Saturday, May 5, 2012

TV Eco Terrorists At It Again

Paul Watson,  his crew of eco terrorists and the Sea Shepard and Steve Irwin ships are off to harass the folks of the Faeroe Islands, which are located in between Scotland and Iceland but the islands belong to Denmark.
The eco terrorists are angry that the people of the islands dare hunt pilot whales as part as their tradition and Watson vows to stop them from their traditional whale kill.
The villagers hunt the whales when they come close to shore and they will kill 100 or so at each hunt.  It also appears and there have documented cases of hunting whale around the Islands since the 1500's.
The Animal Planet is showing the Whale Wars: Viking Shores and they are actually showing a somewhat balanced show.  Not only do they give the eco terrorists their time on camera and they also have had the villagers give their point of view. The show also shows how angry the villagers are by having the eco terrorists in their back yard.
I don't know what will happen in the series, but let's say they shut down whaling for a season, will the Sea Shepard keep coming back and back and back to stop the whaling?  Or is Watson just doing this for the cameras?
Apparently, Watson had been to the Faero when Watson was much younger and had black hair and he was given a rude welcome and the villagers remember him and they have no love lost for him.
In my view, when Watson and his band of eco terrorists went after the Japanese whaling, it was just plain harassment by Watson. They also employed dangerous tactics against the Japanese and the Japanese fought back.  But the one downfall of the Japanese is that they sold the whale meat, which made Watsons harassment somewhat justified, except when Watson and his ilk tried to hurt the Japanese fishermen physically.
In the Faeroe Islands, they don't sell the meat, from what I can see and they use as much meat of the whale as possible and each family can get a share of the whale meat.
From Truth or Fiction: 
According to a 9/14/2003 BBC News story, residents of the Faroe have been hunting for pilot whales for centuries, giving them valuable food stocks for the winter.   The island has had a Norse settlement since the Viking age (800-900 AD.)
The shore-based hunters in the Faroe Islands of Denmark continue this practice and it is a community effort for storing whale meat and products for the winter. Pilot whale meat and blubber is considered by islanders to be an important part of their staple diet.  The whale meat is never sold, instead it is divided evenly to everyone who wants it.  What ever is left over is donated to the local hospital and senior citizens on the island.  There is very little of the whale that is actually wasted.  The islanders use the blubber for processing oil, the skin for ropes and lines, stomachs for floats, and the esophagus for shoes.  Pilot whales register high in mercury so pregnant mothers are warned against partaking in the meat.
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/w/whale-killing-denmark.htmFinally, when will Watson and his band of misfits visit Alaska and harass the Eskimos who also hunt whale as part of their tradition and also to feed the families of the village?
For more information: 
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3074626/Brutal-slaughter-of-pilot-whales.html
http://www.seashepherd.org/
http://www.faroeislands.com/ 
I am not a hunter because I cannot kill another living thing except maybe cockroaches and mosquitoes.  But I also don't begrudge people who do hunt, as long as they use the animal for food, clothing or other uses for the dead animal.  Killing an animal just for the sake the thrill of killing  is wrong and the people of the Faeroe Islands don't do that.  
So, to Paul Watson and his band of eco terrorists, leave the people of the Faeroe Islands alone and go after people who kill whales or fish just for the sake of killing them.

3 comments:

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  2. Just of note in case you are paying attention. According to the IWC regulations that the Japanese follow to research whale, the meat taken from the whales must be sold and profits gained must be used to help fund the research team.

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    1. Oh, one more side note, Watson already attacked the eskimos before to force them to stop hunting whales. He stopped because it required entering US waters and thus falling subject to US law....which was ready to stomp his butt

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