Sea Shepherd

Greens Media Release Tuesday 17th June 2008

The Senate today passed a second motion supporting international legal action on whaling.

"The Senate passed my motion urging the Government to immediately commence preparations for legal action to stop the slaughter of our whale population" said Senator Rachel Siewert, spokesperson on marine issues.

"We call on the Government to immediately prepare international legal action on this matter."

There is also very strong public support for the Australian Government to take international legal action to try and stop the Japanese whaling program (87%), in fact they believe the Government should take action even if it means compromising our relationship with Japan (91%).

"Australians clearly want their Government to stop the slaughter, and hopefully this motion will spur them into action," she concluded.

For more information or comment call Chris Twomey on 0407 725 025
Email senator.siewert[AT]aph.gov.au | www.rachelsiewert.org.au

See also: No peace with Greenpeace it seems of 18 Jun 08
Sea Shepherd prepares to mount a major offensive against whaling of 12 Jun 08
There is something very rotten in Denmark of 10 Jun 08
Sea Shepherd appeals for Greenpeace's cooperation in fight against whale slaughter of 9 Jun 08
Is Greenland’s “subsistence” whaling a profit making scam? of Jun 08
A global map of human impact to the marine ecosystems of 15 Feb 08

What you can do: Donate to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Nearly all funds go to saving whales and other endangered marine species and little is spent on bureaucracy. Last whaling season the Sea Shepherd operated Steve Irwin prevented Japanese whalers from achieving 50% of their planned quota.

Sea Shepherd Offers the Olive Branch to Greenpeace Once Again

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society media release, 5 Jun 08

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society today issued the following official appeal to Greenpeace for cooperation on the issue of Japanese whaling in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary.

An Appeal for Cooperation from Captain Paul Watson

Okay, here we go again, but nothing ventured and nothing gained.

This is the official 2008 Sea Shepherd Conservation Society request to the Greenpeace Foundation to work in cooperation with each other to defend the whales of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary for the 2008 and 2009 Antarctic summer.

The targeted whales need all the help they can get when the Japanese whaling fleet returns to illegally slaughter endangered whales in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary in December 2008.

During the last season we stopped them for 50% of the time and cut their quota by 50%. If only we had two ships and sufficient funding we could stop them up to 80% percent and perhaps to 100%. But we are a small organization with only one fast ship to deploy and we need to raise funds to finance the campaign.

But there is a solution. If both the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and the Greenpeace Foundation could cooperate in a joint coordinated effort to oppose the Japanese whaling interests we could stop the pirate whalers cold in Antarctica.

Every year Sea Shepherd has supplied Greenpeace with the Japanese coordinates when we have found the fleet although Greenpeace has refused to return the favor. And yes there have indeed been harsh words between Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace over the years but the word Greenpeace does include the word “peace” and therefore I am appealing to Greenpeace once again in the name of peaceful cooperation to work with Sea Shepherd to protect the whales.

Let the past stay in the past and let’s deal with the present with a focus on a constructive future. There really is no practical reason why Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd cannot work together.

After all, I am an original Greenpeacer and a co-founder, not just of the Greenpeace Foundation in 1972 but also of Greenpeace International in 1979.

Both Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace work towards our goals in a non-violent manner although our definition of non-violence is not harming sentient life. As Martin Luther King once wrote, “violence cannot be committed upon a non-sentient object.”

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has never caused a single physical injury to a single person in our entire 31 years of operations. Nor have we ever had any crew convicted of a felony crime anywhere in the world. And we have never been sued.

The Dalai Lama is a Sea Shepherd supporter and he describes the Sea Shepherd approach as being consistent with the spirit of Hayagriva or the compassionate aspect of Buddha’s wrath meaning that we should never injure anyone but sometimes we need to be intimidating to intervene against violence.

I don’t believe our tactics are really the reason for the refusal by Greenpeace to cooperate with Sea Shepherd. After all Greenpeace has worked cooperatively with Earth First! whose tactics against property are far more extreme than Sea Shepherd.

Sea Shepherd is even willing to accept and forgive the violence of Greenpeace that causes harm, suffering and death to sentient beings that the crew consume on the Greenpeace ships as food.

Our ships are vegan vessels and thus we have fully embraced Ahimsa in our tactics whereas unfortunately Greenpeace has not. We do not however judge Greenpeace for this and request only that Greenpeace not judge us in return for our destruction of machinery utilized in the illegal slaughter and exploitation of sentient life.

I have asked this before and I will ask it again but how can Greenpeace ever hope to promote peace between nations and between humanity and nature when Greenpeace refuses to embrace peace within its own family?

This ridiculous animosity between Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd has lasted for three decades, longer than most wars between nations. In fact no one seems to remember just what the reason for the animosity is. The hostility seems to have become institutionalized. Sea Shepherd would like to see an end to this disharmony to allow both organizations to work together.

It has never been my intention to destroy Greenpeace. I am responsible in many ways for the birth and rise of Greenpeace originally, and why would I want to destroy such an achievement?

It is of interest that Greenpeace incorporated the word “foundation” in 1972 because of the book Foundation by Isaac Asimov. In that story there are two foundations, the large one and the more flexible smaller one – the Second Foundation. The role of the Second Foundation was to keep the Foundation on track and that involves strategies that include some that are tough. I have criticized Greenpeace in the past because Greenpeace needed to be criticized and that was not a negative thing although a negative response to criticism can escalate into a feud.

But feuds can be ended and I have attempted to end our feud many times over the years. But ending a feud takes both parties and unfortunately the offers have never been received and accepted and Sea Shepherd, and in particular I, have become objects of scorn and derision amongst some in Greenpeace. 

But we should agree that our petty human squabbles are trite and trivial in comparison to the violence assaulting the defenseless species of the planet. Strength lies in diversity and it also lies in unity. A movement that is both diverse and united is the most powerful of social movements.

Our ships all fly the same flag – the flag of the Netherlands. Some of my crew have served on Greenpeace ships and some Greenpeace crew have also served as Sea Shepherd crew. I myself served as 1st Officer on Greenpeace voyages between 1971 and 1977. Many of the original founders of Greenpeace like Robert Hunter, Lyle Thurston, John Cormack, David Garrick, and Rod Marining have sailed with Sea Shepherd.

So how about it Greenpeace? Together we can keep the Japanese fleet on the run. Let’s trade coordinates and relieve each other as the other ship refuels. Let’s deploy our crew and our tactics together in a united front on common ground.

You are not my enemy and I am not your enemy. The whalers and those who seek to destroy ecological harmony on this planet are our common enemy. We make them stronger when we are divided and we make them weaker when we unite.

This year presents us with a renewed opportunity to unite against the outlaw whalers of the Southern Ocean. Shall we do it?  Shall we work together in cooperation with each other? Shall we both contribute to a stronger effort and a stronger movement? Shall we fly the Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd flags side by side as we point our bows southward?

I hope for the sake of the whales and for this planet that we can and that we will.

I think it would be amazing if Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace could host a joint media conference in Santiago, Chile at the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission to announce a working cooperative alliance to oppose the outlaw whalers.

My fellow Greenpeacers, (I am a lifetime member) I await your reply.

Sincerely in the Spirit of Cooperation to Defend the Whales,

Captain Paul Watson
Founder and President of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
Co-Founder of the Greenpeace Foundation (1972) and Greenpeace International (1979)
 

Sea Shepherd ship the Steve Irwin on patrol in the southern oceans February 2008

Humpback whales in the southern oceans

See also: No peace with Greenpeace it seems of 18 Jun 08
Sea Shepherd prepares to mount a major offensive against whaling of 12 Jun 08
There is something very rotten in Denmark of 10 Jun 08
Queensland to give green light to shark extermination of 1 Jun 08
Is Greenland’s “subsistence” whaling a profit making scam? of Jun 08
A global map of human impact to the marine ecosystems of 15 Feb 08

What you can do: Donate to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Nearly all funds go to saving whales and other endangered marine species and little is spent on bureaucracy.

(Anna Bligh portrait by Sheila N.)

Sea Shepherd News media release, 16 May 08

Just when we were thinking it was becoming safe for sharks to be in Australian waters, the Queensland government in an incredible display of ecological insensitivity has proposed a shark fin fishery in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and in marine parks in Queensland waters.

The practice of shark finning is the most nonsensical, ecologically destructive, and unethical fishery in the world.
Australia is supposed to be one of the most ecologically aware and proactive nations in the world. What are Queensland politicians thinking?

Over 90% of the world’s sharks have already been eradicated from our oceans and this bodes ill for the ecological integrity of marine eco-systems.

Queensland wants to issue licenses to take an unlimited number of sharks in what amounts to an extermination policy against these essential and magnificent creatures.

This announcement has come just as Rob Stewart’s award winning film Sharkwater opens in Australia. This film which features the Sea Shepherd efforts to stop shark finning is raising awareness of the plight of sharks worldwide.

Recently Rob Stewart met and spoke with Andrew McNamara, the Queensland Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change. It was a promising sign that Mr. McNamara attended the Brisbane premiere of Sharkwater.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been defending sharks in the Galapagos, Ecuador, Cocos Island, Costa Rica and Malpelo Island off Colombia. The last place we thought we would need to intervene to protect sharks would be Australia.

Recently the media has been sensationalizing shark attacks despite the fact that on average less than 5 people die each year as a result of interactions with sharks whereas ostriches are responsible for killing an average of one hundred people a year making the ostrich twenty times more dangerous than the shark.

Yet as our media screams out that that humans are victims, we slaughter between 70 and 100 million sharks each year and we are presently waging a war of extermination on an apex marine predator that has existed on this planet for 450 million years.

Is a bowl of sharkfin soup worth the irreparable ecological damage we are doing to the world’s oceans?

#WhatYouCanDo" id="WhatYouCanDo">What you can do

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is urging all Australians who care about the future of our seas to e-mail Anna Bligh MP Premier of Queensland ThePremier[AT]premiers.qld.gov.au to demand that this legislation be quashed.

Also send an e-mail to Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett at: Peter.Garrett.MP[AT]aph.gov.au

Please click on the following link to sign the petition to oppose the new shark fishing in the Great Barrier Reef: www.sharksavers.org/content/view/260/36/

And we urge all Australians to go see the movie Sharkwater. It is the first film to tell the truth about sharks and it is a film that is going a long way towards protecting this wondrous and unique family of animals.

See also: Greens call for protection of shark stocks of 4 Jun 08.

Contact: goldcoast[AT]seashepherd.org