Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

File:Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.png
Founded	1981 in Oregon,  United States
Founder	Paul Watson
Type	501(c)(3)
Focus	Environmentalism, Marine conservation
Location	Friday Harbor, Washington,  United States Melbourne, Australia
Area served	Global
Method	Direct action
Key people	Paul Watson
Website	http://www.seashepherd.org

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a non-profit registered tax-exempt organization in the United States and a registered Stichting (foundation) in the Netherlands.^[1] It is based in Friday Harbor, Washington in the United States and in Melbourne, Australia for its Southern Hemisphere operations. Members undertake campaigns that the society says are guided by the United Nations World Charter for Nature (1982) and other statutory laws protecting marine species and environments.^[2][3] It operates a fleet of three vessels it calls "Neptune's Navy": the RV Farley Mowat, the MV Steve Irwin, and the RV Sirenian, as well as several smaller boats.^[4]

The society was founded in 1977 by Paul Watson, an early member of Greenpeace, after a dispute with the organization over the philosophy of "bearing witness" to the killing of whales.^[5][6] In contrast to Greenpeace, which avoids damage to or physically interfering with whaling ships at sea, Sea Shepherd engages in "direct action" which involves disabling and otherwise physically interfering with the operations of whaling vessels.^[7]

Sea Shepherd engages in conventional protests and direct actions to protect such marine wildlife as seals, dolphins and whales. Direct actions have included scuttling commercial fishing vessels while in harbor, disabling and "stink bombing" of vessels in harbor and at sea, non-violent but extralegal boarding of whaling vessels while at sea,^[8] and seizure and destruction of drift nets at sea. Sea Shepherd has also conducted an intense media campaign against Japanese high-seas whaling and the Canadian sealing industry in particular. There have been no deaths or serious injuries from Sea Shepard actions, though claims of injuries have been reported. The most recent injury report was made by two Japanese crewmen who claim being splashed with a foul-smelling butyric acid stink bomb during Sea Shepherd's February 2007 action in the Ross Sea.^[9] Sea Shepherd admitted to throwing six one-litre bottles of butyric acid onto the deck of the Nisshin Maru, but says that the claims of injuries are "a total fabrication" and that the butyric acid they use is "basically rancid butter". ^[10]

Sea Shepherd bases its actions on enforcement of international maritime law under the United Nations World Charter for Nature; however, the organization has no official mandate or authorization to enforce any legislation. Sea Shepherd was deprived of its status as an International Whaling Commission observer after sinking Icelandic vessels in 1986. In 1994, IWC Secretary Ray Gambell stated "the IWC and all its members ardently condemn Sea Shepherd's acts of terrorism."^[1] In 2006 the outgoing Vice Chair of the IWC, Horst Kleinschmidt, joined the Board of Sea Shepherd as an advisor. Sea Shepherd is supported by private and corporate donations and operated by volunteers and paid staff, including Watson's wife. Critics refer to the organization as "pirate[s]" and "terrorist[s]",^[9] and consider Sea Shepherd's harassment of targeted fishing and resource-extraction operations to be outside the law. However, Sea Shepherd believes they have a good understanding of the law and operate openly in the UK (where Sea Shepherd UK has charity status^[11]) and other countries.

Until recently, countries such as Australia have hesitated to pressure Japan to stop whaling because of concerns about harming trade relations.^[12] Sea Shepherd supporters claim that small countries in the IWC that support whaling have been bought by Japanese development aid.^{[citation needed]} Japan is behind only the U.S. as an aid donor.^[13] However, the former Australian environment minister, Ian Campbell, stated that the activities of Sea Shepherd "puts the cause of conservation backwards" and urged the organisation to "comply with the law of the sea and not do anything to put at risk other vessels on the high seas and therefore human life".^[14] Yet Campbell later reversed his non-confrontational stance by joining the Sea Shepherd advisory board upon retiring from politics and even calling for Australia to "go to war" with Japan to stop their whale hunt in Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.^[15] [1]. Australia maintains that Japan is breaking the law and violating its territorial waters with the whale slaughters [2]. Japan has refused to recognize the legality of the sanctuary.

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Paul Watson, the founder of the group, was arrested in 1993 in Canada on charges stemming from actions against Cuban and Spanish fishing boats off the coast of Newfoundland; but he was found not guilty through relying on Canadian ratification of the UN Charter for Nature (1982).^{[citation needed]} In 1997, he was convicted in absentia in Norway on charges of sinking a Norwegian whaling ship, and spent 80 days in jail in the Netherlands, but he was not extradited to face new charges related to the encounter with the Norwegian Coast Guard vessel Andenes in 1994.^{[citation needed]} Costa Rica filed attempted murder charges against Watson for an incident after he caught a Costa Rican fishing boat poaching, but charges were dropped after prosecutors were shown a film of the incident that was shot by a team making a documentary of Sea Shepherd.^[16]

Another animal rights activist, Rod Coronado, who has also had numerous legal problems stemming from his activism, got his start in activism with Sea Shepherd, participating in one of its best-known and most controversial actions, the scuttling of two ships from Iceland's whaling fleet while in port in 1986.^{[citation needed]}

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Sea Shepherd operations include interdiction against whaling in Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary of the Southern Ocean, patrols of the Galapagos Islands, and action against Canadian seal hunters.^{[7][5][17][18]} Sea Shepherd has an affiliated organization, O.R.C.A. Force whose president is Watson.^[19]

Sea Shepherd claims to have sunk ten whaling ships since 1979, referring to these ships as "pirates".^[20] The claimed attacks include:

• 1979 – the whaler Sierra rammed and sunk in Portugal;
• 1980 – the whalers Isba I and Isba II sunk in Vigo, Spain;
• 1980 – the whalers Susan and Theresa sunk in South Africa;
• 1986 – the whaling ships Hvalur 6 and Hvalur 7 sunk in Iceland;
• 1992 – the whaler Nybraena sunk in Norway;
• 1994 – the whaler Senet sunk in Norway;
• 1998 – the whaler Morild sunk in Norway.

In 2007, two ships operated by Sea Shepherd (Farley Mowat and Robert Hunter were removed from the shipping registers of the United Kingdom and Belize.^[7] Later on that year, the ships received the flag of the Kahnawake Mohawk nation.^[21] According to a November 2007 article in The New Yorker, both the Farley Mowat, and the Steve Irwin now sail under the Dutch flag.^[22]

In December 2007, the ship Robert Hunter was renamed the Steve Irwin, after Australian Steve Irwin ("The Crocodile Hunter"), who was rumored to be planning to sail with the Sea Shepherds.^[23]

Sea Shepherd maintained a naval patrol in the Galapagos Islands to protect sea turtles and other marine wildlife, and a campaign against the 2005 seal hunt in Canada, which includes a boycott of Canadian seafood products.

Between December 2005 and January 2006 Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace vessels were in the Southern Ocean to confront Japanese whalers. Sea Shepherd declared that they would do whatever they thought was necessary to prevent the Japanese whaling operations, even if it cost them their own ship. The Farley Mowat rammed a Japanese supply ship called the Oriental Bluebird. On January 16 the organisation declared that their fuel supplies had run out and that they were heading to shore. They claimed credit for chasing the whalers from whaling grounds and hindering operations for over 15 days.^[24]

In February 2007, the Robert Hunter and Farley Mowat participated in Operation Leviathan by surrounding the Japanese whaling vessel Kaiko Maru to attempt to prevent the vessel from continuing its hunting. The Robert Hunter and Farley Mowat obstructed the path of the whaling ship,^[25] and the Robert Hunter and Kaiko Maru collided with each other. The Robert Hunter suffered a 3-foot long gash in the hull above the waterline at the stern of the ship.^[26]

In May 2007, Sea Shepherd announced that they would be sending the Farley Mowat to Iceland in response to an announcement that they would be resuming commercial hunting of Fin and Minke whales. ^[27] In August 2007, Sea Shepherd stated that they no longer believed Iceland intended to follow through with their planned hunting activities, and the Farley Mowat was never sent to Icelandic waters. ^[28][29] However, in 2008, the Icelandic Fisheries Minister announced a commercial whaling quota of 40 minke whales and hunting began in May 2008.

The recent 2007-08 Antarctic campaign was named Operation Migaloo, after the only known albino humpback in the world.^[30] and is the focus of the weekly Animal Planet reality television series Whale Wars, which premiered on American TV on November 7, 2008.

On January 15 2008, after attempting to entangle the whaling vessel's propeller and throwing containers of butyric acid onto the decks^[31], two Sea Shepherd members Benjamin Potts and Giles Lane from the Sea Shepherd vessel MV Steve Irwin boarded the Japanese whaling vessel Yushin Maru No. 2 while both were underway in the High Seas^[32] of the Antarctic Ocean, by using a Zodiac inflatable boat^[33]. A "hostage" situation resulted with the Japanese crew to holding the Sea Shepherd activists until they could be handed over to Australian authorities.^[34] The crew of the Yushin Maru No. 2 detained the two men for illegal boarding and vandalism. The pair were initially tied to the railings, and then tied to the Satellite transmitter mast for several minutes. The ICR initially denied these reports although Sea Shepherd later released photographs they claimed showed the point where Potts and Lane were tied to the Satellite transmitter mast. ^[35]

Sea Shepherd stated that the pair were attempting to deliver a letter of protest, after many hours during which the Japanese vessels did not acknowledge any radio contact, with the news that the Japanese whale hunt in Australia's Antarctic waters and Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary had earlier in the day been ruled illegal by the Australian Federal Court.^[36] The Japanese stated that it was the Sea Shepherd vessel who refused the radio contact. Since both Sea Shepherd and Japan blamed each other for not responding to the radio contact, the two men were finally released from the Japanese ship 17 January, and were handed over to the Australian customs vessel MV Oceanic Viking.^[37][38] The Australian government decided to release them the same day without criminal charges because they "apparently had no intention to commit malicious crimes, such as robbery."^[31]

On March 32008 Sea Shepherd members threw bottles of butyric acid and packages of slippery powder onto the Japanese vessel Nisshin Maru. Three on board claimed injuries, with one reporting acid in his eyes, according to a report in the Yomiuri Shimbun, though "on Japanese claims the four crew had been hurt, Watson said: "They are so full of crap. "We filmed and photographed the entire thing. Not a single thing landed anywhere near their crew ... It is their way of trying to get sympathy" [3]. ^[39]. The Japanese deputy foreign minister Itsunori Onodera summoned the ambassadors of the Netherlands and Australia and requested to take "immediate and appropriate actions". The Australian ambassador expressed his "sincere regret" to the incident. He also referred to the statement from the Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith who condemned any kind of violence against the Japanese crew members.^[40] This brought a stinging rebuke from the Sea Shepherd [4].

Four days later on March 17, 2008 crew from the Steve Irwin again threw bottles containing butyric acid onto the decks of the Nisshin Maru. The Japan Coast Guard, reportedly armed with sidearms and rifles, responded by throwing flash grenades at the crew of the Steve Irwin, with claims by Sea Shepherd of one crew being slightly injured directly from an explosion.^[41] Paul Watson was allegedly hit by a bullet which lodged in his ballistic vest that he was wearing. David Page, the ship's doctor onboard the Steve Irwin, was filmed by Sea Shepherd crew prying a bullet from Watsons's Kevlar vest, and said "You have been hit by a bullet".^{[42][43][44][41][45]}

According to the Australian Foreign Affairs Minister, Japan advised the Australian Embassy in Tokyo that a crew member on board the Japanese whaling vessel fired warning shots, but this was later retracted in an update press release.^[46][47]

The International Whaling Commission issued a statement on March 8, 2008 that "called upon the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to refrain from dangerous actions that jeopardise safety at sea, and on vessels and crews concerned to exercise restraint."^[48] The statement also reiterated earlier IWC resolutions from May and July 2007 not specifically directed at Sea Shepherd that read in part, "The commission and its contracting governments do not condone and in fact condemn any actions that are a risk to human life and property in relation to the activities of vessels at sea." ^{[49] [50]}

On September 17th, 2008, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has announced that the Interpol has put three Sea Shepherd members on an international wanted list on suspicion of interfering with Japan’s whaling activities in the Antarctic Ocean in February 12th, 2007.^[51]

On 2008-03-29 the MV Farley Mowat and a Canadian Coast Guard ship collided while Farley Mowat was observing the Canadian seal hunts. This incident led to the arrest of the captain and first officer of the ship on 12 April 2008.^[52]

On 2008-04-12, during the 2008 Canadian commercial seal hunt, the MV Farley Mowat was raided by Canadian coast guard vessels after the ship was said to have encroached on seal hunters off the coast of Newfoundland.^[53] During the raid, the captain and first officer were arrested and are awaiting charges.^[54] The location of the boat at the time of the seizure is controversial. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society claims the boat was seized illegally in international waters. The Canadian Fisheries minister claims that the boat was seized in Canadian waters, but also that the Fisheries Act gave him authority to order the boarding outside Canada's territorial waters zone of 12 nautical miles.^[55]

The captain and first officer made a court appearance on 1 May 2008.^[56] On 2 July 2008, they entered a plea of not guilty to coming too close to sealers. Trial dates have not been set.^[57]

The current 2008-2009 Antarctic campaign is named Operation Musashi after the 17th-century Japanese strategist Miyamoto Musashi.^[58] On December 4th, 2008, actress Daryl Hannah joined Sea Shepherd's crew aboard the Steve Irwin to take part in this season's operation.^[59]

Sea Shepherd has been criticized for dangerous protests and cutting drift nets, and accused of high seas piracy. Its critics include the Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research. At the IWC Meetings in 2006, 2007 and 2008, the International Whaling Commission condemned Sea Shepherd's actions.^{[citation needed]}

Japan, among its many criticisms of the group, objects to the use of butyric acid stink bombs, which is essentially rancid butter, that at a minimum make it difficult to work on the decks of affected ships because of the substance's nauseating effects. Industrial safety data sheets warn of the corrosive properties of the acid, which can irritate skin and eyes^[60] and harm aquatic organisms.^[61]

Greenpeace has also criticized Sea Shepherd for the group's tactics ^[62], particularly regarding its interaction with whaling ships while at sea. After a policy dispute over the subject of direct action, Greenpeace's governing body removed Watson from their board. ^[6] The rival environmental group maintains Sea Shepherd is a violent organization whose tactics may endanger the lives of fishermen and whalers, an accusation which Sea Shepherd disputes. ^[63] "We are not going to help people who have said they will use violence," according to a Greenpeace statement. "We are here to save the whales, not put the lives of whalers at risk."^[64]

Supporters and endorsers of Sea Shepherd include well known people such as the former Vice Chair of the IWC Horst Klienschmidt, Australian Minister of the Environment Ian Campbell, whale scientist Dr. Roger Payne, Oceanographer Dr. Joe McInnis, Anthropologist Dr. Louise Leakey, Naturalist Terri Irwin, Marine wildlife photographer Robert Talbot [5], Richard Dean Anderson, who was named a board member of the group^[65]; Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama^[66]; cosmetics company Lush^[67], and the musical group Red Hot Chili Peppers.

While Australia has declared Japan's hunt in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to be illegal, federal court judge Jim Allsop has stated "there is no practical mechanism by which orders of this court can be enforced" [6]. Thus, albeit without official sanction, the Sea Shepherd Society, who feel that without enforcement these laws are essentially toothless gestures, sees itself as the enforcer of last resort. "Sea Shepherd, guided by the United Nations World Charter for Nature, is the only organization whose mission is to enforce these international conservation regulations on the high seas" [7]. "The Japanese whaling fleet is targeting 935 threatened Piked whales plus 50 endangered Fin whales in an established Whale Sanctuary in violation of a global moratorium on commercial whaling." [8]. [They] "are in blatant violation of international conservation laws" [9] "We are down here to enforce international conservation law and to stop the illegal whaling operations." [10].

It is those violating these laws who are the outlaws, says Sea Shepherd, and as such they have to assume the risk inherent in their illegal shenanigans. Thus while they firmly state that no physical harm has ever come to any sealers or whalers, the equipment used in illegal hunting, on the other hand, is fair game. "Yes we have sunk whaling ships, rammed whalers and drift netters, boarded poaching vessels and destroyed equipment used for illegal exploitation of the oceans and we believe that these are valid tactics" [11]. "It's hard to renounce violence when we have never been violent' ... 'In our entire history of over three decades we have never caused a single injury to a single person. As for property damage, Sea Shepherd has never damaged any property that has not been used in a criminal activity. That is why we have never been convicted of a felony or of any property crime, nor have we been sued" [12].

I stand in honorable company as a modern-day pirate, though I've not shot anyone, burned any ships, looted any cargoes or kidnapped anyone. We are also pirates with a sense of humor and a moral code of non-violence. In 30 years of eco-piracy we have never injured a single poacher, though we've sent nine whalers to the bottom. Instead of cannon balls, our guns shoot coconut cream and chocolate pie-filling. We toss stink bombs instead of grenades and we are so non-violent we don't even eat meat or fish on our ships. No fish, fowl or mammals have died in the making of our high seas campaigns. What we do is defend the whales from illegal slaughter by ruthless and merciless killers. If people want to call us pirates for that, we're proud to be so. We have whales to save and Japanese ships to attack" [13].

• Paul Watson, Earthforce! An Earth Warrior's Guide to Strategy (Los Angeles: Chaco Press, 1993). ISBN 0-9616019-5-7
• Paul Watson, Ocean Warrior: My Battle to End the Illegal Slaughter on the High Seas (1994; Key Porter Books, 1996). ISBN 978-1550135992
• Paul Watson, Seal Wars: Twenty-five Years in the Front Lines with the Harp Seals (2002; Firefly Books, 2003). ISBN 978-1552977514
• David B. Morris, Earth Warrior: Overboard with Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 1995). ISBN 1-55591-203-6
• Neptune's Manifesto: How a few good pirates can save the oceans. Whole Earth Review, Fall 1998.
• Rik Scarce, Eco-Warriors: Understanding the Radical Environmental Movement, second revised ed. (1990; Left Coast Press, 2005), Ch. 6. ISBN 978-1598740288

• Rod Coronado
• Animal Rights
• Law of the Sea
• International Law Enforcement

• Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
• "The Whale Warriors" by Peter Heller National Geographic Adventure May 2006 Pages 58-64 and 95-100.