the warm season and ice was beginging to form, possibly causing the disabled whaling vsl to be stranded and break up on shore, endangering the largest penguin rookery in the World. We had no jurisdiction, just made out presence known. We just sat around the whaling fleet for a few hours and took off towards Australia. It was very interesting to watch the operation in progress though.

Good question Master Chief. Sea Shepherd is not a U.S. flagged vessel and is not in U.S. waters (when this goes on). There are SOME Americans on board however. I looked at Paul Watson's "mission" record, and apparently they haven't made a U.S. port call since 2005. Would be pretty interesting to get your hands on their crew training records.

I imagine that Sea Shepherd wouldn't try to pull those kinds of stunts in U.S. waters...they tried something like it in Canadian waters and the Canadian Coast Guard seized their vessel.