Sea Shepherd Captain Paul Watson arrested in Germany

[dissentowner]

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/324937

Thoughts?

[GP_Matt]

i am torn. I hate shark fishing, but also don't like Paul's methods. He often attacks/harasses the fisherman, who are usually poor uneducated workers. I think the target should be attacking the people who market/trade in the fins and the culture that sees eating the fins as a good thing.

[Azure]

I don't think the fishermen are the problem. The law allowing them to fish for 'shark' should be attacked.

[Robotic]

I think Paul is pretty crazy, but the show Whale Wars is pretty exciting.

[killer_carlson]

I think he's lucky he hasn't been sunk on the open seas. What he calls activism, another boat will call Eco terrorism.

[drewboy12]

I recently watched a documentary about him... It actually opened my eyes to his crazy antics. I don't recall what it was called though, so this is a useless post.

[Kavvy]

Originally Posted by drewboy12

I recently watched a documentary about him... It actually opened my eyes to his crazy antics. I don't recall what it was called though, so this is a useless post.

"Southpark" ?

[drewboy12]

Originally Posted by Kavy

"Southpark" ?

No but very good episode! lol

[LGA]

Attacking the fishermen won't help. Most are very poor and they see this as one of very few options to make money. What needs to happen, and has been happening, is to continually educate potential buyers of the product. Shark fin doesn't exactly provide any added healthy benefits, nor does it have a spectacular taste. All shark fin is, is a symbol of your own economic status and a way to show off to your family and other potential restaurent-goers that you can afford shark fin soup.

What's really crazy is, if you watch any documentaries on the shark fin industry it's pretty clear that a lot of the trade is now done through the black market.

[troutman]

I saw a documentary recently on how some magnetic fields repel sharks. They are testing fishing tackle that will reduce the number of sharks that are caught inadvertently.

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscell...5/sharkmagnets

SharkDefense won $25,000 from the World Wildlife Fund's annual International Smart Gear Competition to develop magnets or metals to keep sharks from dying on commercial fishing lines intended for other fish, such as swordfish -- which they do in great numbers daily.

[Thor]

The man would not dare step into Iceland, the guy is universally loathed here.

[sevenarms]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

i am torn. I hate shark fishing, but also don't like Paul's methods. He often attacks/harasses the fisherman, who are usually poor uneducated workers. I think the target should be attacking the people who market/trade in the fins and the culture that sees eating the fins as a good thing.

Exactly. There methods draw attention to the cause but they also make the Sea Sheppard look like a bunch of unlikable jerks.

[HPLovecraft]

Just in case there is some confusion out there, Paul Watson is not in any way associated with Greenpeace and hasn't been in a very long time.

[Thor]

The problem is for example here in Iceland that his antics actually work against us trying to stop the whaling industry.

It emboldens nationalistic pride/anger, and takes the rational discussion out the window. We are doing fine getting more and more people to stop supporting the whaling in Iceland, which has been steadily going up, in fact a new planned hunt has been cancelled due to costs and lack of people to buy their crap.

But if that IDIOT does anything now or soon to Iceland all that goodwill and positive work going to end the whaling here in Iceland goes out the window.

The guy is a true glory hound and moron, I agree with much of his passion and efforts to stop whaling, sharking (lol), etc.. but how he goes about it is another matter.

[FlamingLonghorn]

Just to be clear here: When have the Sea Shepards ever attacked fishermen without being attacked themselves first?

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by Sowa

Just to be clear here: When have the Sea Shepards ever attacked fishermen without being attacked themselves first?

I could be wrong, but I am sure that the fisherman don't go out of their way looking for the Sea Shepard. He shows up to start a confrontation with poor Guatemalan fisherman piloting a boat that is filled with non-lethal methods of attack.