# Captain Paul Watson of vessel "Steve Irwin" shot!



## DZLife (Mar 8, 2008)

Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd vesel _Steve Irwin_ shot in Chest; cameraman and crewmember Injured by Flash Grenades. 
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At 1545 hours (0445 GMT), a clash between the crew of the Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin and the Japanese whaling ship Nisshin Maru turned violent when the Japanese Coast Guard began to throw flash grenades at the crew of the Steve Irwin.

Captain Paul Watson was struck by a bullet in the chest. Fortunately, the bullet was stopped by his Kevlar vest. The bullet struck just above the heart and mangled Captain WatsonÃ?Æ?Ã?â??Ã?â??Ã?Â¢Ã?Æ?Ã?Â¢Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¡Ã?â??Ã?Â¬Ã?Æ?Ã?Â¢Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¾Ã?â??Ã?Â¢s anti-poaching badge, which was worn on his sweater underneath the Kevlar vest. 

The Japanese Coast Guard was retaliating against Sea Shepherd crewmembers for tossing rotten butter onto the decks to discourage their illegal whaling activities. The clash came after a week long pursuit by the Steve Irwin of the Nisshin Maru, in an effort to stop illegal whaling activities in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

Read the full report here:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_080307_1.html">http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_080307_1.html</a><!-- m -->

I am quite proud that this thread (taking into mind its content) above all other is my 400'th post.

I completely and entirely support any actions or campaigns involving the Sea Shephard organization


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## DZLife (Mar 8, 2008)

FYI:

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a non-profit, registered tax-exempt organization in the United States, and a registered Stichting (foundation) in The Netherlands. Members call themselves eco-pirates and sail under a Jolly Roger, which is also the society's logo, undertaking campaigns that the society says are guided by the United Nations World Charter for Nature (1982) and other statutory laws protecting marine species and environments.

Sea Shepherd engages in direct actions to protect such marine wildlife as seals, dolphins and whales. These have included more conventional protests, as well as, at times, scuttling and sinking fishing boats engaged in fishery operations while in harbor, sabotage of vessels in harbor, ramming the whaling ship Sierra in Portuguese harbor, and seizure and destruction of drift nets at sea. Sea Shepherd has also conducted an intense media campaign against Japanese high-seas whaling and the Canadian sealing industry in particular. Despite the more direct nature of such actions (as contrasted with the actions of groups such as Greenpeace), there have been few reports of injuries and no reports of deaths during Sea Shepherd actions.


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## shiftylarry (Mar 8, 2008)

WTF?! I'm so sick of the Japanese government's nonsense. They go on these whaling exhibitions for "scientific research" but package and sell the whale meat in markets. It's so frustrating.

I can tell this is going to turn into another "last female giant softshell" post, so let's not try and blame Japan as a whole. Just as the citizens of a nation should not be held responsible for the actions of our respective governments.


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## DZLife (Mar 8, 2008)

UPDATE!!

Japanese media doctors spin stories!
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_080307_3.html">http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_080307_3.html</a><!-- m -->


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## DZLife (Mar 8, 2008)

shiftylarry said:


> WTF?! I'm so sick of the Japanese government's nonsense. They go on these whaling exhibitions for "scientific research" but package and sell the whale meat in markets. It's so frustrating.
> 
> I can tell this is going to turn into another "last female giant softshell" post, so let's not try and blame Japan as a whole. Just as the citizens of a nation should not be held responsible for the actions of our respective governments.



Agreed, everyone? No racism. I do, however, utterly resent any and all whalers, especially those hunting endangered species in protected waters under the guise of "scientific research."


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## hoosier (Mar 9, 2008)

i love how they tried to change their story 3 times. thats amusing.


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## DZLife (Mar 9, 2008)

hoosier said:


> i love how they tried to change their story 3 times. thats amusing.



It really ticks me off. I have such strong feelings about this specific topic that when I heard about this new incident, I almost punched a hole in the wall. 
A little tidbit: I might actually end up working directly with Sea Shepherd in the future.


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## snakehandler (Mar 10, 2008)

I think the japanese people can be held responsable for the actions taken by their government. Just as the american people can be held responsable for the actions of their government.
Just as the demand for sushi drives the yellowfintuna towards extinction protecting wildlife is also a matter of politics.
This has nothing to do with racism.


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## shiftylarry (Mar 10, 2008)

Maybe not. Maybe it has more to do with ignorance. I am not responsible for any of the nonsense that is going on in our charade of a government these days. Is it my fault? No. I didn't vote for these turkeys. And yet when I travel, people blame me for the actions of my government. I'm not Super Man. I can't just fly over to the White House and say "stop this at once...or else".

Do you think the average Japanese citizen working to pay the bills has any control over what the coast guard does? No way. What are they supposed to do, run up to the ship strapped with explosives? Come on. Give me a break.


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## PuffDragon (Mar 10, 2008)

snakehandler said:


> *I think the japanese people can be held responsable for the actions taken by their government. Just as the american people can be held responsable for the actions of their government.*
> Just as the demand for sushi drives the yellowfintuna towards extinction protecting wildlife is also a matter of politics.
> This has nothing to do with racism.



Wow, I could go off on a tangent here but there's really no need. Please keep politics out of this. Everybody and anybody are to be held responsible for their own actions. 

What it boils down to is that a terrible event happened and people almost died. Not to mention what looks like a disastrous road for the whales. Which has been for a long time. Just because this was brought into the lime light....it's now being used to point fingers at governents. It's a weak tool that should be better focused on the original article. Saving the whales. Those directly involved need to face the consequences and get the appropriate authorities involved to bring the situation to justice. Enough of the pointing fingers and blaming peoples governments. I didn't tell my government to goto war....but it's my fault?


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## shiftylarry (Mar 10, 2008)

Snakehandler, the logic you're using is the same logic used by the US government when they imprisoned all people of Japanese decent during World War II. Again, scapegoating a race of people for something outside of their control.

I know politics are unwelcome here, but something of this level of importance has to be addressed.


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## snakehandler (Mar 10, 2008)

the fact that the japanese eat whale meat allows them to capture whales. If they would protest it would stop. But i didnt see japanese people protest. And i didnt say we should imprison the japanese.
I agree that an individual citizen cant do much about foreign policies.
But an awareness among the population surely would help a lot.

And i mention politics because politics are the way to change things.
But yeah most governments dont give a ****.


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## shiftylarry (Mar 10, 2008)

You don't see anyone protesting here either. It just isn't televised.


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## PuffDragon (Mar 10, 2008)

Unfortunetly, matters like these are on a small scale of concern for most governments. Politics will not go a long way without proper education and awareness. Which I believe, is what brings about change.


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## DZLife (Mar 10, 2008)

PuffDragon said:


> snakehandler said:
> 
> 
> > *I think the japanese people can be held responsable for the actions taken by their government. Just as the american people can be held responsable for the actions of their government.*
> ...



I didn't just start caring about this...I mean, people have been trying to "save the whales" for years. Also, I am not saying that I believe that the people can delegate what their government does for the most part.....but if the demand for whale meat goes down, so will the hunting (most likely.)
Unfortunately, this is highly unlikely, as whaling has been a key part of Japanese culture for quite a long time, and I have never heard of someone that was really willing to change their own culture.


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## DZLife (Mar 10, 2008)

Oh, and I'd like to add that I agree with your comment on snakehandler's rationale....However, even though we can't directly control what our government does, we can affect them inderectly (at least to some extent.) The government probably allows this to continue because it is a big part of their economy, and has been for many years. If the demand went down, they might be more open to other ideas. Once again, it is doubtful that the demand will go down that much.


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