The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Anti-whaling campaigner arrested in Greenland; may be extradited to Japan
BERLIN©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
48 Comments
Login to comment
GuruMick
Fighto, where EXACTLY are these areas in Japan, where people HAVE to eat whale because "rice cannot be grown "
Thats a silly argument.
Whaling is a Govt. sponsored activity to shore up votes in the few remaining whaling towns.
Nobody eats whale.
When was the last time you saw it in any supermarket.
And guess what...chicken and pork is cheaper than whale.
Your argument is hereby sunk .
stormcrow
We don't need to eat whales.
Best to leave those beautiful creatures alone.
GuruMick
Forgot to add. Fighto.....where in Japan is it not possible to buy rice ?
Maybe in prison...but that'd be the only place.
Rice is everywhere.
Newpresident
To Fighto…that’s was Japan during the war !
« not enough food » in Japan in 2024 ?
Are you joking ? Have you been in Japan ? Do you know the average earnings of a family here ?
Some Japanese eats whale but it’s not a need but a choice !
For myself, here for almost 50 years, I have eaten whale…once. That’s was enough for my taste.
deanzaZZR
There's no way the Greenlanders will extradite him to Japan, right? I know they hunt whales too.
OssanAmerica
Some people need to give others the same right to eat wat they want as others give to them. Watson is wanted for criminal actions, not anyones personal preferred diet.
ebisen
I agree with what Paul Watson says on the need to eat whales.
I disagree with every illegal act he's done. Having an opinion on something doesn't give him the right to endanger others' lives on high seas. There is serious prison time to be done for such acts. Enjoy!
Fighto!
Denmark's decision.
USNinJapan2
Well, well, well. I'd almost forgotten about this jackass. The Captain Paul Watson Foundation? So Green Peace and Sea Shepherd were too tame and non-violent for him so he's now practicing piracy and terrorism, ahem "direct action", under the flag of his own eponymous group and a rogue splinter group he split off from Sea Shepherd Global, which is evidently working too closely with governments for his taste. As Ebisen said above, you can agree with this anti-whaling stance but you shouldn't condone his violent and extralegal methods. Watson has generated bad karma with multiple governments and now that he's been arrested I hope they throw the book at him.
wallace
The Sea Shepherd was fighting Japanese whaling in the Antarctic when Japan claimed it was "Research Whaling" which wasn't the truth. Japan withdrew from the Whaling Commission and stopped whaling in the Antarctic. Sea Shepherd was successful in stopping it.
Now Japan hunts in its waters. The industry receives mass taxpayer subsidies for an industry employing less than 1,000 workers. Less whale meat is consumed.
Paul Watson and his ship were on the way to the North Pacific via the Bering Sea to intercept the new taxpayer whaling ship.
The government subsidies should be cut.
Meiyouwenti
Good for Denmark. At 73, this scum should consider retiring from criminal activities on the high seas.
USNinJapan2
No. They don't make cardboard boxes large enough to contain Watson's overinflated ego.
OssanAmerica
Environmental Activist is a funny way to describe a Man who was called a Pirate and Terrorist by a US Federal Court judge.
Seems everyone who commits crimes these days can claim legal prosecution as "politically moivated".
River
Paul watson is a Canadian national. Not US.
There is no one who works at sea, military or merchantile who condones Paul Watsons actions. Regardless of their personal belief regarding whales. The sea, even is a dangerous place where men put their lives at risk without some criminal lunatic engaging in acts of violence.
SimonDelotes
Heroes are always targets for hate.
Daniel Neagari
A rough estimation... we will need like 10 nautical miles minimum tofarm a pod of whales (small ones) and a Sh***t load of wire for the enclousure.. big fat wires going to the bottom of the sea..
So Farmed whale meat will probalby cost more than its weight in gold
Gene Hennigh
As usual, when someone says, "Whales", all eyes go to Japan. Both Norway and Iceland take more whales a year than does Japan. No one ever mentions this.
And here is this holier than Joe guy making problems. Send him to Japan to face the music.
People eat whales. Get over it. All three countries mentioned are careful not to over fish and to let populations grow, so even Norway and Iceland should get a pass on this stuff. Watson is a crook, purely.
Quo Primum
And you don't need to post messages on here.
There are a lot of things we don't need to eat.
That doesn't mean we can't eat them -- or that it's right to engage in aggressive, even violent "activism" in imposing one's will on others regarding them.
Agent_Neo
I would love to hear on what basis anti-whaling people tell Japan not to catch whales.
In the first place, the reason certain species of whales are on the verge of extinction is because white people have caught them so much, and it is in no way Japan's fault.
Incidentally, even though South Korea is an anti-whaling country, it catches about twice as many whales as Japan, using the excuse that the whales get caught in nets.
This once again makes clear the difference between Japan, which abides by the rules even within the IWC, and South Korea, which can't even abide by the rules properly.
OssanAmerica
The Western nations did not stop whaling solely because of diminished population numbers. The main reason was the dissapearance of the need for Whale oil and whale products. Petroleum and plastics replaced them. During WWII even the US Sold canned wha!e meat. The IWC moratorium went into effect in 1985. Austrailia closed their last whaling station iin 1977.
USNinJapan2
A entirely irrational sentiment. Rather incredulous that you would advocate vigilantism on the high seas.
OssanAmerica
Extradition by Greenland will be based on the terms of the exradition treaty and the legal concept of Comity.
Gaijinjland
Greenland takes their whaling seriously. But I’m not sure how much, if any, time he will serve considering he’s a US citizen and apparently the US didn’t extradite him while he was living there.
And I’m pretty sure @Fighto lives in his own world, as most of his posts end with Go Japan Go!!
GuruMick
Whale farming, as suggested above, is not the same as ,say, shrimp farming.
Economies of scale ?
Mr Kipling
Guru....
Not exactly. The use of oil to replace products made from whales was the biggest reason for the decline in whaling. The international whaling commission was set up to preserve whaling stocks for hunting not preservation.
PolarStar
Well done Greenland, no one is above the law. I watched some of the American Whale Wars reality TV series and Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd ship and crew endangered the Japanese ships and the lives of the crew and broke several maritime laws.
Desert Tortoise
Good. They should have rammed and sunk that miserable whaling ship. The whalers are the ones who should go to jail along with the detestable pollies who subsidize them.
GuruMick
Australian Government website says whaling was stopped in Australia because of declining numbers.
I think "whale oil for lamps " thing was many, many decades before this.
Oil has been in use for century or so....so I'm back to my original assertion.
Dwindling numbers, not alternatives to whale products ,saw the banning of whaling in Australia.
And to all those who oppose "eco warriors " of any type....I know in Australia that direct action from people, not Government, has saved Australia's few remaining old growth forests, and in Sydney, "Green Bans " by the builders union {RIP Jack Mundey } saved the historical area called The Rocks.
Japanese whaling would not exist as a viable business without Govt. {taxpayers } propping it up.
And Japan then gets to say "oh, it's Japan bashing " when the world complains.
The sea was angry that day, my friends {George Costanza- Seinfeld }
Daniel Neagari
I really don't see why people are so against the consumption of whale meat.
If the whales are a spieces in danger of extintion sure we have to protect them and ensure that there will be a stable and strong population of that sort of whales (having in mind that over protection will cause another set of environmental problems).
But if there is a healthy population of whales I don't see why we could not eat them... Will it be ok if we farm the whales (or any cetaceus for that matter)?
Lindsay
They’ll throw in the same cell they put Ghosn and leave him there for years with no internet or visitors and daily grilling by prosecutors attempting to force a confession without his lawyer present. Will we see Watson escape in a large cardboard box too?
BertieWooster
In all fairness, I've seen whale "bacon" in supermarkets in Hokkaido. It's not uncommon there. Apparently it used to be a very cheap and common meat. Curry rice was typically whale meat. That's the only place I've seen it in Japan.
WA4TKG
Take ‘em to sea and make him Walk the Plank
Newpresident
Still the strategy of renaming “eco terrorists” those who oppose the destruction of the planet.
kurisupisu
Latest research on whales has found that they have language, critical thinking ability and the ability to work cooperatively.
The irony of the Japanese stance is that the ironically named ‘research’ which has been carried out over many years has found very little about this intelligent species.
Still, the manner in which Japanese treat their fellow humans is also a matter for some debate too.
nandakandamanda
Two extremes face off… pass the popcorn!
Japantime
It seems that some posters here think Japanese people shouldn’t eat whale, but admitting they have eaten it. Which side are they on? Anyway it seems like this old man is a terrorist and attacking ships that have people trying to make a living. In some countries whale is considered a delicacy.
Quo Primum
So are enviro-terrorists ... whether they block traffic, put metal spikes in trees to injure lumberjacks, glue themselves to streets, vandalize works of art, or carry out aggressive and violent confrontations at sea using ships as weapons.
And for understandable reason.
deanzaZZR
Certainly not exclusively in Japanese waters as the article states that the ship "was en route to the North Pacific on a mission to intercept a new Japanese whaling ship".
KansaimagicYoutube
Perhaps he can post bail paying off the Japanese with ambergris.
zibala
The US needs to step in.
sakurasuki
So he will face, Japan hostage justice system, like most people that being arrested and brought to Japan?
William77
Some posters really need to side whatever Japan does and no matter what.
There is no critical and objective thinking in this.
GuruMick
South Korea will prohibit eating dog meat in near future.
New laws.
Lets eat the dead humans...seems like a waste to just bury or incinerate them.
And much of the world with the capability hunted whales in the past.
They stopped because whales were verging on extinction.
Samit Basu
He could have done his anti-whaling campaign in Japan. No need to travel all the way to Greenland.
DanteKH
If he is brought to Japan, it's a 100% chance that he will convicted and prosecuted based on his "honest" confession.
Justice system with 99% conviction rate at its finest.
Fighto!
Many Japanese need to eat whale. They live in areas where there simply is not enough food, and rice cannot be grown.
Many people also disagree with eating cows.