Chicken on the Sea

Check out this video of the Japanese whaler Shonan Maru Number 2 crashing into a smaller ship, the Ady Gil, manned by anti-whaling activists from the organization Sea Shepherd. According to an Al Jazeera report, the Japanese take more than 1,000 Minke whales from the Antarctic each year, purportedly for "research." An Al Jazeera interviewer does a good job of pinning down the whaling industry defender when he claims the activists were clearly at fault in the smash-up; the video seems to show the Japanese veering into the path of the other, smaller craft, but the Ady Gil also appears to move deeper into the path of the larger vessel.

In other words, it was an apparent high-seas game of chicken. The clash may have been an escalation of provocative attacks on Japanese whalers by the Sea Shepherd group, which has operated in the whaling waters for several years. And video like this just may be a victory for the group, whose stated goal is to "sink" the Japanese whalers by making it impossible for them to operate profitably.

Sea Shepherd recently received $5 million in backing from Bob Barker, who for decades hosted the U.S. game show, "The Price is Right." Barker's name appears on the Sea Shepherd boat that rescued the crew of the Ady Gil.

Sea Shepherd is also involved in the production of a televised docu-drama program called "Whale Wars."

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