Ship sinking anti-whalers

Reported here, environmental activists say they sank a whaling ship to make a point:

Activists said on Thursday they sank a whaling ship in a Norwegian port last month in an anti-hunt protest.

Police say they do not know the cause of the sinking of the red and white Willassen Senior vessel, by the quay in Svolvaer, north Norway, on August 31, but say that the leak may have come from an open valve. The vessel was being raised on Thursday.

A group calling itself Agenda 21 said on a U.S.-based Web site that it scuppered the ship.

"After ensuring that the vessel was unoccupied the salt water intake valve was opened, unleashing a torrent of water into the heart of the killer ship," it said. There was no way of verifying the statement.

The group, which did not name those involved, said it was "celebrating the end of commercial whaling in Iceland" by sinking a vessel in a Norwegian port. Reykjavik said last month that it would not issue new permits for hunts until demand rises and it can sell meat to Japan.

The rule of law and private property rights don't seem to mean much to these folks.