The Sea Shepherd folks have just announced a new boat to combat the scientific whaling ships in the Antarctic. The boat can speed up to 50 knots, and it is going to be used to disrupt Japan’s whaling ships by intervening the harpooning process. The design of the ship would make the creators of Dark Knight proud. Only thing missing are harpoon launchers to stop the whalers’ harpooning of whales.

I’m the opinion that whaling is OK if it can be taken sustainably, and because of the heavy politicization of the IWC, the ban of commercial whaling is actually a detriment to the whole process. But I’m also sympathetic to anti-whaling arguments and I will easily accept Japan to stop the lethal sampling in ICR’s scientific whaling program (JARPA) if the general populace of Japan (who should take the handle on this issue) thinks so. I also think the Sea Shepherd’s actions are very counterproductive given their aims (i.e. they are full of poop).