http://rt.com/news/sea-shepherd-court-pirates-534/

A US federal court has branded the conservationist group Sea Shepherd as pirates, and ordered them to cease their operations at sea, opening the door for Japanese whalers to pursue legal action in the United States against the activists.

Chief judge Alex Kozinski wrote in an 18-page opinion that “you don’t need a peg leg or an eye patch” to be classified as pirates.

"When you ram ships, hurl glass containers of acid, drag metal-reinforced ropes in the water to damage propellers and rudders, launch smoke bombs and flares with hooks, and point high-powered lasers at other ships, you are, without a doubt, a pirate," he said, adding that the group’s actions were the “very embodiment of piracy.”

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Piracy [ˈpaɪrəsɪ]
n pl -cies
1. (Law) Brit robbery on the seas within admiralty jurisdiction
2. (Transport / Nautical Terms) a felony, such as robbery or hijacking, committed aboard a ship or aircraft
3. the unauthorized use or appropriation of patented or copyrighted material,
ideas, etc.

Perhaps the judge thought they were using copyrighted material illegally ?

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Piracy [ˈpaɪrəsɪ]
n pl -cies
1. (Law) Brit robbery on the seas within admiralty jurisdiction
2. (Transport / Nautical Terms) a felony, such as robbery or hijacking, committed aboard a ship or aircraft
3. the unauthorized use or appropriation of patented or copyrighted material,
ideas, etc.

Perhaps the judge thought they were using copyrighted material illegally ?

My dictionary says
1. Hijacking on the high seas or in similar contexts; taking a ship or plane away from the control of those who are legally entitled to it.
2. The act of plagiarizing; taking someone's words or ideas as if they were your own.

So intentionally forcing another ship to turn from it plotted course would be piracy as you have taken control of course from the captain. Perhaps most of us would call that hijacking if it was on land or in air.

But that is common dictionary.
http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/closindx.htm

Article101

Definition of piracy

Piracy consists of any of the following acts:

(a) any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed:

(i) on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft;

(ii) against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State;

(b) any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft;

(c) any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described in subparagraph (a) or (b).

So it hinges upon what the word detention means. If you "detain" a ship by intentionally getting in its way and forcing it to change course and speed. My gut says Sea Shepard is on some really shaky legal ground.

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And so the Japanese whalers end another year of corruption and dishonorable farce:


Sea Shepherd’s Win Is Japan’s Loss: Whalers Have Worst Season Ever

Japan blames worst whaling season in history on 'sabotage' by anti-whaling groups as Sea Shepherd celebrates.

... The Japanese government blamed the meager harvest on “unforgivable sabotage” by the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an accusation that Sea Shepherd claims as a badge of honor.

It was a short, dismal season for the whalers, who were followed and harassed by four Sea Shepherd vessels across the waters off southwest Australia. They returned to Japan with their lowest Antarctic catch ever: just 103 minke whales, far short of their stated goal of 935. The whalers had also set out to kill 50 humpbacks and 50 fin whales, but took none. ...

... The actions of Sea Shepherd are controversial, to be sure, and have been condemned not only by Japan, but also the government of Australia and a Federal Court in the United States. One might love them, or hate them, but the indisputable fact is that far fewer whales died this season because of their clashes with the whalers.

Sea Shepherd Australia’s Hansen said this year's campaign would “go down as the group's most successful,” and vowed to return next season.

“'I can't think of more ecological terrorism than going into a protected whale sanctuary, hunting endangered whales, and requiring a fuel tanker to go south into ice strewn waters with all the potential environmental harm involved in that," Hansen said.


Sea Shepherd claims 'false': Japan

... The Bob Barker became wedged between the Nisshin Maru and a supply tanker as the Japanese ship tried to refuel.

The distance between them closed, and the vessels collided with a sickening crunch.

Video of the clash has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times worldwide since then, but the blame game varies considerably depending on who's telling the story.

Japan's whaling research group, the Institute of Cetacean Research, accused the Sea Shepherd of piracy and endangering lives and risking an oil spill in its "foolhardy obstruction attempts".

But the Sea Shepherd stands by its claims that the Bob Barker was rammed, and that crew on the Nisshin Maru lobbed stun grenades at the stricken anti-whaling ship. ...


Japan Confirms Sea Shepherd Success in the Southern Ocean

The Japanese Institute for Cetacean Research, the front organisation for Japanese illegal whaling activities has released their kill records for 2012/2013.

They wanted 50 Humpbacks. They took none.

They wanted 50 Fin whales. They took none.

They wanted 935 Minke whales. They killed 103.

832 Minke whales not slain! 50 Humpbacks and 50 Fins not slaughtered!

During the 2010-2011 Operation No Compromise, the Japanese whaling fleet took 17% of their illegal self-allocated quota. During the 2011-2012 Operation Divine Wind, the Japanese whalers took 26% of their illegal self-allocated quota.

103 Minke whales and zero Fin whales and zero Humpback whales translates into 9.96% of their combined quota. The whalers took only 11% of their Minke whale quota and zero percent of their Fin and Humpback quota.

These percentages translate into a financial disaster for the Japanese whalers. ...


Whalers Return to Japan in Disgrace

There can be no doubt that Operation Zero Tolerance was a huge success.

We have only to ask Yoshimasa Hayashi the Japanese Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The “lowest total of whales taken since “research whaling” began in 1987 he reported.

One hundred and three Minke whales killed and absolutely no Fin or Humpback whales slaughtered. These figures included 50 males and 53 females. From the 53 females, foetus were removed from 46 of the animals. ...

... Sea Shepherd of course expects this over the top illogical propaganda from the ICR. They can call us all the names in the book and it matters not.

What does matter is that there are 932 whales swimming in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary that were not killed. ...



The Japanese whalers were particularly foolhardy and reckless this time round.

What is particularly remarkable is the apparent lack of any international condemnation or action for the Japanese flagrantly breaking all the rules of law and common sense to stupidly take a battered old decrepit heavy fuel oil tanker right into the edge of the Antarctic! UNBELIEVABLE.

This time round, Sea Shepherd Australia were very restrained and non-provocative and suffered their worst damage yet. The Japanese Captain Tomoyuki Ogawa used his monstrous Nisshin Maru as a bulldozer to push over the Sea Shepherd boats! The Japanese water cannon were deliberately used to flood the Sea Shepherd engine rooms to try to wreck the engines. The Japanese whalers very nearly sank another Sea Shepherd boat.

All thousands of miles from help and in what can be sometimes the most hostile waters on the planet.


How recklessly desperately corrupt are the Japanese whalers?...

Only on our only one planet,
Martin


All merely my opinion but how widely is that a shared opinion? Is there enough opinion to take action?

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After the utter disgrace of the Japanese whalers, the saga continues inexorably slowly and expensively in various courts:


Bob Brown welcomes whaling announcement

... Bob Brown, has welcomed the announcement that Japanese whalers are set to face the International Court of Justice over their whaling expeditions in the Southern Ocean.

It comes three years after the Australian government first took the issue to the court in The Hague.

The hearings will begin on 26 June 2013...


Australia welcomes ICJ hearings in case to halt Japanese whaling

Canberra on Friday welcomed the International Court of Justice’s decision Thursday to schedule three weeks of public hearings in The Hague from June 26 on Australia’s case against Japan’s so-called research whaling...


Australia to face Japan over whaling in UN court

The UN's International Court of Justice has set dates for public hearings on Australia's challenge against Japan's whaling programme in Antarctica...

... There has been a ban on commercial whaling for 25 years, but Japan catches about 1,000 whales each year for what it calls research.

But critics say it is commercial whaling in another guise...

... "Australia wants this slaughter to end."...



On another front and another court in Holland:

Sea Shepherd Seeks Dutch Prosecution of Japanese Whalers

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is lodging a second complaint with the Netherlands Public Prosecutor’s Office for serious fraud and environmental crime against the captain and crew of the Nisshin Maru, the Japanese whaling fleet’s factory ship.

Sea Shepherd claims that Nisshin Maru Captain Tomoyuki Ogawa and his crew are guilty of piracy, violence against the crew of a sea vessel, endangering safe navigation and the destruction of Sea Shepherd vessels. All are punishable offenses under the Dutch Criminal Code.

The Dutch Public Prosecutor’s Office has jurisdiction since the Sea Shepherd vessels Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker sail under the Dutch flag and the incidents in which they were damaged took place on the high seas. ...

... The actions of Captain Ogawa of the Nisshin Maru are not only contrary to every rule of good seamanship, but also in breach of Dutch criminal law, Sea Shepherd alleges...




How criminal can the whalers and the whaling politics get?

Only on our only one planet,
Martin

---

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In pathetic childish spite and humiliation, the Japanese whalers despicably call for help:


The Icelandic Boot Stomping Biodiversity Bank Robbing Bandits

Iceland announced their intention to continue their criminal commercial whaling of endangered species with the slaughter of at least 154 fin whales. As a result of commercial whaling ... fin whales are now listed on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species. ... to sell the whale carcasses to buyers in Japan, contravening the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)...

... What is there for the governments of the world to lose by enforcing international law with the provisions they've already put in place to do so? There is nothing for them to individually lose, but the environmental security of the entire planet is on the line.

We don't live on this planet alone. ... Captain Paul Watson once commented that “If we can’t save the whales, we will fail to save the oceans and if the oceans die, then we all die, and all the great dreams of humanity will be blown away as dust in the winds of time.”

During Operation Zero Tolerance, Sea Shepherd Australia went to the far ends of the earth risking our lives and ships to save the great whales with a 100% success rate of saving endangered fin whales.



So... The whales and the rest of the world be damned?

How criminal can the whalers and the whaling politics get?

Only on our only one planet,
Martin

---

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In preparation for the worst from Japanese whalers:


Sea Shepherd launches Operation Relentless, its 10th Antarctic whale defense campaign

[Following] Sea Shepherd's most successful campaign to date, Operation Zero Tolerance that saved 932 whales, Sea Shepherd launches Operation Relentless. Like last season’s campaign, Operation Relentless will be managed and led by Sea Shepherd Australia...

... "Australia is now the focus of the biggest whale saving operation on Earth and funding depends on the generosity of whale loving Australians. These whales are Australia's responsibility. Sea Shepherd is acting where Governments have failed to intervene in the illegal slaughter of these magnificent creatures,” said Dr Bob Brown, Sea Shepherd board member.

"Japan stated that the attempt to kill whales in the Antarctic whale sanctuary was abandoned due to 'relentless interference' by Sea Shepherd,” said Jeff Hansen, Sea Shepherd Australian Director.

“Sea Shepherd likes that kind of relentless accusation, we like being relentless in the pursuit of finally bringing peace to the whales of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary...


How corrupt are the Japanese whalers to continue?


Only on our only one planet,
Martin

---

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In pathetic childish spite and humiliation, the Japanese whalers despicably call for help:


The Icelandic Boot Stomping Biodiversity Bank Robbing Bandits

Iceland announced their intention to continue their criminal commercial whaling of endangered species with the slaughter of at least 154 fin whales. ...

Avaaz has caught up with this latest despicable excess:


Days to stop the whale massacre

Fin whales are magical giants of the sea. But in days, over 180 of this endangered species are set to be slaughtered by one tycoon and his buddies whose summer hobby is to harpoon them, chop them up and ship their meat through the Netherlands to Japan for dog food!

There is one way to stop the hunt before it starts -- you can’t dock a boat full of illegal whale carcasses just anywhere. German and Finnish authorities have shunned the shameful trade. Now, the Dutch are the linchpin...


FOR DOG FOOD!? How deeply despicable can the Japanese whalers yet descend? They are truly pariahs of the world.


Please add your message to the petition!

Only on our only one planet,
Martin

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So although Norway’s government sets an annual quota of 1,286 minke whales, in practice whalers take far fewer (only 533 in 2011).

With the North Atlantic minke whale population estimated at a healthy 130,000 animals, Norway’s modest annual catch is considered highly sustainable.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/06/viking-whalers/smith-text

I know, facts just get in the way of a good rant.

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I know, facts just get in the way of a good rant.

Still, there are the minor details of the whale populations still at a dangerously small fraction of their unmolested numbers and of an agonizing death that can take well into a full hour or more...

And all unnecessary.

The 'industrial scale' whaling that wiped out commercially viable whaling was a post-WWII invention. The byproduct was that all the large whale species were driven to the brink of extinction.


Possibly for 'political' reasons, or for just blatant outlandish dumb corruption, Japan is the only nation to continue to run a whale killer factory ship...


Avaaz petition: [Just] Days to stop the whale massacre

All on our only one planet,
Martin

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... all unnecessary.

The 'industrial scale' whaling that wiped out commercially viable whaling was a post-WWII invention. The byproduct was that all the large whale species were driven to the brink of extinction.


Possibly for 'political' reasons, or for just blatant outlandish dumb corruption, Japan is the only nation to continue to run a whale killer factory ship...


Avaaz petition: [Just] Days to stop the whale massacre

Reading further, the Icelandic whaling sounds to be yet all the more perverse. All a game of corrupt money? This just can't possibly be financially viable for DOG FOOD!


Iceland to Resume the Slaughter of Endangered Fin Whales

... However, preparations are ongoing - two vessels, Hvalur 8 & Hvalur 9, are being prepared for the hunt (with 5-6 people working on Hvalur 9). ... They were towed from Reykjavik to Hvalfjorour last year and are thought to still be inoperable, not much more than floating museum exhibits.

If they go ahead, it will be interesting to see if the U.S. backs up their condemnation of Icelandic fin whaling with economic sanctions as made possible by the Pelly Amendment and if the European Union will follow suit.


The Avaaz petition above is still running. Everyone's interest counts!

All on our only one planet,
Martin

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A sad corrupt non-giggle:


Sea Shepherd Commentary on the: "Cruise Report of the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the Antarctic-Second Phase (JARPA II) in 2012/2013"

Tsutomu Tamura1), Toshihiro Mogoe1), Tatsuya Isoda1), Kazuyoshi Nakai1), Hitomi Sato1), Kazuu Tamahashi2), Tohru Takamatsu2), Masakatsu Mori2), Masaomi Tsunekawa2), Isamu Yoshimura2), Takashi Yoshida1) and Tomoyuki Ogawa2).

The Institute of Cetacean Research, ... Kyodo Senpaku Kaisya, Ltd., ... Tokyo Japan...

... Sea Shepherd Response:

Sea Shepherd (excluding Sea Shepherd USA) is flattered that this report devotes so much time to underlining the success of the Sea Shepherd crew’s efforts to obstruct illegal whaling activities in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. We do dispute the use of the word “violent” they attribute to us. Sea Shepherd crew did not prop foul or throw any objects at the Japanese ships nor did any Sea Shepherd ship deliberately collide with a Japanese whaling ship. On the other hand the Nisshin Maru inflicted extensive damage to three Sea Shepherd ships...

... The Japanese whalers have their own Orwellian language now where they have replaced the word “killing” with the word “sampling”...

... This is a long winded way of saying they want to return to commercial whale killing...

... The last part hints at whales being competition for krill which the Japanese exploit as a cheap protein source of animal feed. The last part clearly indicates that Japan has other ambitions in Antarctica...



How deeply corrupt are the Japanese whalers?


All on our only one planet,
Martin

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