Captain Paul Watson, the vegan founder and president of the non-profit, environmental group the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and a co-founder of the Greenpeace Foundation is presented with the Shining World Hero Award for his tireless work in protecting and preserving marine life and therefore all life. He points out that 80% of the planet's oxygen comes from plankton and that the seas ecosystems are in grave danger.
http://SupremeMasterTV.com • AW1470; Aired on 23 Sep 2010
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January 22, 2012
Wars over whaling
Japan's annual whaling season is currently under way with the inevitable lurid reports and tangled accusations. The history of conflict between Japan's whaling boats and anti-whaling protesters has not only gained newspaper headlines, but has inspired its own TV program, "Whale Wars," on the American cable television station Animal Planet, now in its fifth season. The actions of both whale-hunting supporters and detractors have reached absurd proportions. Both sides should return to reasonable dialog.
While officially agreeing to a moratorium on whaling, Japanese whaling companies have continued to kill whales in the South Pacific by taking advantage of a loophole for research purposes. If the current hunting is really being done, as stated, for scientific purposes, the results should be opened to public and professional scrutiny, as is done with all serious scientific research. Killing whales for research is volatile topic with international importance, so it deserves a clear explanation that the general public has easy access to. So far, nothing like that has happened.
This year, the Japanese government allowed ¥2.28 billion from funds allocated for recovery from the earthquake and tsunami to be spent on the whaling expedition in hopes of helping the Tohoku economy, where some of the ships are based. That may not be much out of the ¥12 trillion allocated for recovery, but this whaling subsidy provides little benefit to coastal communities and stymies efforts to reconstruct genuinely sustainable industries. That money could have been used for many other purposes.
This year's confrontations have escalated in intensity. Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha, the company leading whaling missions, filed a lawsuit last year in United States federal court against the anti-whaling group, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The whaling company lawsuit accuses the activists of engaging in activities that could cause injury to crew members and damage to vessels.
Resolving the issue in courts would be reasonable, but unfortunately, the actions have been taking place in international waters, outside most jurisdictions, where the law is as undecided as the weather. The Japanese government's placing Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson on Interpol's international wanted list seems a fanciful ploy, since most countries around the world have banned whaling and are unlikely to turn Mr. Watson over to anyone.
The Sea Shepherd boats attempting to stop the whalers have increased the level of their engagement this year. Reportedly, they are using laser beams and butyric acid, a dangerous-sounding material that basically provides the bad smell of rancid butter, to harass and stop the whaling expeditions. They have also, in the past, rammed whaling boats and boarded the whalers in open seas. Japanese whaling ships have replied in kind. Those actions cross the line from peaceful protest and reasonable monitoring to violent confrontation. Any action that could harm a crew member on either side cannot be justified.
The whale wars are moving high-tech as well, showing again that both sides are very well funded. This year, the Sea Shepherd, according to one of its press releases, is deploying drones to help track the whaling ships.
With GPS coordinates and the ability to take video and still images, the drones seem useful to witness and report what is going on. Documentation rather than propaganda, though, is essential. The world deserves to see what is happening, but also to understand why, and to do both more dispassionately.
This year, three activists from the environmental group Forest Rescue Australia have already been captured and held prisoner after boarding one of the whaling boats, Shonan Maru No. 2. Their fate is still being debated, though Japan has seemingly decided, wisely, to return them to Australian authorities without filing criminal charges. The activists may be stuck on the boat until the end of the whaling season, though, which will perhaps be punishment, or education, enough.
More importantly, the importance of whaling must be questioned. Last year, Japan only caught about 18 percent of its self-imposed quota of some 1,000 whales in the Antarctic Ocean. The traditional custom of eating whale meat has considerably declined. Many reports show that whale meat from whales killed last year is piling up in refrigerated warehouses. All of the facts concerning the stock of whale meat should be made public.
If whale meat were really a cheap source of daily, delicious meals, as is claimed, it would be found in every supermarket in Japan. Meat from those 170 or so whales is, in fact, rarely sold.
Whale meat was surely an important part of Japan's heritage, and a major source of protein in the lean times after World War II. However, its continued consumption, for either culinary, dietary or cultural reasons, hardly seems compelling at this point.
Continuing the whale hunts means Japan will continue to pay dearly in international diplomatic costs for its right to maintain a tradition that extends far beyond the borders of the country's culture yet is no longer central to daily life here at home.
Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/ed20120115a1.html
January 18, 2012
Help Sea Shepherd Launch a Third Large Whale Protection Ship
Sea Shepherd needs a third large ship to be 100% effective in the Southern Ocean.
(PLEASE DONATE: https://my.seashepherd.org/NetCommunity/SSLPage.aspx?pid=184 )
The key to 100% success in stopping illegal whaling in the Southern Ocean is to match the whaling ships one on one.
“There are three harpoon vessels and two large Sea Shepherd ships,” said Captain Paul Watson. “Two of the three harpoon vessels have not fired a single harpoon because they are forced to tail the two Sea Shepherd ships, Steve Irwin and Bob Barker, to prevent them from closing in on the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru.”
The Nisshin Maru and one harpoon vessel have not had time to stop and kill whales as they remain on the move to avoid the two Sea Shepherd ships. The two harpoon vessels tailing the two Sea Shepherd ships keep the Nisshin Maru informed of the movements of the conservation ships preventing the Sea Shepherd crews from closing in on the factory ship.
Presently, the Steve Irwin has the harpoon vessel Yushin Maru No. 2 tailing it. The Shonan Maru No. 2, the Japanese whaling fleet security ship, has fallen back thanks to the efforts of the three Forest Rescue activists who boarded the vessel, resulting in an Australian government order to transfer them to the Australian Customs vessel Ocean Protector.
The Bob Barker lost the tail of the Yushin Maru No. 3 at Macquarie Island after the Australian government expelled the tailing harpoon vessel. Since then, the Yushin Maru No. 3 has likely been trying to relocate the Bob Barker.
The only vessel in a position to kill whales is the Yushin Maru.
In July 2011, Captain Paul Watson met with Greenpeace representatives at the International Whaling Commission meeting on the Isle of Jersey, where he requested that they send one of their ships to the Southern Ocean to keep the third harpoon vessel occupied. Captain Watson said that Greenpeace had the means to help shut down the entire whaling operation in the Southern Ocean by sending just one ship from their fleet to support Sea Shepherd efforts.
Greenpeace refused. They have the ships and they have the resources, but they refused.
This of course is their right, but not if they collect money under the guise of claiming that they are actually stopping illegal whaling in the Southern Ocean. They are collecting millions of dollars by saying they have ships in the Southern Ocean protecting the whales.
Sea Shepherd crew including Captain Paul Watson have had Greenpeace street canvassers tell them to their faces that not only is Greenpeace in the Southern Ocean defending whales, but also that the Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker are Greenpeace ships. When Captain Watson and the others revealed who they were, they were then told that the Greenpeace canvassers were told to say that Greenpeace had these ships in the Southern Ocean.
One Sea Shepherd onshore volunteer and noted conservationist, Elissa Sursara, recorded the following conversation with a Greenpeace fundraiser outside of a Borders bookstore on Albert Street in Brisbane.
Listen to the Greenpeace fundraiser and Sea Shepherd Volunteer's Conversation
The fact remains that the only actual whales saved in the Southern Ocean have all been saved by Sea Shepherd intervention. Sea Shepherd has proven that aggressive, non-violent intervention can be highly effective. We have found the key to physically shutting down these illegal whaling operations and every year Sea Shepherd has become more effective than the year before. Last season, the whalers were only able to take 17% of their self-appointed quota, meaning that Sea Shepherd was able to save 863 whales, up from the 528 whales saved the year before.
Sea Shepherd should do just as well or better this season, but to be 100% effective Sea Shepherd needs to match the harpoon vessels one for one. That means we need to secure another ship.
We have found one. The cost is 1.5 million Euros, or just over $2 million Australian or American dollars.
Towards this goal we are looking for sponsorship.
The whales of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary need a fleet that is 100% effective. We need to return next season with the Steve Irwin, the Bob Barker, and our soon to be repaired fast scout vessel Brigitte Bardot. Plus we need a fourth ship - a third larger ship to tie up the third harpoon vessel and completely shut down all criminal whaling activities in the Southern Ocean.
Sea Shepherd will end whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary through patience and through strengthening our resources so as to become as strong as, or stronger than the whaling fleet.
Guaranteeing the integrity of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is a cause that we shall not abandon until we completely defeat this organized criminal enterprise that slaughters endangered and protected whales in blatant violation of international conservation law.
You can help us to launch another addition to the Sea Shepherd Southern Ocean Whale Protection fleet. Together we can drive these killers from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary forever.
http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/2012/01/18/help-sea-shepherd-launch-a-third-large-whale-protection-ship-1320
(PLEASE DONATE: https://my.seashepherd.org/NetCommunity/SSLPage.aspx?pid=184 )
The key to 100% success in stopping illegal whaling in the Southern Ocean is to match the whaling ships one on one.
“There are three harpoon vessels and two large Sea Shepherd ships,” said Captain Paul Watson. “Two of the three harpoon vessels have not fired a single harpoon because they are forced to tail the two Sea Shepherd ships, Steve Irwin and Bob Barker, to prevent them from closing in on the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru.”
The Nisshin Maru and one harpoon vessel have not had time to stop and kill whales as they remain on the move to avoid the two Sea Shepherd ships. The two harpoon vessels tailing the two Sea Shepherd ships keep the Nisshin Maru informed of the movements of the conservation ships preventing the Sea Shepherd crews from closing in on the factory ship.
Presently, the Steve Irwin has the harpoon vessel Yushin Maru No. 2 tailing it. The Shonan Maru No. 2, the Japanese whaling fleet security ship, has fallen back thanks to the efforts of the three Forest Rescue activists who boarded the vessel, resulting in an Australian government order to transfer them to the Australian Customs vessel Ocean Protector.
The Bob Barker lost the tail of the Yushin Maru No. 3 at Macquarie Island after the Australian government expelled the tailing harpoon vessel. Since then, the Yushin Maru No. 3 has likely been trying to relocate the Bob Barker.
The only vessel in a position to kill whales is the Yushin Maru.
In July 2011, Captain Paul Watson met with Greenpeace representatives at the International Whaling Commission meeting on the Isle of Jersey, where he requested that they send one of their ships to the Southern Ocean to keep the third harpoon vessel occupied. Captain Watson said that Greenpeace had the means to help shut down the entire whaling operation in the Southern Ocean by sending just one ship from their fleet to support Sea Shepherd efforts.
Greenpeace refused. They have the ships and they have the resources, but they refused.
This of course is their right, but not if they collect money under the guise of claiming that they are actually stopping illegal whaling in the Southern Ocean. They are collecting millions of dollars by saying they have ships in the Southern Ocean protecting the whales.
Sea Shepherd crew including Captain Paul Watson have had Greenpeace street canvassers tell them to their faces that not only is Greenpeace in the Southern Ocean defending whales, but also that the Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker are Greenpeace ships. When Captain Watson and the others revealed who they were, they were then told that the Greenpeace canvassers were told to say that Greenpeace had these ships in the Southern Ocean.
One Sea Shepherd onshore volunteer and noted conservationist, Elissa Sursara, recorded the following conversation with a Greenpeace fundraiser outside of a Borders bookstore on Albert Street in Brisbane.
Listen to the Greenpeace fundraiser and Sea Shepherd Volunteer's Conversation
The fact remains that the only actual whales saved in the Southern Ocean have all been saved by Sea Shepherd intervention. Sea Shepherd has proven that aggressive, non-violent intervention can be highly effective. We have found the key to physically shutting down these illegal whaling operations and every year Sea Shepherd has become more effective than the year before. Last season, the whalers were only able to take 17% of their self-appointed quota, meaning that Sea Shepherd was able to save 863 whales, up from the 528 whales saved the year before.
Sea Shepherd should do just as well or better this season, but to be 100% effective Sea Shepherd needs to match the harpoon vessels one for one. That means we need to secure another ship.
We have found one. The cost is 1.5 million Euros, or just over $2 million Australian or American dollars.
Towards this goal we are looking for sponsorship.
The whales of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary need a fleet that is 100% effective. We need to return next season with the Steve Irwin, the Bob Barker, and our soon to be repaired fast scout vessel Brigitte Bardot. Plus we need a fourth ship - a third larger ship to tie up the third harpoon vessel and completely shut down all criminal whaling activities in the Southern Ocean.
Sea Shepherd will end whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary through patience and through strengthening our resources so as to become as strong as, or stronger than the whaling fleet.
Guaranteeing the integrity of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is a cause that we shall not abandon until we completely defeat this organized criminal enterprise that slaughters endangered and protected whales in blatant violation of international conservation law.
You can help us to launch another addition to the Sea Shepherd Southern Ocean Whale Protection fleet. Together we can drive these killers from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary forever.
http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/2012/01/18/help-sea-shepherd-launch-a-third-large-whale-protection-ship-1320
Japanese whalers attack and injury several Sea Shepherd members
Three Sea Shepherd Crew Injured in Skirmish with Japanese Harpoon Vessel
January 18th, 2012
Yushin Maru crew drop grappling hook onSea Shepherd small boats causing
injury to crewmembersThe Japanese whalers have escalated their aggression by throwing iron grappling hooks at Sea Shepherd boats.
Two Steve Irwin crew were struck in the shoulder with iron grappling hooks and one crewmember was struck twice in the face with a long bamboo pole.
The Yushin Maru No. 2 continues to tail the Steve Irwin. The incident occurred at 0300 hours AEST at 64 degrees 17 minutes South and 155 degrees 41 minutes East. This is about 300 miles north of Mawson Peninsula off the George V Land coast of Antarctica.
“Our small boats were attempting to slow down the Japanese harpoon vessel Yushin Maru No. 2, which is aggressively tailing the Steve Irwin,” said Captain Paul Watson.
American crewmember Brian Race, (25) from New York, was jabbed twice in the face with a bamboo pole receiving lacerations above his right eye and on his nose.
Russell Bergh of South Africa, (35) a cameraman for Animal Planet, was struck in the right arm and shoulder with an iron grappling hook thrown from the harpoon vessel resulting in deep bruising.
Photographer Guillaume Collet of France, (27) was also struck in the right arm and shoulder by an iron grappling hook resulting in deep bruising.
There were no injuries incurred by any of the crew on the Japanese vessel.
Two of the three harpoon vessels have been assigned to tail Sea Shepherd ships, effectively knocking out two of the three killing boats.
“We are almost at the limit of the eastern boundary of their self assigned hunting area,” said Captain Watson. “We should be getting close.”
Yushin Maru sprays Delta boat with water cannon
 |
Visit our
Operation Divine Wind site for information about our 2011-12 Antarctic Whale Defense Campaign |
January 16, 2012
The Sea Shepherd's cyberwar
Tasmanian techie spreads security.
The war between anti-whaling outfit Sea Shepherd and
Japanese whalers isn’t just occuring on the high seas, it’s also in
cyberspace, with hackers believed to have attacked the environmental
vigilante's websites as whalers try to block radio communications
between its ships.
The organisation has fought a protracted and public battle with
whaling vessels in the Artic and Antarctic for 20 years. It refutes
Japan’s claim that the slaughter of whales was for scientific research,
and accuses the nation of breaking an international moratorium on
whaling.
And as the activists rebuild the Brigitte Bardot damaged in their
current Southern Ocean campaign, they will keep close eye on
communications.
“Security is crucial for us,” said Doug
O’Neil, who looks after ships IT and communications for Sea Shepherd.
“We need to make sure our communications are secure.”
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing. When O’Neil joined the
organisation in 2009, he received a call from a crew member who was
seeking a techie to renovate IT systems on the flagship vessel The Steve
Irwin.
He travelled the short distance to Hobart and found insecure and
malfunctioning communications systems. Cameras weren’t working, cables
were severed, and the wireless network was unprotected.
 |
In 2008 its website was hacked and defaced. The organisation’s
founder, Paul Watson, suspected the attacks were linked to Japan and
said he and other members had been attacked over social networks.
O’Neil has since outfitted the Steve Irwin with military-grade encryption for satellite and radio communication
systems and with a focus on security, has installed newer radars,
Power over Ethernet cameras, network hubs and radio and tracking
systems between ships and small boats, and secure wireless between ships
to allow a private network at sea.
He was also alert to insider threats
and had encypted all laptops that contained senstive data with True
Crypt to prevent against hacking attempts from within Sea Shepherd's network.
Sea Shepherd’s other ships received an IT makeover in 2010 when O’Neil travelled to the Mediterranean during Operation Blue Rage, a campaign to fight illegal fishing of bluefin tuna.
The organisation used a mix of high and low-tech security: Encrypted
communications between its ships was run over Ubiquiti Bullets, while
emails are sent through free and open source ThunderBird and encrypted
with GnuPG.
O’Neil oversees mitigating security leaks by screening all
communications from the vessel over its 512kbps VSAT link and cruising
online forums.
While it is unknown if the whalers had tried to hack its
communications systems, they reguarly attempt to locate the radio
frequency it uses to talk between ships.
When it is discovered, rather than listen in, the whalers practise
'keying' by holding down a button to generate a loud tone over the
frequency, preventing the ships from communicating.
O’Neil, who also works at the Wilderness Society and battles logging
in Tasmania’s Styx Valley, will join the Southern Ocean campaign next
month.
He might also get a chance to tinker with the Sea Shepherd’s unmanned drone surveillance aircraft, dubbed the Osprey. The hand-launched craft already succesfully found the whaling factory ship the Nisshin Maru.
January 14, 2012
Documentaries about the protection of the seas
Eco-Pirate - The Story of Paul Watson:
A documentary about a man on a mission to save the planet and its oceans. From the genesis of Greenpeace to the sinking of a pirate whaling ship off Portugal, and from clashes with fisherman in the Galapagos to Watson's recent headline-grabbing battles with the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctica, ECO-PIRATE chronicles the extraordinary life of the most controversial figure in the environmental movement.
Confessions of an Eco-Terrorist:
More information: http://www.confessionsfilm.com
At the Edge of the World:
The 3rd Antarctic Campaign undertaken by the controversial Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was arguably "the perfect combination of imperfections" and the actions taken to stop a Japanese whaling fleet were astonishingly reckless and admirable.
The international volunteer crew, though under-trained and poorly equipped, has developed a combination of bizarre and brilliant tactics with which to stop the whalers.
But first they must find the Japanese ships, a far more difficult challenge than ever imagined — long-time activist Paul Watson and first-time captain Alex Cornelissen employ an array of strategies in the hopes of finding an elusive adversary in the 370,000 square miles of the Ross Sea.
With one ship (The Farley Mowat) too slow to chase down the whaling fleet, with their second ship (The Robert Hunter) unsuited for Antarctic ice conditions and with no country supporting their efforts to enforce international law, the situation becomes increasingly desperate in this real-life David-vs.-Goliath adventure.
Website: www.attheedgeoftheworld.com
The Whale Warrior - Pirate for the Sea:
Pirate for the Sea goes where TV cannot. Go inside the shocking world of Paul Watson as the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and star of the reality series Whale Wars, dodges jail time, death threats, and gunfire in order to save the oceans endangered creatures. Be there for a bloody confrontation with enraged seal hunters armed with spiked clubs and get a front row seat as Watson rams his embattled ship directly into the side of an illegal Japanese whaling vessel.
Website: http://www.artistsconfederacy.com/pirateforthesea
Shark Water:
For filmmaker Rob Stewart, exploring sharks began as an underwater adventure. What it turned into was a beautiful and dangerous life journey into the balance of life on earth.
Driven by passion fed from a lifelong fascination with sharks, Stewart debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters and reveals the reality of sharks as pillars in the evolution of the seas.
Filmed in visually stunning, high definition video, Sharkwater takes you into the most shark rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world's shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.
Website: http://www.sharkwater.com
The Cove:
Academy Award Winner for Best Documentary of 2009, THE COVE follows an elite team of activists, filmmakers and freedivers as they embark on a covert mission to penetrate a remote and hidden cove in Taiji, Japan, shining a light on a dark and deadly secret. Utilizing state-of-the-art techniques, including hidden microphones and cameras in fake rocks, the team uncovers how this small seaside village serves as a horrifying microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide. The result is a provocative mix of investigative journalism, eco-adventure and arresting imagery, adding up to an unforgettable story that has inspired audiences worldwide to action.
Website: www.thecovemovie.com
Minds In The Water:
Minds in the Water is a feature-length documentary following the quest of professional surfer Dave Rastovich and his friends to protect dolphins, whales and the oceans they all share. Through Dave's journey—a five-year adventure spanning the globe from Australia to the Galapagos, Tonga, California, Alaska and Japan—we see one surfer's quest to activate his community to help protect the ocean and it's inhabitants from the threats of commercial slaughter and pollution.
Website: www.mindsinthewater.com
A documentary about a man on a mission to save the planet and its oceans. From the genesis of Greenpeace to the sinking of a pirate whaling ship off Portugal, and from clashes with fisherman in the Galapagos to Watson's recent headline-grabbing battles with the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctica, ECO-PIRATE chronicles the extraordinary life of the most controversial figure in the environmental movement.
Confessions of an Eco-Terrorist:
More information: http://www.confessionsfilm.com
At the Edge of the World:
The 3rd Antarctic Campaign undertaken by the controversial Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was arguably "the perfect combination of imperfections" and the actions taken to stop a Japanese whaling fleet were astonishingly reckless and admirable.
The international volunteer crew, though under-trained and poorly equipped, has developed a combination of bizarre and brilliant tactics with which to stop the whalers.
But first they must find the Japanese ships, a far more difficult challenge than ever imagined — long-time activist Paul Watson and first-time captain Alex Cornelissen employ an array of strategies in the hopes of finding an elusive adversary in the 370,000 square miles of the Ross Sea.
With one ship (The Farley Mowat) too slow to chase down the whaling fleet, with their second ship (The Robert Hunter) unsuited for Antarctic ice conditions and with no country supporting their efforts to enforce international law, the situation becomes increasingly desperate in this real-life David-vs.-Goliath adventure.
Website: www.attheedgeoftheworld.com
The Whale Warrior - Pirate for the Sea:
Pirate for the Sea goes where TV cannot. Go inside the shocking world of Paul Watson as the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and star of the reality series Whale Wars, dodges jail time, death threats, and gunfire in order to save the oceans endangered creatures. Be there for a bloody confrontation with enraged seal hunters armed with spiked clubs and get a front row seat as Watson rams his embattled ship directly into the side of an illegal Japanese whaling vessel.
Website: http://www.artistsconfederacy.com/pirateforthesea
Shark Water:
For filmmaker Rob Stewart, exploring sharks began as an underwater adventure. What it turned into was a beautiful and dangerous life journey into the balance of life on earth.
Driven by passion fed from a lifelong fascination with sharks, Stewart debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters and reveals the reality of sharks as pillars in the evolution of the seas.
Filmed in visually stunning, high definition video, Sharkwater takes you into the most shark rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world's shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.
Website: http://www.sharkwater.com
The Cove:
Academy Award Winner for Best Documentary of 2009, THE COVE follows an elite team of activists, filmmakers and freedivers as they embark on a covert mission to penetrate a remote and hidden cove in Taiji, Japan, shining a light on a dark and deadly secret. Utilizing state-of-the-art techniques, including hidden microphones and cameras in fake rocks, the team uncovers how this small seaside village serves as a horrifying microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide. The result is a provocative mix of investigative journalism, eco-adventure and arresting imagery, adding up to an unforgettable story that has inspired audiences worldwide to action.
Website: www.thecovemovie.com
Minds In The Water:
Minds in the Water is a feature-length documentary following the quest of professional surfer Dave Rastovich and his friends to protect dolphins, whales and the oceans they all share. Through Dave's journey—a five-year adventure spanning the globe from Australia to the Galapagos, Tonga, California, Alaska and Japan—we see one surfer's quest to activate his community to help protect the ocean and it's inhabitants from the threats of commercial slaughter and pollution.
Website: www.mindsinthewater.com
January 13, 2012
Defender of the Seas - Interview with Paul Watson
Defender of the Seas - Captain Paul Watson Travels the World to Challenge Illegal Whaling and Fishing, and Whale Wars Captures the Action
January 1, 2012
|
Captain Paul Watson
Photography By
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
A few years ago, National Geographic Traveler ranked Denmark’s Faroe Islands first among unspoiled island destinations. The landscape there is breathtakingly dramatic—impossibly sheer green cliffs dropping into blue harbors, cascading waterfalls, white shaggy sheep, coastal towns with buildings in bright, primary colors and grass-roofed cottages that look like storybook pictures come to life. Situated between Scotland and Iceland, the Faroes have a very distinct cultural identity drawn from their original Viking ancestry, with their own language (Faroese), a circular “chain dance” that consists of dancers holding hands and stomping feet along to Faroese ballads, and the annual grindadráp, or “grind,” dating back to the 16th century. During the grindadráp, hundreds of pilot whales are rounded into a bay with a semicircle of boats, forcing the animals to shallow water where they become stranded. Then, as community onlookers, including children, look on, Faroese men kill the whales with knives, hacking into the whales’ spinal cords. The many online photos and videos of these whale hunts show the men’s faces splattered with blood as they set about their grim task, the bay running red from boats to shore. Gruesome as it sounds, the grindadráp is considered a celebratory festival by locals.
It is this last cultural tradition that brought Captain Paul Watson and his Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to the Faroe Islands this past summer in a mission dubbed “Operation Ferocious Isles.” The Animal Planet show Whale Wars follows Watson and his crew as they challenge whalers in remote corners of the world, and the show’s notoriety ensured that his arrival would be noticed. Worried about the potential negative exposure, the Faroese police allowed no whale hunts while the Sea Shepherd boats—the Steve Irwin and the Brigitte Bardot—were on patrol. “They feel that if they don’t give us a whale hunt than we won’t have a show,” Watson says. “But we’re here to save whales, not to film whales being killed, so we’re quite happy with that.”
The Sea Shepherd’s patrol lasted from June to August, the whales’ peak migration months, and ended without a single pilot whale killed. But a report from the Faroe Islands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs later noted that as of September 2011 “there have been five whale drives, with a total catch of 406 pilot whales.” The average annual catch, according to the report, is 800 whales, a number it calls “fully sustainable.”
Watson with his flagship boat The Steve Irwin.
What Watson has witnessed in the Faroes in past years, he says, is nothing short of a “blood orgy” with no commercial or practical purpose. “They say it’s been done for hundreds of years, it’s a tradition. God gave them this gift from the sea. These guys get all worked up, they get drunk, they go down and they kill things. They kill everything—males, females, calves. They even rip the fetuses out of the bodies.”
For Watson, a staunch vegan and animal rights supporter, no amount of whale slaughter is justified. But the senselessness of such mass killings in light of the meat that cannot and will not be used—high mercury and PCB content means that blubber and whale meat, while part of the traditional Faroe diet, should not be eaten more than once or twice a month by adults, and not at all by pregnant women or children—and the fragile existence of whales across the globe, make such blood celebrations even more heinous.
Whales In Crisis
The killing of pilot whales in the Faroe Islands is something of a sideshow in the global story of threatened whales, since that species is not thought to endangered. The American Cetacean Society estimates that there are about a million long-finned pilot whales and at least 200,000 short-finned pilot whales across the globe, adding that these numbers are decreasing and that hard figures are difficult to come by. It is their very social nature, notes the society, that makes pilot whales such easy prey for humans seeking to round them up—and so prone to mass strandings (they tend to stick together). Like the killer whale, pilot whales belong to the dolphin family and display dolphin-like intelligence and trainability
The Faroe Islands: where beauty meets whale slaughter.
But even when whales are far from civilization—in the vast reaches of the Southern Ocean with its perilous storms, massive swells and ice floes—they are not safe from human predators. It is there, in dramatic, cinematic fashion that Watson and his mostly volunteer crew could be found on Season 4 of Whale Wars that aired this past summer, tracking Japanese whaling boats—particularly one whaling boat, the Nisshin Maru. Dubbed a scientific research vessel, the Nisshin Maru is permitted to kill 1,000 whales in the Southern Ocean each year thanks to a research loophole in the International Whaling Commission’s (IWC) 1986 ban on commercial whaling. This, despite the fact that the Southern Ocean contains a whale sanctuary also established by the IWC to allow diminishing whale stocks to recover, to assess the impact of zero catch limits on whale stocks and to research the impacts of environmental changes such as warming waters and pollution on whale numbers. And despite the fact that no one believes the Japanese are harpooning and butchering so many whales for research purposes.
Adventure journalist Peter Heller, who traveled with Watson and his crew in the Southern Ocean in a 2005-2006 campaign and wrote the book The Whale Warriors: The Battle at the Bottom of the World to Save the Planet’s Largest Mammals (Free Press) based on the experience, says the ruse of killing whales for research is a flimsy one that no one has the political will to challenge. “It’s clearly a commercial operation,” Heller says. “It’s horrifying that they can tell these lies with such a straight face to the international community, and it’s horrifying that the rest of the world doesn’t care enough to enforce the international law.” Also horrifying, he notes, is the drawn-out process by which these intelligent mammals are killed. “These explosive harpoons are supposed to kill them instantly—they never do,” he says. “They hit them in the wrong place, the whales are too tough. So they just thrash around on the ends of these harpoons, and they start drowning in their own hemorrhage and they’re crying out. Their babies, if they are mothers, swimming around. They reel the whales into the ship and they jab them with these electric probes. They run thousands of volts through them to try to kill them and that doesn’t really work. And it takes 20 minutes for them to die.
When it comes to the magnificent fin whale, a sleek, swift creature that can reach up to 160,000 pounds and live 80-90 years, there is no question as to its threatened status. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the fin whale as an endangered species—meaning it faces a very high risk of extinction—since the inception of the U.S. Endangered Species Protection Act in 1970. The fin whale is one of a host of whales on the endangered list, a list that includes the northern right whale, the bowhead whale, the blue whale, the humpback whale and the sperm whale. Endangered status may mean anywhere from a couple hundred to a couple hundred thousand of any one species are known to exist. For many species on the list, population numbers are simply listed “unknown.”
Thanks to Sea Shepherd’s vigilance in tracking the Japanese whaling ships, blocking the ability of the harpoon boats to unload catches, and making whale hunts impossible or frustrating them to such a degree that the ships turn home, Japanese whale hauls have declined dramatically in recent years
“We see real results,” Watson says. “Our last [2011] campaign to the Southern Ocean, the Japanese left a month and a half early after only taking 17% of their quota, so we saved 858 whales. Last year [in 2010], we saved 528 whales. We cut the kill quota of dolphins in Japan over the last year by half—and not a single pilot whale has been killed here in the Faroe Islands [at least, not while Watson was present]. So I think that our approach is effective. People call us violent but I don’t think we’re violent at all. I call it aggressive nonviolence, but as Mr. King once said, you can’t commit an act of violence against a non-sentient object and that’s our philosophy, too. We don’t injure people, but we will destroy equipment used to take lives.”
Watson’s World
Watson and his crew send a message to Norway to stop whaling.
Watson’s role has expanded with the growth of his activist organization, his public exposure via Whale Wars and the ongoing collapse of ocean species, from whales, to bluefin tuna to dolphins and seals. Really, he’s out to stop slaughter on the waters wherever he can find it. He was born in 1950 in Toronto, Canada, the eldest of seven children. His love for animals and the sea have been a constant from the earliest years. At nine, he removed leg-hold traps that were killing beavers. Ten years later, he joined the merchant marines and traveled through typhoons in the South China Sea and into the war zones of the Persian Gulf. Most famously, Watson co-founded Greenpeace with the initial intent of protesting nuclear testing on the U.S.-Canadian border. His main concern with the testing was that it might harm marine life. He would later organize the first Greenpeace campaign against whaling in the 1970s, and credits the experience of looking into a dying whale’s eye—a whale that had been harpooned and killed by a Russian whaler—with changing the course of his life. But Watson’s passion was too intense for the structured organization that Greenpeace would become. He saw only a need for confrontation, stopping ships and sealers by becoming marine life’s sole line of defense. It was a single-mindedness that couldn’t function within a bureaucracy. Watson broke off from Greenpeace and formed Sea Shepherd in 1977.
When Animal Planet was scouting for a conservation outfit to feature in a new documentary-style reality series four years ago, it was Greenpeace they considered first. “But very quickly as we started to do research it was easy to recognize that Sea Shepherd was the most dynamic conservation outfit out there,” says Jason Carey, executive producer and vice president of production for the show. “The fact that they are active in their conservation procedures, it made us feel like that would be the story to tell.”
Those who know him say Watson, with his wild white hair, off-color jokes and oversized personality, is a far cry from the typical dour environmentalist. “To me this is the wonder about Paul Watson,” says Heller. “Here’s a guy who feels not only the extinction—the thousands and thousands of species that go into the dark every year—feels it personally, [but] at the same time with that vulnerability is this advanced sense of fun. This great commitment to doing what we can, devil take the consequences, let the chips fall where they may, we’re going to do the right thing and try and mitigate the destruction to save these species—and let’s have fun while we’re doing it. It’s remarkable, actually.”
Heller’s experience aboard Watson’s former flagship the Farley Mowat (a boat the author describes as “an old rust buc-ket North Sea trawler that had the hull recently patched and only went nine knots”) let him see firsthand the intensity emanating from Watson and driving the organization despite the rundown boat, the horrendous storms, the 40-foot swells and the unseasoned crew. It was, he says, as though “there was some sort of divine force at work.” “The level of incompetence on the boat was kind of astounding,” Heller recalls of Watson’s nearly all-volunteer crew. “The level of commitment was equally astounding. And they made up for their incompetence with dedication and panache and esprit de corps. I think it’s remarkable that nobody got killed, actually.”
Sea Shepherd at the edge of an Antarctic ice shelf communing with the natives.
With the exception of a few onboard positions where experience is mandatory—helicopter pilot, helicopter mechanic, chief engineer and doctor—Watson crews his boats entirely with volunteers. “The key question,” says Watson, “is ‘Are you willing to risk your life for a whale?’ If they say ‘No,’ we don’t take them. Some people say that’s asking an awful lot, but I don’t think it’s asking a lot at all. We ask young people to risk their lives and die for oil wells and real estate and we think that’s OK. I think it’s a far more noble endeavor to protect an endangered species than to protect some oil company’s interests in the Middle East.” Thanks to the show, filling available slots has been easy—he has some 2,000 crew applications on file.
While Watson says no one has been seriously injured aboard his boats, they face constant risk, both from whalers who turn aggressive and the perilous conditions of the Antarctic waters. “We get shot at, we get rammed, we get death-charged,” Watson says. “[But] in the Southern Ocean our biggest concern is not people but the weather. We’re going down into one of the most remote and hostile environments on the planet.”
Battle on the Seas
Thanks to high-profile supporters like actor Martin Sheen, Hollywood businessman Ady Gil and former The Price Is Right host Bob Barker, along with the public exposure afforded by Whale Wars, Sea Shepherd is at least much better outfitted. It now has a futuristic-looking stealth boat in its fleet dubbed Gojira—Japanese for “Godzilla”—that’s black, low to the water, moving on what look to be two octopus-like tentacles with a green, fierce Godzilla creature snapping a harpoon in its claws painted on each side. The Gojira is fast, and it’s a focus of Whale Wars’ fourth season, acting in the oceanic battlefield as the first line of attack. In episode one, Watson uses Gojira to cut off one of the Japanese whaling ships trailing them so that his boat—the Steve Irwin—can slip outside its radar range. The Gojira crew, wearing black helmets adorned with Sea Shepherd’s signature Jolly Roger logo—a skull with a harpoon and trident crossed underneath—use a potato launcher to fire bottles of butyric acid (stink bombs) and red paint onto the harpoon boat, forcing it to change course.
L to R: Alex Cornelissen, captain of the Bob Barker, Paul Watson and Locky Maclean, captain
of the Gojira.
Watson insists that he keeps no guns or weapons on board, but relies only on defensive measures, from stink bombs and water cannons to simply blocking ships’ ability to load whales. He also adamantly denies that he is an “eco terrorist” but has gladly taken up the mantle of “eco pirate,” as reflected in Sea Shepherd’s logo, found on everything from the ships’ black flags to the coffee mugs and T-shirts sold online. “It turned out to be a good marketing move,” Watson says of all the pirate imagery, “because all the kids love it and it helps to sell merchandise. I think we raise $2 million a year for campaigns just on pirate merchandise.” Watson also knows his history and admits a certain affinity with pirates of old. He says: “If you want to get things done you get a pirate to do it, because pirates aren’t encumbered by bureaucracy. If you look throughout history, the only evil pirate I know of other than Blackbeard is Long John Silver, who didn’t exist. Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, the founder of the U.S. Navy John Paul Jones, Jean Lafitte—all heroes, all pirates.”
It’s a role that Watson now fills for the many volunteers who have joined his cause. His last Antarctic campaign featured 88 crew from 23 countries on three different ships. There’s no doubt who is inspiring these volunteers to risk their lives for whales. “The majority of those in Sea Shepherd who go out to Antarctica to fight the Japanese whalers are volunteers,” says Carey, Whale Wars’ executive producer. “Across the board, almost 100% of them say the reason they joined Sea Shepherd is because they heard Paul Watson speak somewhere and he’s the one that turned them onto it. He’s inspiring to young people who are of the mindset of trying to save the world. I think in 100 years, people are going to look back and say ‘He was a seminal person in the conservation leadership movement.’”
And the show fills a vital role in conveying Watson’s message to a worldwide audience otherwise disconnected from the realities of illegal fishing and whaling in the world’s remote seas. The idea of saving whales is nothing new—the challenge is getting new generations to care about saving whales. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is constantly finding ways to sell the same messages (factory farms are cruel, fur is cruel) and capture people’s attention, and their respect for Watson runs deep. While Sea Shepherd captures footage of Canadian seal clubbings, PETA is “publicizing and marketing and doing everything we can to get the footage viral so that people can see exactly what’s going on,” says Lisa Lange, PETA’s vice president of communications. While PETA may be best known for naked celebrities posing in protest of fur, their end mission is the same—to get people to pay attention.
“It’s tough in this day and age of a 24-hour news cycle and tabloid television, getting our little tiny slice of that pie so that people can pay attention to these very life and death issues that affect animals,” Lange says. “You have to be creative. You have to keep coming up with new ways of approaching issues that have been going on for a while. That’s something that Paul’s very good at and that PETA’s very good at. We work with celebrities, we do undercover investigations, we do protests and occasionally direct action or civil disobedience. It takes all those things to awaken a sleeping public, but once they’re awake, they’re the ones winning the campaign.”
An Ever-Shifting Enemy
Considering the scope of the ocean crisis—the whales facing extinction, the wholesale depletion of fish, the growing islands of floating pollution, the dying corals and warming waters—Watson’s mission is a lonely one, passionate crews notwithstanding. He can send a helicopter pilot out to scan for whaling ships, but his adversaries are many and the battlefield is vast. Last July, Watson turned his attention to bluefin tuna—massive, predatory fish that can travel 60-mile distances across the Atlantic at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour. Bluefin are prized by sushi restaurants and one fish can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Atlantic bluefin tuna is also on the verge of extinction, its population down more than 80% due to over-fishing. And both Atlantic and Southern bluefins are listed on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s “red list” for imperiled species
“I call it the economics of extinction,” Watson says. “These people want to wipe out the tuna, the reason being that the diminishment of tuna in the ocean results in higher prices for the ones they’ve packed into their warehouses in Japan. The fewer the tuna, the higher the price. The ones in the warehouses can eventually be worth half a million dollars.”
Sea Shepherd’s campaign “Operation Blue Rage” involves patrolling the Mediterranean Sea on the lookout for illegal bluefin fishing, a campaign that has been frustrated both by the difficulty of identifying illegal boats and the 2011 Libyan civil war. Without inspectors onboard fishing vessels or updated information regarding licenses and quotas, it’s nearly impossible to enforce anti-poaching regulations. But when Watson knows he’s stumbled onto an illegal fishing operation, he doesn’t hesitate to act. That happened in 2010, when he sent divers to cut 800 bluefin free of their nets off the Libyan coast. As Watson explains: “They [the fishing boat] didn’t have an ICCAT [International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas] inspector on board, they didn’t have paperwork, they refused to cooperate and they were belligerent. So then we went and checked the nets and saw that there were a lot of undersized tuna in there, so we simply cut the nets and released the tuna.” In response, the Maltese company Fish and Fish that had netted the fish sued for $1.4 million in damages in July 2011 and impounded Watson’s flagship boat, the Steve Irwin.
Thanks to a rapidly executed Twitter campaign and an appeal to his high-profile supporters, Watson was able to raise the more than $800,000 bond in 10 days to secure the boat’s release and continue on to his next campaign in the Faroe Islands.
He’s always moving from one battle to the next. “Every single fishery in the world is in a state of collapse,” he says. “We’re literally fishing out our oceans.” That’s not hyperbole. A report published in the journal Science in 2006 found that there could be a 100% global collapse of all species fished or harvested from the oceans by 2048. And back in 2003, the science journal Nature reported that since 1950, we have lost 90% of all large fish across the globe. That includes tuna, swordfish, marlin, cod and flounder, among others. “These are the megafauna, the big predators of the sea, and the species we most value,” study coauthor Boris Worm of Dalhousie University told National Geographic at the time. “Their depletion not only threatens the future of these fish and the fishers that depend on them, it could also bring about a complete reorganization of ocean ecosystems, with unknown global consequences.”
And these concerns are only the beginning. In addition to disappearing fish, Watson rattles off a list of other current ocean threats: “Plastic pollution, heavy metal pollution, acidification. At a conference on coral reef systems the conclusion was that by 2022 there will be no coral reef systems, they’ll all be dead. Now they’re out there harvesting plankton. We’ve lost 30% of our phytoplankton since 1950. And nobody pays too much attention because it’s all out of sight, out of mind. I don’t think people really fathom how serious this situation is, and you’re not going to solve it by doing green marketing.”
When considering the magnitude of the ocean threats and the immediacy of the concerns, it’s hard to believe that Watson is so alone in his determination to tackle the problem head-on—the “anti-Ahab,” as Heller described him in The Whale Warriors, his ship “a jaunty, compact, black shadow on the taut blue sea…completely self-sufficient and alone.” By now, one would think Watson would have spawned an army of imitators. Instead, he and his crew went alone to the Galapagos last fall to help set up strategically placed “repeater stations” that pick up radio signals from boats to help find poachers. Watson considers the Galapagos protection efforts his organization’s flagship campaign, saying “If we can’t save the Galapagos, we’re not going to save anything.” Sea Shepherd has provided the Galapagos with a patrol boat and surveillance barge and set up a canine unit, working alongside park rangers and the Ecuadorian police. “What’s happening in the Galapagos is what’s happening in the world overall,” Watson says. “Ecotourism is destroying the place, poachers are destroying the place, and overpopulation is destroying the place.”
In 2011, Watson spent just five days at his home in Friday Harbor, Washington. The rest of the year he was navigating the ocean, fulfilling the silent promise he made to that dying whale so many years ago. One man, out to save the sea.
BRITA BELLI is editor of E.
http://www.emagazine.com/magazine/defender-of-the-seas
January 11, 2012
The slaugther of whales and dolphins in the name of profit and pride
Japanese whalers slaughtering whales in the Antarctic Ocean:
THE COVE - Trailer for the documentary regarding the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji (Japan):
THE COVE - Video sample of the documentary (10 mins):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5er8KF5o_8&feature=related
THE COVE - Full documentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M9xFs34K1g
THE COVE - Trailer for the documentary regarding the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji (Japan):
THE COVE - Video sample of the documentary (10 mins):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5er8KF5o_8&feature=related
THE COVE - Full documentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M9xFs34K1g
INTERVIEW - Sea Shepherd and Operation Divine Wind
By Kirk Owers |
10 January 2012
http://www.tracksmag.com/201112314120/Blogs/Tracks-Blog/Sea-Shepherd-Conservation-Operation-Divine-Wind.html
http://www.tracksmag.com/201112314120/Blogs/Tracks-Blog/Sea-Shepherd-Conservation-Operation-Divine-Wind.html
 Meet Ben Potts, Pottsy to his mates. Ben’s from the Illawarra coast and grew up surfing Garie Beach in the Royal National Park, south of Sydney. Like a lot of surfers Ben’s moved around, chasing waves, work, adventures and good times. Five years ago he decided it was time to give something back to the natural world. He joined the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to help protect endangered marine life. It’s a big job. According to many experts global fish stocks are likely to collapse in the next thirty years if we keep fishing and polluting at our current pace.  While the Sea Shepherd’s direct action approach (which has involved ramming and sinking vessels) regularly draws criticism, supporters feel they have the greater good on their side. Last year the Sea Shepherd’s vessels managed to block Japanese whalers in the southern Ocean and save the lives of over 800 whales. The Japanese went home early and it was hoped they would abandon their illegal slaughter. This year they are heading back and with a patrol boat for protection. The Japanese have said they will not back down to the Sea Shepherd. The Sea Shepherd say they will not back down to the Japanese. They add that they are prepared to risk their lives.  Pottsy recently set sail from Hobart aboard the Bob Barker. It will join two other Sea Shepherd vessels in the Southern Ocean hunting the hunters. The Sea Shepherd have called their operation “Divine Wind” which is a translation of the Japanese word “kamikaze” popularized by suicide pilots in World War II. Fears expressed by the mainstream media that human lives could be lost in this summer’s campaign don’t seem entirely unfounded. Pottsy will be blogging from the Bob Barker exclusively for Tracks throughout the campaign. Spare a thought for him bobbing down there near Antarctica while you bob around in the same body of water awaiting your next summer barrel. We asked Ben a few questions before he set sail... Tracks: How long have you been with Sea Shepherd and why did you join? Pottsy: I’ve been with Sea Shepherd for five years now and I guess the thing that really sealed my decision to join was a tour of the ship Farley Mowat in Melbourne in 2006. I already knew of Sea Shepherd from a documentary called ‘Ocean Warrior’ I’d seen a few years before showing them ramming illegal drift-netters, sinking Icelandic whaling ships and pulling up long lines – powerful stuff. Walking onboard the rusty, old black battered pirate ship I had an over whelming feeling that this is where I wanted to be – defending the place I loved – the ocean. I had become increasingly disturbed about the destruction of our wild places and the senseless slaughter of animals. Finally here was a crew that was really getting out there on the front lines to do something about it and I was hooked. What is your job on board? My job onboard the vessel is that of Boson which means I run the deck department. In port this is a mix between a site foreman and hostel manager and at sea it involves training the volunteer crew in seamanship, damage control, fire fighting, small boat and helicopter operations and all the other duties required to keep the ship running smoothly. I originally started out in the galley cooking and have learnt everything else on the job.  What were you doing before you joined up? I grew up at a little spot called Heathcote which is about half way between Sydney and Wollongong. My local break was Garie in the Royal National Park where I first started surfing along with beaches to the south at Stanwell and Coledale and of course Cronulla to the north. I’ve done a lot of different jobs from dish pigging to construction, tree planting, working on the ski lifts, cooking and delivering street press. I never stuck to one particular thing for too long as I liked drifting, enjoying discovering new places and meeting some amazing crew. The Sea Shepherd organisation attracts strong opinions for and against. How do you respond to criticisms that the organisation’s direct action approach can put lives at risk and be counter-productive? Sea Shepherd’s mission is to expose the illegal slaughter of marine wildlife and directly intervene to stop to it. We don’t go out to hurt anyone that is not our aim and in 30 years of campaigning no one has been injured or killed. But if we can prevent illegal fishermen, whalers and sealers from carrying out their grisly business by shutting down their machinery then we see no harm in bending a bit of steel to save lives, especially those of endangered species. Time has run out for banner waving and protest – industrial fishing fleets and earth raping corporations answer only to the bottom line. They care not about the future but about maximizing profits until our oceans are empty and dead. The world’s leading marine scientists have warned that all major fisheries will collapse before 2040 due to overfishing. The oceans are dying in our time and unless we act urgently and with force our children will suffer the complete failure of earth's life support system.  Do you feel you may be risking your life? The dangers involved were obvious – violent clashes with whalers and sealers, extreme conditions in remote waters, old ships and shoestring budgets but at the end of the day what was worth struggling for: my next rent payment or a species facing extinction. If I was going to risk my life (lets face it you do it every time you get pissed with your mates!) then certainly this is the most worthy cause – in defence of life. Are your family freaking? My family didn’t quite get it at first but they knew of my motivations as I had often talked to them about environmental issues as well as vegetarianism. They worry a lot when we are at sea but are very supportive as they can see that this is the path that I have chosen. Stay tuned for updates from Pottsy coming at you direct from the Southern Ocean. All photos courtesy of Sea Shepherd: Visit their website HERE |
The Project - Interview regarding Sea Shepherd and political issues
From the Australian TV program "The Project":
January 9, 2012
Interview: Bob Barker on Japanese whale hunt
ABC News - Adrienne Alpert speaks with game show legend Bob Barker about his fight to stop the Japanese whale hunt. (Part 1): http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/video?id=8494425
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