Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was founded in 1977 by Paul Watson, one of the founding members of Greenpeace, as an aggressive direct action organization dedicated to the international conservation and protection of marine wildlife in general and marine mammals in particular. The society seeks to combat exploitative practices through education, confrontation, and the enforcement of existing laws, statutes, treaties, and regulations. It maintains offices in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada, and has an international membership of about 15,000.
Sea Shepherd regards itself virtually as a police force dedicated to ocean and marine life conservation. Most of its attention over the years has been devoted to the enforcement of the regulations of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which makes policies for signatory states on whaling practices but does not itself have powers of enforcement. The stated objective of the society has been to harass, interfere with, and ultimately shut down all continuing illegal whaling activities.
Called a "samurai conservation organization" by the Japanese media, Sea Shepherd often walks a thin line between legal and illegal tactics. The society operates two research ships, the Sea Shepherd and the Edward Abbey, and has been known to ram illegal or pirate whaling ships and to sabotage whale processing operations. All crew members are trained in techniques of "creative non-violence:" They are forbidden to carry weapons or explosives or to endanger human life and are enjoined to accept all moral responsibility and legal consequences for their actions.
Crew members also pledge never to compromise on the lives of the marine mammals they protect. The Society has documented on film illegal whaling operations in the former Soviet Union and presented this evidence to the IWC, despite being chased back to United States waters by a Soviet frigate and helicopter gunships. Moreover, members are not at all squeamish about the destruction of weapons, ships, and other property used in the slaughter of marine wildlife. In 1979, Sea Shepherd hunted down and rammed the pirate whaler Sierra, eventually putting it out of business. Publicity over the Sierra operation motivated the arrest of two other pirate whalers in South Africa. The next year Sea Shepherd was involved in the sinking of two Spanish whalers that had flagrantly exceeded whale quotas set by the IWC. In 1986, Sea Shepherd was involved in the sinking of two Icelandic whalers (half the Icelandic whaling fleet) in Reykjavik harbor and also managed to damage the nearby whale-processing plant. Seeking publicity, crew members demanded to be arrested for their actions, but Iceland refused to charge them. Indeed, Sea Shepherd claims that in all of its operations it has never caused nor suffered an injury, nor have any of its crew members been convicted in criminal proceedings.
Typically, Sea Shepherd invites members of the news media along to document and publicize the destructive and exploitative practices it opposes. Such documentary footage has been shown on major television networks in the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and Western Europe. This publicity played an important role in increasing public awareness of marine conservation issues and in mobilizing public opinion against the slaughter of marine mammals. Sea Shepherd helped to bring about the end of commercial seal-killing in Canada and in the Orkney Islands, Scotland.
Highly successful in its efforts against outlaw whalers, Sea Shepherd continues to conduct research on conservation and pollution issues and to monitor national and international law on marine conservation issues. Its members are working to establish a wildlife sanctuary in the Orkney Islands. Its present campaign is focused primarily against drift net fishing in the North Pacific, in support of a United Nations call for a complete international ban on drift-net fishing.
Resources
Organizations
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, 22774 Pacific Coast Hwy., Malibu, CA USA 90265 (310) 456-1141, Toll Free: (310) 456-2488, <http://www.seashepherd.com� 3E;
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