Sea Shepherd: A Whale of a Good Time

A Special Message to All Sea Shepherd Supporters

As the year 2001 comes to a close, I would like to thank-you for helping the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society achieve some very notable successes over the last twelve months.

In summary we achieved the following:

1. We delivered our fast patrol vessel Sirenian to the Galapagos National Park to begin a five-year campaign to apprehend illegal fishing operations inside the Galapagos National Park Marine Reserve. Over the last year, we arrested and seized nine illegal fishing vessels. Two vessels have been ordered confiscated by the Ecuadorian courts, thus, setting an important legal precedent for protecting the Galapagos.

2. In January our ship Sirenian was the first vessel on the scene of the oil tanker Jessica spill in the Galapagos. Our crew spent three months cleaning up oil, and rescuing and cleaning birds, seals, and marine iguanas.

3. In July our ship Ocean Warrior documented evidence of illegal whaling around the Caribbean island of San Lucia, and we brought the issue of Caribbean whaling before the media during the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission in London.

4. In August, The Ocean Warrior stopped in Trinidad and Tobago where our crew patrolled the remote beaches of Tobago to protect sea-turtles. Not one turtle was slain on our watch.

5. We also voyaged to Costa Ricas Cocos Island National Park where we arrested and seized an Ecuadorian long-liner the San Jose with 70 kilometers of illegal line set inside the marine reserve. We turned the ship and crew over to Costa Rican rangers for prosecution.

6. We have now established working agreements with both the Galapagos National Park, and Cocos Island National Park to assist the rangers from both Ecuador and Costa Rica to protect these two world heritage sites. We intend to return early in 2002 to set up a radar surveillance base at Cocos Island and we intend to extend our efforts to the protection of Columbia's Mapelo Island National Park. When we return, we will be accompanied by a crew from the CBS program Sixty Minutes.

7. We have closely monitored the whaling activities in Washington State, and we have been busy with legal challenges to this controversial whale hunt. Not one whale was killed in the year 2000 or 2001 in Washington State. We gave the local Clallum County, Washington group Peninsula Citizens for the Protection of Whales an inflatable boat so they would be prepared in the event of any attempt to slaughter a whale.

8. We have launched an effective publicity campaign in Singapore to discourage the serving of shark-fin soup, and we continue to embarrass the Faeroe Islands over the horrific slaughter of pilot whales.

9. In South Africa, we have helped to set up a seal rescue and rehabilitation center.

10. We also made some considerable progress in opposing illegal whaling activities in Norway, Iceland, and in the Danish Faeroe Islands.

These are a few of the things we could not have accomplished without the support of people like yourself who care enough about our world's oceans to give us the support that we need to make a difference.

We Need Your Help in 2002

Now we need you help for 2002. Like many other charitable organizations, we took a funding hit due to the events of September 11th.

Unfortunately the terrorism that is decimating life in our oceans continues and we must continue to intervene.

* The Ocean Warrior is presently in drydock in Seattle. We need to raise $125,000 for drydock work to make the ship ready to return to sea by mid-February.

* We also need to raise $30,000 for fuel and another $30,000 for operating costs.

So any help you can give to get our ship back out to sea and back to Cocos Island and the Galapagos will be gratefully appreciated.

If you donate before the end of the year, you will of course be sent a tax-deductible receipt for 2001.

Donations can be sent to:

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society P.O. Box 2670 Malibu, California 90265

Or you can donate online on our website at www.seashepherd.org <http://www.seashepherd.org>

Thank-you for a successful year of interventions. Best Wishes for 2002

Captain Paul Watson Founder and International President Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Another example of pseudo environmentalists who claim that 1) Caribbean nations are bribed by Japan to vote with them with regard to sustainable cetacean resource utilisation at the IWC 2) Caribbean nations want to hunt cetacean resources.

Honestly - if they want to hunt cetacean resources, is it really necessary for Japan to bribe them in order to get them to vote positively for sustainable cetacean resource use at the IWC?!?!?!

If indeed Japan *is* bribing the Caribbean nations, then it is a very good illustration of just how smart the Caribbean nations are! And if they are smart, then that is another reason to trust their logical and scientifically grounded opinion with regard to whaling, as opposed to the opinion of New Zealand, who provide little reason for their stance at the IWC.

He left out:

11. We launched a lawsuit which resulted in a ruling expanding hunting by the Makah.

Finally, Sea Shepherd does something useful.

[big snip]

Ya know... Most of this sounds very commendable. Cleaning up oil spills, thwarting poachers, interfering with illegal activities, ... Very nice. The only item which stands out as uncharacteristic is this constant harrassment of the Makah whaling which is a LEGAL and justified activity.

Ya know... I am opposed to commercial whaling - just don't see the need. I am opposed to Japan taking 600 Minke whales/year for 'scientific study'. I am opposed to illegal whaling wherever it occurs. I am opposed to any over-use of any resource.

But you are never going to get any major support for attacking a small group who hunts strictly for their own use. They did not cause the problem and attacking them will not solve the problem. Go after the Japanese, Norwegians, and Pirates and you have my support. Create an emotion based hate campaign against people who are not your enemy and you invalidate all the good things you do.

Most people eat animals. We are all part of the food chain and there is no shame or guilt in that. Believing it is never OK to kill a whale because they are somehow closer to divinity may be your opinion, but is not currently a legal argument.

Go after the criminals and exploiters and leave the Makah alone.

Randy Ww

Aloha Sunfavor! long time since I read your name! Ahh the SS they be sailing the bounty elswhere in the oceans bluy but do so little to impress what if anything they have done to help the waters in their own back yards? 'What have they done for her latly' Oh sounds so Janet Jackson, but I say 'boogie up to the facts boy's, impress us all with your magnificent talentes in Environmental Repartation and protection stratigies for say........the next seven generations' Impress us with a vision of the rivers and other contributaries that make up the presious ocean habitat. Does the SS have any concern to educate the masses or at least the few folk here at Alt Native with what your efforts? So far, we have seen only tunnel vision over the past few years, now you have the gall to come beg for the $$$$$ at a place where your 'Poster boy's' have purly shown utter disrespect for the Origonal People of Alt Native. Over the years it has been like a mission for your 'poster boy's' to denigrate posters to the point they no longer post here. SS, you folk's show your true colors when you leave a mess behind, your home ports are sick so you sail off into the sun set Please take your 'poster boy's' with you and begg for $$$$ some where ells....Lisa D....PS Sun, this little spew is not at all directed at you, you just bring out a bright spot Aloha....

Sunfavor, the SS has always been usefull that a way Aloha....Lisa D....

<Snipped>

And why should they go after Norwegians and Japanese? Those campaigns are also based on emotions.

<Snipped>

-Håvid A Falch

So far so good...

Yeah, well... I don't see the need of raising cattle. I mean, the Hindus worship cattle, so you should show them some respect by not eating cattle yourself. It's only logical. And don't eat pigs either. The muslims don't like that.

No, it's real science. You need to get your facts straight.

Good for you. So are the Norwegian and Japanese whalers.

Ditto.

The.. pirates??? What do you mean? Captain Hook and his mateys are out there plonking whales? Get real.

And why would you approve of people 'going after' the Norwegians and the Japanese?

Kinda like you're trying to do against the Norwegians and the Japanese, you mean?

You sure are one mixed-up guy.

Is there a need for people to kill cows for food? No, we could eat something else. Is there a need to harvest rice? No, we could grow something else.

It isn't about need. It is about what sovereign peoples rights are. Japan and Norway both want to have commercial whaling industries. In New Zealand we have a commercial cow farming industry. It would be hypocritical for me to say that they had no need for commercial whaling, if I intended New Zealand to continue our cow farming practices. What sort of commercial industries are there where you live? Are they 100% necessary, or could there be substitutes?

Please note that the scientific study is important as Japan wants to ensure that whaling is sustainable. The scientific study will enable safe catch limits to be calculated, and at the same time allow for the development of a whaling industry.

Me too.

I agree here.

Can't agree here. The Japanese and Norwegians have the same rights as the Makah.

No problem with go after pirates either.

I hope the anti whalers note the use of the words 'emotion based hate campaign'.

Dam straight my friend. I'm human and proud of it.

And given that cows already have god status in India, I can't see the whales ever surpassing them!

I agree but there is nothing wrong IMO with exploitation so long as it is not over exploitation. I have no problem with any form of whaling providing it is sustainable.

I agree. I used those examples only because they represent the last vestiges of commercial whaling (though it is often disguised as non-commercial).

For those on the whaling ng; do y'all know the 20th century connection between whales and transmission fluid and the real reason the US finally supported the commercial whaling ban? I used to be a member of Greenpeace (though never will again) and that whole thang still leaves a taste in my mouth. Kinda the right results for the wrong reason.

And then we can get into how DuPont orchestrated the current US hemp laws (or maybe that is another ng or two).

Randy