Voice from the Deep!

Greenpeace International and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society…two “eco-warriors”, both trying to get our attention and stop the pain and suffering that we are inflicting on the Earth’s environment and it’s wildlife.

Both have different views and ideas on how to go about it. Yet one was “spawned” from the other…
Sea Shepherd was founded by Paul Watson, a co-founder of Greenpeace, and “voted out of office” by the results of his  direct actions. Some say that is a good thing.. some say otherwise and that Greenpeace has gone soft over the years.

Paul Watson, environmental activist, was asked to leave Greenpeace because he yanked a club out of a hunter’s hand to protect a baby seal. 

I would have done the same…  My question is: Why didn’t the other Greenpeacers do that also ?

 I tend to agree on the “gone soft” option..  gone are the days when Greenpeace activists would get stuck in and do the “dirty work”.

I was on the receiving end of a Greenpeace action when I was part of the security on Salisbury Plains, many years ago, guarding United States of America nuclear assets in the form of mobile missile launchers. With rows and rows of razor wire and many coils of barbed wire surrounding the whole area, thermal cameras, night vision, trip flares and RAF police dogs… Yet Greenpeace still stalked the darkness in the dead of night. Suddenly a trip flare goes off in a little copse of woods some 300 meters to the front.. I spot them running into the night on the thermal sight, they think they are unseen as they stop and confer what to do next. They stand there glowing white in the dim red darkness of the thermal sight image. Suddenly a commotion  further around to the left of  the curved perimeter razor wire fencing.. a shout from the darkness “They’re inside the wire…”  The game is on…

A game for us.. but something deadly serious for the Greenpeace activists. If they had fallen within the razor wire they could have easily been cut very badly, had severed fingers or even killed if cut on the neck. It’s not called razor wire for nothing!

Over the years I’ve asked myself what motivates people to risk they’re lives of something so seemingly trivial… after all the US were there as a nuclear deterrent for us all.

After watching the anti-whaling campaigns over the years I’ve come to realise that I feel the same way as they did, back when they scaled the razor wire.

How things have changed…

Sea Shepherd doesn’t have the PR of Greenpeace, doesn’t have the publicity, doesn’t have the funding… yet they seem to have done more for the anti-whaling cause than Greenpeace ever could. They are what Greenpeace used to be… yet Greenpeace HQ seem to be more concerned with lining they’re own pockets with funds rather than doing what they should be doing and saving the environment and wild life.

Sea Shepherd would like them to return to the Southern Ocean. We need as much opposition to the whalers as possible. There is strength in diversity of tactics and of strategy. Greenpeace has stated that their campaign for this year is over. (What?  The Japanese are still on the hunt for whales!) In other words they have enough footage, photos and a storyline to fuel another multi-million dollar fund-raising drive for the rest of the year.

This is Sea Shepherd

Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin said:

Now I know I may be sounding cynical here and perhaps I am but as a co-founder of Greenpeace I have to say that I am personally disgusted at this corporate, emotionless, exploitative annual ocean posing event that Greenpeace stages every year.

My message to them is simple. If you collect the money to save the whales then you should spend the money on saving the whales.  And they do collect the money! That is an area that Greenpeace excels in. Tens of millions of pieces of direct mail appeals each year. Door to door and telephone solicitations. Online advertising, television ads, radio ads, magazine ads.

Greenpeace spends more on soliciting funds to save the whales than they spend on actually sending a ship to sea to save the whales. For example Greenpeace has booked the online advertising space for major Australian and New Zealand newspapers and for news outlets like Google for three solid months to coincide with their annual whale-a-thon marketing event. 

And they only oppose whaling operations based on the popular appeal of the operation. You won’t see Greenpeace on the beaches in Taiji protecting dolphins or on the shores of the Faeroe Islands protecting pilot whales or in Neah Bay, Washington trying to stop the illegal killing of Grey whales by Makah Indians. Sea Shepherd covers all these places without ever once seeing a Greenpeacer in the area. The reason is simple, the market potential of these regional atrocities is small compared to taking on the Japanese whalers.

I’m sad to say that I agree whole heartedly with his views. The actions of Greenpeace HQ has brought shame on the whole Greenpeace foundation that have proved so popular and effective over the years. Continue Reading »

1 Comment »

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship Steve Irwin is enroute back to Melbourne from the Southern Ocean. And the ship is not returning alone.

“We continue to be pursued by the Japanese vessel Fukuyoshi Maru No. 68,” said Captain Paul Watson. “This vessel has maintained a distance of 7 miles and has tailed the Steve Irwin since January 15th.”  

As I suspected, the Fukuyoshi Maru No. 68 has a load of armed personnel onboard from the Japanese coast guard. 

TOKYO:

Japan’s coast guard said Tuesday it has sent a team of officers to protect its whaling fleet against intensifying protests by environmentalists.The whalers have repeatedly clashed with environmentalists in the Antarctic Ocean and halted the hunt two weeks ago.“Coast guards are there with a view to protect human lives and assets as they have suffered damage at the hands of activists,” Japan Coast Guard spokesman Takashi Matsumori said.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

A video from the BBC’s embedded reporter on the Esperanza

Sea Shepherd - they need our help to continue the fight…

“We have gone as long as we dare to go,” said Captain Paul Watson. “We have just enough fuel to reach Melbourne so reluctantly we have to end the pursuit of the Japanese whale poachers for now.”

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship Steve Irwin has changed course northeast to Melbourne. The Fukuyoshi Maru No. 68 continues to trail behind and continues to inform the Japanese fleet of the Steve Irwin’s position.

“It has been one hell of a chase. We have covered 6,000 nautical miles going from Melbourne halfway to Africa, back again to the Ross Sea, and then back to the area southwest of Fremantle before being forced to return northwest to Melbourne,” said Sea Shepherd’s Executive Director Kim McCoy who is also onboard the Steve Irwin.

With the Greenpeace ship Esperanza tailing the factory ship Nisshin Maru and the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin chasing the harpoon vessels, not a single whale was slain from January 8th through January 30th.  Japanese whaling was effectively shut down for three weeks.

The Japanese fleet is estimated to have used over 2,000 tons of fuel in that time which represents a cost in excess of two million dollars without profiting from one slaughtered whale. In addition, the issue of illegal Japanese whaling has finally become a controversial story in Japan itself. There is now discussion amongst some Japanese people that this insignificant industry is not worth the international condemnation Japan is receiving.

“We have found the key to stopping the slaughter of the whales,” said Captain Watson. “We need to keep the whalers on the run from the beginning of the whaling season until the end. I am going to work to secure a second ship by the end of the year. We need to send out two ships, the second to depart three weeks after the first and then the first to return three weeks later to relieve the second. We have the will to make this happen, we just need to find the way to make it happen.”

Captain Watson said that he is willing to return this season with the Steve Irwin if there is sponsorship for a full load of fuel. The Steve Irwin also needs repairs done to one of its main engines and the ship needs some replacement crew.

“We would like to return this season, if we can get the support to return,” said Steve Irwin’s 2nd Officer Peter Hammarstedt.

The Sea Shepherd crew expect that whaling will resume within days without conservationists to hound their every move. The presence of the Australian government ship Oceanic Viking is not expected to deter Japan from violating the ruling of the Australian courts barring Japan from killing whales in the Australian Antarctic Territorial Economic Exclusion Zone. 

No Comments »

The Japanese tactic of running the conservation ships all over the Southern Ocean to deplete their fuel reserves looks to be onto a winning formula. Although a very costly one…

The Japanese fleet has moved from the far western end of their hunting zone, south of South Africa, to the extreme Eastern end near the Ross Sea, at the edge of New Zealand controlled waters. They are now moving back to the Eastern side of the zone. The Japanese fleet has used up an incredible amount of fuel moving eight large ships thousands of miles back and forth.

 According to Sea Shepherd:

The Nisshin Maru burns 20 tons of fuel per day. The Oriental Bluebird burns 25 tons of fuel a day and each of the smaller ships burns between 5 and 10 tons of fuel a day. The Fukuyoshi Maru No. 68 burns between 15 and 20 tons per day. In total the Japanese whaling fleet has used well over 2,000 tons of fuel at a cost in excess of two million dollars without killing a single whale.

The Steve Irwin will be returning to Melbourne in a few days as they are also down to the wire on fuel reserves. They have enough until the end of January…

“I think we have found the means to save these whales,” said Captain Paul Watson. “We simply need to keep the Japanese fleet on the run. We need to chase them relentlessly. They cannot kill whales with us on their tails constantly dogging their every movement.”

The Japanese fleet still has two months of killing whales ahead of them. The Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin has been chasing them for close to three weeks and not a single whale has been taken since January 8th.  

“Our objective now is to keep the hunt from resuming before the end of January. Unfortunately our fuel reserves will not allow us to stay longer than that,” said Captain Watson. “Within a few days we will have to head northeast to Melbourne.”

Since the departure of the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, the Nisshin Maru has moved 300 miles west. Accompanied by the Oceanic Viking the whaling fleet is situated east of the 100 Degrees line of Longitude 1800 miles(Google Earth Link) southwest of Fremantle. In addition to the six ships of the Japanese fleet, there is the supply vessel Oriental Bluebird and the Japanese mystery spy vessel, the Fukuyoshi Maru No. 68 which has been assigned to exclusively tail the Steve Irwin.

But unlike Greenpeace, who have a massive budget, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society needs your help to continue the pressure on the whaling fleet. With the threat that Sea Shepherd will disrupt the illegal whale hunting the Japanese will have to keep on the move and will be unable to hunt.

With that in mind, Captain Paul Watson has vowed to return (funds permitting) to the Southern Ocean after a resupply stop in Melbourne, Australia.

They need your financial help and support to continue to protect the whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary from being slaughtered “like fish in a barrel”.

In order to return this season, the Steve Irwin needs support to refuel. The ships needs some repair work done on one of the main engines, a replacement helicopter blade, fresh provisions and some new volunteers.

“Unfortunately we don’t have the kind of budget that Greenpeace has,” said Captain Paul Watson. “Each year we exhaust our resources on this campaign. We need support to purchase 200 tons of marine diesel fuel. If we can get that support, we can refuel and return.”
The Steve Irwin has used 200 tons of fuel since the beginning of the campaign. Sea Shepherd is also looking to recruit new volunteers with mechanical, navigational, medical, seamanship, and cooking skills.

“If there is the will there is a way,” said Captain Paul Watson. “We need to make every effort to keep the pressure on the Japanese whaling fleet, to keep them on the move and to keep them from killing whales. Given the fuel, we can keep up the pressure.”

So please consider pledging support to the Sea Shepherd so they can continue to bring pressure to bear on the illegal whaling fleet. When they are running they are not killing whales.

No Comments »