As reported in the NYTimes by Andrew C. Revkin --
This video shows the collision between a Japanese security vessel and the $1.5 speedboat (shown above at dockside) deployed by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society this year to dog the Japanese whaling fleet. The video was provided by the Japanese Institute for Whaling Research.
Sea Shepherd's leader, Paul Watson, has labeled the incident a deliberate attack by Japan, but Japan's whaling institute, which claims the whale hunt is scientific research, blamed the conservation group for what it called "illegal harassment and terrorism."
Some activists say that such an incident was inevitable, given Sea Shepherd's confrontational tactics. At the same time, the media cannot afford to deploy boats to chronicle whale hunts (photo below shows a whale being drawn up the stern ramp of a factory ship), and governments opposed to whale kills in the commons of the Southern Ocean aren't doing much to track or resist such activities.
If a whale is hit by an exploding harpoon near Antartica and the world doesn't have a way to witness that, does it make a sound?
(Please note -- when I view the video, it appears that it is the Japanese "security vessel" which is maneuvering aggressively, aiming water cannon and changing its course to ram the Sea Shepherd vessel. See what you think.)
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