I think there may be some clients in Japan for them
Anti-whaling activists from the hard-line Sea Shepherd Conservation Society admitted Monday to bugging Japan’s whaling fleet with high-tech tracking devices in order to run them down.
Sea Shepherd’s vessel Steve Irwin caught up with the Japanese whaling fleet near the Shackleton Ice Shelf on Saturday, having returned to Antarctic waters from a refueling pit stop in Melbourne, Australia.
Sea Shepherd leader Paul Watson said the bugs had been planted on the Japanese harpoon boat Yushin Maru No. 2 when two of its crew boarded the vessel last month.
“That’s why when we left Melbourne it only took us nine days to find them. We went straight towards them,” Watson said.
“I think it’s really funny. They are probably ripping the ship apart right now trying to find them, but they aren’t going to find them.”
Further tracking devices had also been planted on some of the other Japanese vessels, Watson said.
“We are not saying which ones, or how we did it, but we have the ability to follow the fleet and that’s what we are doing right now,” Watson said.
I have little doubt that if the Japanese MSDF “bugged” the Sea Shepherd ships, that Paul Waston would run to the nearest lawyer. But this is funny to him.
Found at Some Poor Schmuck
While I’m no fan of whaling (I don’t really see the point, but as long as whales aren’t hunted to extinction, well, I really don’t have a dog in that fight), I do think that the Japanese vessel could make a case to an Admiralty court in Australia and possibly seize some of the assets of the group. While the law on the open sea is pretty close to Anything Goes amongst private vessels, I think that boarding another vessel without a warrant while at sea could be considered piracy. INAL, but a ship at sea that is breaking no laws is considered inviolate.
Not only that, but Sea Shepherd flies something which is very close to a pirate flag. From a distance, you will notice only the black background, and the two crossed somethings under the skull-like shape. Only upon close examination will one find it is not the Jolly Roger.
Were the Japanese MSDF to open fire because they misinterprit the colors as a pirate flag, that I could understand.
Two Words: Torpedo Boat. 🙂
I’d join McHale’s Navy just for that kinda fun.
I vote they run a PT109 on the Sea Shepherd boat (run it down)…..
Lets see how long the eco-fanatics survive in the polar seas.