28th December 2010 Kelvedon beach

We stopped here for lunch on the way back from Swansea. I gave up trying to get close to this butterfly and just used my telephoto zoom lens instead

Congratulations to Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for causing the early end of the Japanese whale slaughter for this year.

Sea Shepherd has often been criticised for its direct action as opposed to the whinging and whining of Greenpeace and various governments, especially the Australian Government. Australia has wasted millions of our dollars sending ships to observe the illegal whaling of the Japanese and take video footage for who knows what. The Japanese have only called an end to whaling this year because Sea Shepherd has mostly blocked their efforts to slaughter whales – this has caused the whalers to lose money!

The Japanese whaling business has been operating under the childlike and idiotic ruse of scientific research. They have bribed and threatened smaller island nation members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in an effort to sway voting in their favour. They have lied, lobied their own government, and bullied in an effort to slaughter whales that they have no right to slaughter.

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 25th March 2009, Hobart Port

I wanted to get to the ANZAC monument near the regatta ground in Hobart to catch the sunrise. There was no sunrise – the day was overcast. So I had a look around the port, and was surprised to see the Steve Irwin.

I admire Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society that he founded.

Japanese whalers don’t  care about pathetic whinging condemnations of whaling from governments, or Greenpeace, or conservation societies, or people in general.  The Australian Government “observes” the illegal whaling in the Southern Ocean Whaling Sanctuary. The Australian Government has even apologised for the actions of the Steve Irwin and it’s crew. Other governments have also kowtowed to requests by the Japanese Government to try and block the efforts of Sea Shepherd.

It’s embarrassing to see the list of Sea Shepherd critics who have ”appeared” after pressure by the Japanese Government. I could be a critic and suggest that these governments have kowtowed for economic reasons, Japan being a big spending customer for imports. So whales and Sea Shepherd suffer because of the economic bullying tactics of Japan.

Sea Shepherd should be applauded and appreciated for fighting the good fight, and actually having an effect in the prevention of whaling.

Seeing the Steve Irwin is pretty awesome. The right hand front of it is covered in scrapes; could this be where it collided with the Yushin Maru 2?

It wasn’t a good day or time of day for taking photos. Hopefully it will still be there when I’m in town on Friday. I can get a tour of the ship then, and perhaps some more pictures.

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