Not sure who's in the right here

Marginally related to this post.

There's been some discussion in the popular press recently about a collision between a Japanese ship and an anti-whaling activism vessel in the Southern Ocean. The six people on the smaller boat were lucky to survive what appears to be a deliberate ramming by the Japanese ship (videos from the whaling ship and the activist base vessel here).

As I mentioned in the previous post, being stupid in the Southern Ocean is a good way to die. Taking a non-icebreaker rated ship into dense bergs is stupid. Harassing people in large ships from a zodiac is stupid. Taking your fancy new $2.5 million dollar boat into a situation where it could be damaged (and now sunk) is stupid. It is a miracle that no one has yet been killed during these mistakes - how much longer do they think they can do it? (And on another note, the activists have called piracy on the Japanese - what hypocrites, after they boarded a whaling ship without permission!)

That said, I'm definitely not saying the Japanese are in the right this time. A deliberate ramming of so small a boat risks people being thrown overboard or crushed between the hulls. If someone had been in the bow section, they would be dead. The water cannon and acoustic harassment devices are understandable defenses against the acid-bombs and prop foulers the activists use; escalating the conflict by ramming, especially in light of the size differences between the vessels is simply dangerous and unacceptable.

I wish people could have a rational discussion about whaling. I personally don't agree with it, and don't see a need, but some cultures do. Whaling under the "scientific" clause appalls me, because they publish very little that can't be discovered through non-lethal methods, but they can't get approval through the commercial clause. I have no right to comment on the ethics of eating whale meat, because I'm not a vegetarian, and I don't object to hunting other animals for food - it only becomes an issue to me if the killing is unethical (exploding harpoons are not exactly humane...), or the animal is endangered or in a position to become so.

I'm not sure how to resolve this situation, or whether or not it will ever be solved. I wish the countries would get together and realize that someone is going to die if this continues, though. I believe that negotiation is the best way to go about this - the Japanese are not going to stop trying to make money just because some activist gets killed. If we can give them a financial incentive, maybe we can make progress.