Norwegian Whaler Sunk

[LeftyMom]

Source: Sea Shepherd news release quoting Norweigian news report

The Norwegian whaling vessel Willassen Senior was sunk in the northern harbor city of Svolvaer on Thursday evening, August 30, 2007.

The following is a translation of an original Norwegian News Report:

Norway: Whaling Vessel Sunk

The night before Friday, the whaling vessel Willassen Senior sank in the North Norwegian harbor city of Svolvaer. No person was onboard when the 89 foot long vessel sank. It could have been sabotage.

"At this point we can't discount anything," says the police chief in Svolvaer, Jon Martin Bye, to the tv-company NRK.

Norwegian whaling vessels have many times earlier been sabotaged. In 1992, there was a failed attempt to sink the ship Nybraena, that however experienced damages of hundreds of thousands of kronor. In 1997, saboteurs failed to sink the whaling vessel MS Elin-Toril.


Read more: http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_070901_1.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Thought-provoking news. Thanks a lot, LeftyMom. n/t

[mikelgb]

2. Sea Shepherd?

[LeftyMom]

3. They'd take credit, if they'd done it.

They're hardly shy about the ones they've done. (Hell, they have a shirt with all the vessels they've sunk or rammed on it, by odd coincidence I'm wearing one today. They're totally not shy about taking credit.)

There could be a delay while whoever did it left the area, but if they don't come out and claim it by sometime tomorrow it wasn't them for sure.

[Omaha Steve]

5. Captain Watson fights for the animals of the oceans

He is a winner. He was also a friend of my late friend Marie Schwartz that was a seal activist. Recommended.

http://www.seashepherd.org/

[flvegan]

6. Nope, this was indie work.

I'd be very surprised if SSCS came up as "responsible" for this.

VERY surprised. You'd have a play by play.

No, this was a local hit. And considering how straight she sits on the bottom, a fine-damn-fucking tastic hit, too. You're probably looking at blowing a ballast, well-placed, to put her there like that.

Well done.

Well fucking done.

[LeftyMom]

7. That's my read

My second choice would be a local for other reasons (insurance, bad business deal, something like that.)

[flvegan]

8. Not to me. Norway? No, no second choice on this one. n/t

[LeftyMom]

9. They're badass in Scandinavia, fersure.

Anywho, :toast: to whoever it was.

[flvegan]

4. Good, fuck them.

A favor done for the world, thank you sabs.

Before you get bent, read this:
http://www.wspa-usa.org/pages/603_whale_hunt_video_exposes_truth.cfm

[bahrbearian]

10. saboteurs ...or Global Terrorist

[LeftyMom]

11. I'm sorry, long day and I can't understand sentance fragments

Can you explain a bit better what you mean?

[flvegan]

12. Please let us all know what "global terrorist" says, k?

[LeftyMom]

13. We may be in for a long wait

Thank goodness I have something to read.

:cracks psych textbook, settles in for a long slog:

[Selatius]

14. I am not so sure I'd support acts of sabotage like this.

Given the international outcry at the restarting of whaling by several nations in recent years like Japan, I'm frankly surprised more whaling ships aren't being sent to the bottom of the ocean.

I remain mixed about these kinds of acts, if it is indeed an act of sabotage. Yeah, on one hand, it may feel good to set on fire parked SUVs and new construction on previously wild land like with the Earth Liberation Front, but on the other, it may serve to turn off people to the movement instead of engaging them. Sinking whaling ships or setting fire to new construction--it might hurt more than help.

[Chulanowa]

16. Were people hurt?

If so, yes, there's a problem. If only wallets were hurt, most people couldn't give a damn

[Spinzonner]

15. Guerilla Whalefare

[Vidar]

17. Good riddance.

[Withywindle]

18. Yay!

No tears shed here. Good job.

[Judi Lynn]

19. Here's a report on how well they've been doing lately:

Fraserburgh rescue 800 miles and a world apart for whale welfare
Published: 06 August, 2007



The minke whale was stranded in Fraserburgh harbour last week. (Photo courtesy of David Tait)


WHILST Britain fought to save the life of one lost minke whale, many more in Iceland are in danger as the government is on the verge of allowing more "killing quotas", according to a wildlife organisation.

As national attention was focused on the second day of a rescue operation to save a minke whale in Fraserburgh (Northeast Scotland), the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and partner organisations were highlighting the plight of North Atlantic minke whales.

According to WSPA, less than 800 miles away, whalers are processing the 41 minke whales caught this year in Icelandic waters. Meanwhile in Norway, whalers recently reported a bumper kill of 167 minke whales in one week – one killed each hour.
(snip)

Campaign Whale Director Andy Ottaway said: "Iceland, Norway and Japan will kill a total of over 2,000 minke whales this year in defiance of an international treaty that bans killing whales for profit. We can only pray that events like this are being watched in Reykjavik, Oslo and Tokyo. The world wants these wonderful animals saved not butchered."
(snip)

http://www.fishupdate.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/8261/Fraserburgh_rescue_800_miles_and_a_world_apart_for_whale_welfare.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Followup to the original story: (Apparently the one above was published in the "fishupdate" a few days after the story ran.)


Young minke whale escapes to freedom
By Kate Devlin
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 04/08/2007



It is thought that the young minke whale became trapped after following a fishing boat


Video: Whale stranded in Scottish port
A busy fishing port was celebrating last night after a young minke whale that became trapped in the harbour swam out to the open sea.

Rescuers had spent two days trying to coax the 13ft long animal out of Fraserburgh harbour, in north-east Scotland.

Hundreds of onlookers lined the quayside willing the whale to swim to freedom.

It is thought that it became trapped in the port after following a fishing boat.

A second, larger minke was seen circling the mouth of the harbour, encouraging speculation that it was the stranded whale's mother. A series of rescue attempts, using small boats and sonar, failed yesterday as the animal, thought to be no more than six months old, at first refused to enter the narrow space of water that was its only escape route.
(snip/...)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/08/04/eawhale104.xml

[Boudica the Lyoness]

20. Now it's really as low as whale shit!

This made my day.

[Annces]

21. Great n/t

[IndianaGreen]

22. It was probably God who sank the whaling ship, or it could be an insurance scam!

I'll put my money on an insurance scam by the owners of the whaling ship.

[Judi Lynn]

23. You want to be prepared if you seriously consider going to Norway, to speak personally

to a government official about their whaling. They may send out their Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, a clever trick they've got up their sleeve. _{George W. Bush} refused to see him when he asked for permission to come to Washington to visit him.



If you had prepared yourself to face a government spokesman like Dick Cheney, you may have to take time to regroup.

[LibertyorDeath]

24. Did they manage to harpoon any of those

bastards as their boat sank.

A boat that roams the sea harpooning whalers

them there be Pirates....ARRRRH!!

[tabasco]

25. Pissed-off whale would be my guess.

Those suckers can do some damage.

Tough noogies.

[mogster]

26. Pictures

http://www.lofotposten.no/lokalebildeserier/article2965175.ece

[xchrom]

27. good. n/t