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- Friday, 16 June 2017
Sea Shepherd is anti-whaling - not anti-Japanese
Jeff Hansen, Managing Director Sea Shepherd Australia.
Background
This bill lays down the necessary matters to carry out scientific research whaling in a stable and continuous way, in order to carry out commercial whaling," it reads. Japan considers whaling to be a cultural right and conducts annual hunts in the Southern and Pacific oceans — under a loophole in International Whaling Commission rules which allows for scientific whaling. Changing domestic law in Japan would not have any impact on the International Whaling Commission, which prohibits commercial whaling. The bill seeks to enshrine funding for research whaling into the national budget as well as adding additional resources for defending Japanese whalers from protest groups like Sea Shepherd.
Read more: Sea Shepherd condemns Japan's Governments bill to resume commercial whaling
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- Thursday, 18 May 2017
by Natalie Banks - Chief Adviser, Apex Harmony
When it comes to SMART drum lines, not many people are aware of what exactly is so clever about them. Drum lines have had extremely controversial use in Australia and South Africa, where static baited hooks indiscriminately catch anything that takes the bait, but what is so smart about these new types of drum lines and why are some conservation groups in support of their use?
The word smart when used in accordance with drum lines is actually an abbreviation that stands for Shark-Management-Alert-in-Real-Time (SMART). Effectively this means a satellite-linked communications unit, equipped in some cases with GPS, underwater cameras and sensors attached to a trace and baited hook so that when a shark is hooked, the pressure on the line triggers the communications unit to send an alert to authorities regarding the presence of an animal on the line. The technology has enabled Governments and Government contractors to streamline the monitoring process of traditional drum lines.
Read more: The smarts on ‘SMART’ drum lines
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- Tuesday, 02 May 2017
By Captain Peter Hammarstedt
After almost 12 weeks of patrolling, the border areas between Liberia and her neighboring countries are unusually silent.
Lightning flashes briefly light up distant waters, appearing like specters of the industrial fishing trawlers that used to make nightly incursions in Liberian waters.
After having made five arrests since the start of Operation Sola Stella, the news has finally spread - these waters are protected.
We could say that we assisted the Liberian Coastguard to shutdown illegal fishing in Liberia, and although that’s true of tonight, we know that the poachers are not coming in anymore because we are here… and the Bob Barker cannot remain in Liberia forever.
Read more: In Liberia, We Shut Down Illegal Fishing
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- Monday, 03 April 2017
by Captain Peter Hammarstedt
Today we received the saddening news that the Japanese whaling fleet reached their bogus self-allocated quota, despite Sea Shepherd’s best efforts to impact it.
While that news is gravely disappointing, we must remember that the Japanese whaling program in Antarctica is radically different from what it was when our Antarctic Whale Defense Campaigns began 15 years ago.
On my first campaign to the Antarctic, the Japanese whaling fleet intended to kill 1,035 whales. Their annual quota is now 333 whales, a quota reduced because of the success of Sea Shepherd’s campaigns. Thus, every year 702 whales are saved.
Read more: In Response to Japanese Whalers Reaching their Quota of 333 Whales
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- Sunday, 02 April 2017
by Captain Paul Watson
The Japanese outlaw whaling fleet released their kill numbers today.
They had a quota to slaughter 333 Minke whales and they are saying they have been able to secure that quota, proclaiming it a victory against Sea Shepherd as if defeating Sea Shepherd is their justification for the killing of whales.
They can believe their own propaganda if they like but it was hardly a victory for the whalers.
Read more: Another Battle is Over in the War to Save the Whales
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- Thursday, 30 March 2017
By Captain Peter Hammarstedt
For the crew of the M/Y Bob Barker, and the 10 strong Liberian Coast Guard boarding team, it was just a matter of waiting and letting the illegal fishing boats come to them.
The day before the M/Y Bob Barker arrived in Liberia, local fishermen from the border town of Harper, situated just 13 miles from the where the Cavalla River divides Liberia from Cote d’Ivoire, had been airing grievances on national radio about foreign trawlers running over their artisanal fishing nets. The fishermen appealed to the Liberian Coast Guard for assistance.
Although the Cavalla River forms a natural boundary between two West African countries, its nutrient-rich waters spawn fish for whom borders are meaningless. For the fishing vessels chasing fish west as the fishing season in Ghana, which lies to the east, has closed, borders are equally unimportant.
Read more: “Not One Cent for Bribery” – The Story of the Arrest of the FV Lu Rong Yuan Yu 988
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- Thursday, 09 March 2017
by Captain Alex Cornelissen
The arrival of the Ocean Warrior in Henderson, Western Australia marks the end of this year’s anti-whaling campaign against Japanese whale poachers in the Southern Ocean.
Our ships have been at sea for 93 days (Ocean Warrior) and 90 days (the Steve Irwin). During this entire time they searched for the floating slaughterhouse the Nisshin Maru, but we regret to say we were unable to lock onto the stern of the Japanese factory ship.
Read more: The End of Operation Nemesis
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- Wednesday, 01 March 2017
By Captain Paul Watson
What caused Kelly Slater to so radically change his views about sharks?
Or perhaps he did not change his views after all.
In 2014, Kelly was quoted in the Australian media saying in response to Premier Colin Barnett’s plan to kill sharks in Western Australia:
“I think it’s kind of silly. Humans want to control everything. We try to control (beach) erosion, we try to control sharks … we just try to control everything on this earth and it’s just crazy. We kill 100 million sharks a year or something crazy to make (shark fin) soup. We throw them back finless and dying. It’s like we’ve lost all feeling for other creatures on some level and I think that’s kind of sad. If I got eaten by a shark, I’d be honoured.”
Read more: Kelly Slater Is Not An Enemy of the Sharks
