The Port City Post

Before I go on to the body of this article I would just like to say that no Whales, Dolphins, Tuna or any other kind of marine mammal or fish was harmed during the writing of this post.

Yesterday the controversial and notorious Sea Shepherd Conservation Society best known for putting themselves between whalers’ harpoons and their prey, has purchased some speed in the form of a world-record holding powerboat “Earthrace,” renaming it the “Ady Gill.”

Earthrace is a powerboat that holds the record for circumnavigating the globe (60 days). It is called a wave piercer, and can submarine up to 7m (23ft) underwater. She can travel over 13,000 nautical miles (over half way around the planet) on one tank of fuel….And she runs 100% biodiesel made from sustainable sources.

One blog post I read about this beast said it ran on human fat…which I thought a bit scary that an organization such as Greenpeace would be running around killing people in order to fuel its boat to save whales.

This statement conjured up all kinds of thoughts as to how they would obtain their fuel source…I don’t want to mention them here, but a couple were pretty gruesome and made me read the fine print on my organ donor card.

Outside the International Whaling Commission meeting in Portugal, Sea Shepherd announced plans for their sixth campaign against Japanese commercial whaling in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary – Operation Waltzing Matilda. They also revealed the incredible news that the Earthrace will be joining the SS Steve Irwin in this new operation. And yes, it will change from its current silver to the Sea Shepherd’s striking black.

Anyone who has followed the Sea Shepherd may know that it is the vessel behind the hugely popular Animal Network reality show “Whale Wars.”

This show came to my attention last season when Captain Paul Watson and other chief officers of his crew were on Larry King Live.

Of course the reason for the interview was to promote the upcoming season of the show and some really awesome footage was shown. If I had known that what I had just watched was about as exciting as the show was going to get, I would not have urgently called my cable provider and forked out an additional $2.79 to add the channel to my package.

My hope after watching the Larry King show was that the series would bring to the forefront the travesty of the whale hunt to a world audience and help apply pressure to the Japanese government. Sadly however the show has missed its mark.

Canadian Captain Paul Watson steers his ship around the Antarctic in search of the Japanese Whaling fleet assisted by his zany crew of idealistic and naive, though well meaning, collection of volunteers, with often amaturish and hilarious efforts.

Sorry, but many of these folks seem to be full of enthusiasm, but severely lacking in common sense, blindly devoted to their cause.

 Although their mission is truly inspiring – stopping or at least slowing down the Japanese fleet processing ships from slaughtering these beautiful and endangered species under the thin guise of “research” at times misses and incompetence takes over the show’s center stage.

 Every episode begins with the hope that this time they are going to make crippling strike against the Japanese fleet but consistently ends in failure.

Perhaps a better idea would be to hire Somali Pirates to go after the Japanese Whaling fleet. They at least are successful at stopping ships.

The boat Earthrace is not itself without controversy. While on its record breaking journey it was involved in a tragic accident off the coast of Guatemala when it collided with a small fiberglass fishing boat. The Earthrace boat was basically unscathed except for prop damage but the fishing boat was demolished, killing one of the fishermen.

“It looks like a spaceship. It can do 40 knots and dive under waves completely. We’ll be using it to intercept and block harpoons,” said Captain Paul Watson, He added that the organization was outfitting the vessel with half a tonne of Kevlar to toughen it against the ice. “It has the endurance to go half way round the world on a tank of fuel,” he said. “They won’t get away from me.”

The organization has confirmed that they will be returning to the Antarctic taking the most powerful anti-whaling weapon available: a film crew. “The cameras are more powerful than cannons and our ammunition is the naked truth about illegal whaling. We intend to keep the focus on Japanese crimes and we intend to sink the Japanese whaling fleet – economically.”

I sincerely hope that this season the show focuses more strongly on getting that message out. After all what is more important – entertaining T.V. about killing whales, or the fact that the slaughter is even allowed to take place?