Monday, December 1, 2008

Whale Wars and the Definition of Piracy

Are the crew of the Sea Shepherd's Steve Irwin pirates?

They have been seen on television throwing acid onto the deck of a Japanese vessel and boarded the Japanese whaling vessel at sea. They also made plans to board a trawler with the intent of disabling the communication equipment.

I am a mariner not a lawyer but here is what I've come up with:

The definition of piracy according to international law is (Article 15 of the 1958 Convention on the High Seas):
"Piracy consists of any of the following acts:

1. any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed:
a. on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft;
b. against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any state;
2. any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft;
3. any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described in subparagraph (a) or (b)."

Again, I am no lawyer but it does seem that a good argument could be made that the crew of of the Steve Irwin are in fact pirates.

K.C.

Source:

Maritime Piracy: Defining the Problem

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

They are pirates and should be prosecuted accordingly. If they have a concern about the whaling activities of the Japanese vessels, they should lobby for a change in the law to further limit the activities they perceive as being illegal.

Anonymous said...

THEY ARE LEGALLY CONSIDERED PIRATES AND THE CAPTAIN AND ANY/ALL OF TAT SHIPS CREW CAN LEGALLY BE EXECUTED ON SIGHT ON EITHER LAND OR SEA BY ANYONE