Regarding Judit Kawaguchi's Aug. 13 Words to Live By column about "fish master Tatsuo Ichikawa": Ichikawa is incorrect in his accusation that the Sea Shepherd targets only Japanese whalers. We have been actively opposing Icelandic and Norwegian whaling for years. In 1986 we sank half the Icelandic whaling fleet. In 1981 we sank half the Spanish whaling fleet. Since 1992 we have sunk a number of Norwegian whalers.
We have actively obstructed Russian whalers and opposed American Indian whalers. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is blind to the race of the whalers. We are opposed across the board to all illegal whaling everywhere regardless of race and nationality. To say otherwise is to ignore the facts.
In fact, we have not sunk a single Japanese whaler and the Norwegians and Icelanders are always asking why we are picking on them and not the Japanese whalers. Sea Shepherd is not anti-Japanese, we are anti-poaching. Japanese whaling in the Southern (Pacific) Ocean is illegal and that is why we oppose it just as we oppose illegal Icelandic and Norwegian whaling.