Of Whales and Stealth Boats

I think this article is very thought provoking in the light of the events of today. I tend to take Peter Garrett's view as well. Whilst I despise the slaughter of the whales, these Sea Shepard "do gooders" are going to end up on the wrong end of the fight. Kind of "bringing a knife to a gun fight" and someone will get themselves killed. I saw the TV footage this morning and heard the captain of this awesome looking stealth boat - built from Carbon Fibre in tears as his boat was stuffed up by the Japanese whaler. This is a great article written in the press here and as I said thought provoking.

Do you reckon if Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson was roaming the streets of Melbourne in a high-tech armoured car deliberately provoking drug dealers and putting his young acolytes in harm’s way he’d be welcomed on to the national broadcaster to tout his particular brand of vigilantism? I doubt it.
We’re not big on vigilantes in this nation, which has an imperfect but workable system of the rule of law, enforced by publicly funded police. Yet for some reason the ridiculous antics currently under way off the tip of Antarctica are allowed to carry on unchecked, and have prompted a frenzy of boys-own-adventure cheering here at home.
Whomever is ultimately responsible for the sinking of the Ady Gil yesterday afternoon, it was highly irresponsible of the Sea Shepherd organisation to put the crew in such danger. But there was Mr Watson on the ABC this morning being hailed a hero for protecting the whales from the Japanese factory ships. He was also on Macquarie Radio, no doubt Fairfax radio, most TV stations and in every newspaper.
Politicians including the Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard have condemned the Japanese authorities, but not Sea Shepherd. Prominent Australians including Terri Irwin, and former environment minister Ian Campbell have proudly associated themselves with this group of adrenaline junkies.
How are they going to look if someone gets killed?
The only person talking any sense on this is Environment Minister Peter Garrett, who has urged both sides to back off.
Let me be clear. I’m pro-whale.
I think the Japanese should immediately disband the Institute of Cetacean Research and stop hunting whales in the Southern Ocean. I think the Australian Government should continue to put diplomatic pressure on Japan, and I think Sea Shepherd and other environmental organisations should continue to protest and raise awareness.
I think we should refuse to fuel and supply the factory ships, and we should refuse to provide them with private air surveillance support.
But this is not “war”.
Splashing $1.5 million on a (not very well) armoured stealth boat that looks like something out of a James Bond movie, then sending it to the bottom of the earth to play chicken with a much larger ship is just stupid.
Demands from Mr Watson that the Australian Navy steam south to provide his boats with protection are offensive and his language is inflamatory. As an example: “We now have a real whale war on our hands and we have no intention of retreating.”
Mr Watson seems oblivious to the fact he’s not authorised to declare war on anything, let alone on behalf of this nation and its military.
In the end it doesn’t matter who rammed who. If someone gets seriously injured or killed Paul Watson will have to shoulder some of the blame. Maybe then we’ll stop giving him free run to sprout his version of the war on whaling, when all he really is is a vigilante.