Whaling Conundrum

gCaptain reports that the Japanese will resume whaling in spite of rulings against it by the International Court of Justice and the International Whaling Commission.

Mostly, whaling has been done in the waters off Antarctica, although there has been some Arctic Whaling, where the US currently makes no specific territorial claim, but has reserved the right to make claims at a later date. Leaving the policing of these waters by others may be seen as weakening any future US claim and strengthening the hand of Nations that actually police these waters.

Will the US in the person of the Coast Guard attempt to stop Japanese whaling in either the Arctic or the Antarctic?

Japanese Whalers and Sea Shepherds Come to Blows.

gCaptain is reporting, the Japanese have decided to play hard ball, or at least bumper cars, with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s vessels when they attempted to prevent an underway replenishment of a Japanese factory ship.

Reportedly two Sea Shepherd ships were rammed repeatedly. I would call what they did “shouldering” rather than ramming, because, to me at least, the video clearly shows they were attempting to push the protest vessels out of the way, rather than sink them.

The Japanese Coast Guard is also accused of throwing concussion grenades at Sea Shepherd vessels.