Sea Shepherd Launches Operation Leviathan

[Barrett808]

Donations:
http://seashepherd.org/donate.html

Sea Shepherd Launches Operation Leviathan
Flagship Farley Mowat Heading to the Antarctic
to Defend Whales
News Releases
12/23/2006



This Saturday, the 23rd of December, the international volunteer crew of the Sea Shepherd flagship Farley Mowat departed from Melbourne. The departure of the ship launches our campaign to intercept Japanese whaling operations in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary: Operation Leviathan.

The Farley Mowat is expected to arrive in the whaling area during the first week in January where the flagship will rendezvous with the organization’s newly acquired second ship, code-named Leviathan. The two ships with over 60 international volunteer crewmembers, a helicopter, and numerous smaller vessels will confront the Japanese whalers on the high seas. The volunteers represent thirteen nations with crewmembers from Australia, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Hungary, Great Britain, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States.

The Japanese whaling fleet is determined to slaughter more than 1,000 whales in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary – where it is illegal to kill whales. Japan has doubled its illegal quota of piked (Minke) whales to just over a thousand, and will be targeting endangered fin whales, and for the first time since the early eighties, 50 endangered humpback whales.

“Sea Shepherd is the only organization in the world willing to go to the Antarctic to intercept the Japanese whaling fleet and shut them down,” said President and Founder of Sea Shepherd Captain Paul Watson. “This is an international effort to uphold international law against a pirate whaling operation. We are not going south to hang banners or to film and photograph whales dying. We intend to defend the whales.”

Australians have come out in force to support Sea Shepherd in the past several months. During our stay in Australia, over 30,000 people have visited the Farley Mowat in both Fremantle and Melbourne. The crew has given numerous tours of the ship and participated at events around the country over the past several months. Thousands of new Oz supporters have joined the Society. Among them, advertising guru John Singleton and Bluetongue Brewery are supporting the campaign through the launch of their website www.whalesafebeer.com. The citizens of Melbourne have been very generous to Sea Shepherd by contributing tons of food, tools, supplies, and donations that are so vital to the campaign. Australian media coverage has been unprecedented as the momentum of the anti-whaling movement is reaching a critical mass. There is no doubt but that Australians love the whales.

A crowd of supporters were on hand to send off the crew of the Farley Mowat. The conservation vessel flew the flag of Fremantle, Western Australia, when the ship departed. The flag had been given to the ship by Fremantle Mayor Peter Tagliaferri with the request that we fly it in the Southern Oceans.

The ship also flew the Bluetongue beer flag in honor of Bluetongue’s sponsorship of the expedition. And, of course, the ship flew both the Australian and the Aboriginal flag as a courtesy to a people who are dedicated to shutting down the criminal operations of the Japanese whaling fleet.

http://seashepherd.org/news/media_061223_1.html

Donations:
http://seashepherd.org/donate.html

[MasonJar]

1. Thank you from all of us. I wish that I had some talent that would

assist you, but I will try to contribute soon.

[LeftyMom]

2. K&R!

:woohoo:

[roody]

3. A GREAT organization!

[Judi Lynn]

4. Wishing them ALL POSSIBLE SUCCESS. Permanently.

They are working for something far greater than material profit. It's a completely foreign concept to monsters. What a shame. There's so little of the world left for the idiots left to destroy, too.

Apparently it's their belief that they can get out there and grab all the profit they can with both hands, at ALL costs, tossing aside all respect for others, live it up a few brief, laughable years, and die peacefully in their sleep as wealthy scum of the earth, and every thing BEYOND that point couldn't matter less.

It's time the tables turned. I hope to see it in my lifetime.

[leftchick]

5. I LOVE THE SEA SHEPHERD!!!!!

:bounce:

Boycott Anything Japanese!!!

[Kolesar]

6. Captain Paul Watson was a detriment to the Sierra Club Board when he was there

He was part of this dysfunctional coalition of animal-rights and anti-immigration-with-extremely-bad-messaging "activists".

At the end, he offered the press release attacking the club for not being pro-animal rights. It was all a publicity gimmick. Good luck, Paul, from another member of the wooden shoe conspiracy.

[flvegan]

7. Godspeed, Sea Shepherd

This year, everything is going to change.

[Nihil]

8. Good luck people!

We are proud of you.

[The Stranger]

9. K&R

[Barrett808]

10. Attack plan for Japan's whale ships (Sea Shepherd)

Attack plan for Japan's whale ships
Andrew Darby
December 27, 2006

THE anti-whaling activists of Sea Shepherd have unveiled a new secret weapon as they depart for the Southern Ocean to try to put the Japanese whalers out of business — the rules.

Sea Shepherd's president Paul Watson told The Age he planned to inflict just enough damage on a whaling vessel to force it to comply with safety regulations and return to port for repair.

As his flagship, Farley Mowat, paused in Hobart yesterday on its way south, he confirmed that Sea Shepherd had the means to damage a whaling vessel, though he refused to publicly disclose it.

Sea Shepherd has sunk 10 whaling vessels in the North Atlantic since 1979. Last summer it twice tried to foul the propellors of the whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru, and once scraped the side of a fleeing resupply ship, Oriental Bluebird.

The Japan Whaling Association describes Sea Shepherd as an eco-terrorist group and recently condemned the Federal Environment Minister, Ian Campbell, for offering his support to it.

(more)

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/attack-plan-for-japans-whale-ships/2006/12/26/1166895297032.html

Anti-whaling activists dock in Hobart

The Farley Mowat anti-whaling ship has docked in Hobart on its way to Antarctica for its annual attempts to halt Japan's annual scientific whaling operations.

The ship is owned by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and each summer chases Japanese whale research vessels across the Southern Ocean.

The Farley Mowat is in Hobart waiting for its helicopter to be repaired before heading to the Ross Sea, where it will rendezvous with a new, faster ship, The Leviathan.

Captain Paul Watson says Sea Shepherd campaigners will again use every means at their disposal, including deliberate collisions with whaling ships.

"We look on this as a policing operation, so our tactics are interventionist and obstructive," he said. "But we'll of course take every precaution to ensure that we won't injure anybody and we have an unblemished record in that regard. In 30 years of operations, we've shut down numerous whaling operations and never hurt anybody. He says the two ships will also use side-swiping to stop what he calls illegal killing. It's not recognised as scientific whaling but there's more to it than that. They're targeting humpbacks and fins, which are violations of the convention on the international treaty on endangered species. Those are endangered animals - you can't go hunting them. They're killing whales in the Australian territory area. They're taking whales in the Southern Ocean sanctuary."

(more)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200612/s1818414.htm

Donate:
http://seashepherd.org/donate.html

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit in the United States, and a registered Stichting in The Netherlands. Gifts are deductible to the full extent of the law.

[slackmaster]

11. I applaud SS's motives, but damaging another ship at sea is piracy

Especially since the damage will be done with intent to interfere with commerce.

An act of piracy invites forceful retaliation. If SS gets their ass sunk, I will not feel sorry for them.

[Solo_in_MD]

13. He is walking a fine line...

an given Japan's increased militancy, attacking Japanese flagged vessels may be a good way to get a frigate or destroyer as escort for the whalers. Nothing in Neptunes Navy can stand up to warship.

[SayWhatYo]

16. Sounds exciting...

I'd volunteer just for the "adventure"... Not my first choice for nobel causes to take up, but I wouldn't let that stop me...

I would however let the fear of leaving my home stop me.

[Harper_is_Bush]

21. ?

You're afraid of leaving your home? That sux.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Barrett808]

19. Since when does a SubGenius honor the Con's rules about anything?

Sounds like Bobbie-talk to me.

[slackmaster]

34. The SubGenius enjoys a good thrash

There hasn't been a decent battle at sea since the Falklands War.

[Barrett808]

37. Nice image!

Kill "Bob".

Or feed me.

[The Stranger]

25. We always have the DU apologists -- apologists for whalers, animal masscre corporations,

environmental obliteration organizations, etc., the list goes on and on.

Yet then some freeper's son or daughter is killed, and everyone is expected to bend over backwards with some misplaced guilt showing how much they care.

No wonder we are so fucked.

[slackmaster]

33. Nice try at a smear, but your post does not follow logically from what I wrote

:hi:

Reading is fundamental: SS's motives are good, but their methods are flawed.

[The Stranger]

41. No, actually nothing is flawed about seeking to enforce international law.

And typing up real nice little concerned polite letters to real nice little concerned polite corporate-owned Congress people just doesn't quite get it any more, now does it?

In fact, patronizing all those real nice little concerned people out there has become an industry -- especially when you can get them to turn on the "troublemakers" and do the dirty work of shutting up those who have already tired of writing real nice little concerned polite letters.

And rather than support that shit, I say fight, Sea Shepherd.

I say fight, my brothers and sisters, far braver than me.

[slackmaster]

42. Have you ever been at sea, The Stranger?

It's not some kind of bumper car game. Life on the high seas is rigorous and dangerous. The safety of every member of the crew of a ship depend on integrity of the hull and the ability of the vessel to maneuver.

Deliberately damaging a vessel at sea endangers human lives. Most of the people on board a ship are poor, hard-working, often uneducated ordinary folks who are trying to make an honest living. They didn't sign up to be pawns in a political struggle. I can't believe how many here seem to have no concern for those innocent people.

No, actually nothing is flawed about seeking to enforce international law.

The SSers have no legitimate authority to enforce international law. They are not sworn members of any nation's military, they have no letter of marque or other kind of charter from anyone. If they intentionally damage a commercial vessel, they will literally be viewed in international courts as pirates.

[The Stranger]

45. When the authorities do not enforce the law, it is left to the people.

At sea, on land, in the air.

[slackmaster]

46. I note your conspicuous avoidance of my central issue

Which is the endangerment of crewmembers on the whaling vessels.

[The Stranger]

47. I note your conspicuous avoidance of my central issue

Which is the criminal violation of international law by crewmembers on the whaling vessels.

[slackmaster]

48. May I surmise you feel the law, or the whales, are more important than humans?

:hi:

Of course this is a false dilemma - I'm sure there must be ways of getting the law enforced (or otherwise saving the whales) that involve neither futile attempts to get the US Congress to do something about it, and having the SS people ram ships at sea endangering the lives of crewmembers.

[The Stranger]

49. You are correct in that it is a false dilemma, about which I have posted often.

The call to the "human-or-animal" question reaches a visceral, primordial instinct humans have to preserve their own species, although now it is an instinct misplaced and exploited because our species is the only threat to other species, and it is a threat to every single other species there is.

[Posteritatis]

12. Brilliant!

Telling a newspaper that he intends to physically damage other shipping. Yeah, that'll make any encounters with ships these guys try to assault a whole lot safer.

I'm surprised one person or another on one of the whaling ships hasn't put an explosive harpoon through their bridge yet.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SayWhatYo]

15. What happens if...

What happens if the crew on the whaling ships decide to fight back? What kind of legal ramifications would exist on both sides? I could see this turning bad... Then again, it seems as if they have been doing it for a few decades, right?

[BigBalthazar]

36. there have been shots in the past...

guys on the whaling ships with assault weapons...

Since the UN has passed the anti-whaling charter, New Zealand declared all whaling ships pirate vessels... no one has bothered to enforce it though. Whether it's going after the Japanese Mitsubishi driftnet ships (flagged in Taiwan because, hey, they're not in the UN...) or going after these research vessels - it's about time SOMEONE stood up to em.

[Annces]

17. Bravo for them

Put the whalers out of business.

[Annces]

40. Wow - have you read about Greenpeace fraud on the Good Shepherd website

It is news to me. According to Good Shepherd, Greenpeace collects millions of dollars for anti-whaling causes, but does not actually use the money to help the whales. That they have just become a money-making institution. That is sickening if true.

I really don't make enough money to donate to different charities, though I used to more often. This whole scheme of raising money, seems to me to have become a problem. I wish these organizations would ask for other kinds of help, and travel to communities more often.

[wordpix]

52. if Sea Shepherd is "eco-terrorist group," what is Japan killing thousands of whales?

I can't think of words to describe Japan's actions except, "criminal."

I really do not want to buy Japanese cars anymore because of this.

[Harper_is_Bush]

20. I wish they'd put their effort and money into something more worthwhile

like fighting Global Warming.

Instead of burning tonnes of fuel chasing whaling ships around the planet - thus making the world more inhabitable for all creatures - they should focus themselves on a company like EXXON.

Maybe there's not as much money in that though.

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Harper_is_Bush]

24. Now you're calling Al Gore a hypocrite?

That exposes your ignorance right there.

If you had any knowledge about Global Warming you'd understand the threat it poses to even the whales you love so much.

But you don't.

[LeftyMom]

27. Yes, I am.

Anybody who flies all over the fucking country to tell people about global warming is perhaps a bit shortsighted or worse, unable to examine the role of their own impact. Anybody who spends two hours telling people about the problem and never once mentions the impact of diet is either intellectually dishonest or has a shallow view of the issue.

I'm perfectly aware of the impact of global warming on whales and other oceanic life. Past climate fluctuations have decimated whale populations and are the reason there are no large predatory whales remaining, as well as destroyed the species that relied on them.

[Harper_is_Bush]

31. Again showing your ignorance

Buy locally grown and produced foods
The average meal in the United States travels 1,200 miles from the farm to your plate. Buying locally will save fuel and keep money in your community.

Buy fresh foods instead of frozen
Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce.

Seek out and support local farmers markets
They reduce the amount of energy required to grow and transport the food to you by one fifth. You can find a farmer’s market in your area at the USDA website.


Buy organic foods as much as possible
Organic soils capture and store carbon dioxide at much higher levels than soils from conventional farms. If we grew all of our corn and soybeans organically, we’d remove 580 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere!

Avoid heavily packaged products
You can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10%.

Eat less meat
Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas and cows are one of the greatest methane emitters. Their grassy diet and multiple stomachs cause them to produce methane, which they exhale with every breath.

From the website.

You were saying about "intellectually dishonest"?

[LeftyMom]

32. Where's all that in the movie?

I seem to recall a whole lot of "change your light bulbs" and none of "change your diet" in the film.

[WindRavenX]

23. they're going after humpback whales?? Fucking assholes.

:cry:

[tabasco]

30. You can say that again.

No, let me say it.

FUCKING ASSHOLES !!

[Harper_is_Bush]

26. Get Global Warming under control or there will be no more whales

Ocean warming's effect on phytoplankton
NASA satellite data show how global climate change hurts marine food chain

Jane Kay, Chronicle Environment Writer

Thursday, December 7, 2006

When the climate warms, there is a drop in the abundance of the ocean's phytoplankton, the tiny plants that feed krill, fish and whales, according to scientists who say new research offers the first clues to the future of marine life under global warming.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/07/MNG1JMQUL01.DTL

Maybe Mr. Watson should get his eye on the ball if he really cares about whales.

[flvegan]

29. There's a strawman if I've ever seen one.

Maybe some posters should get their eye on the ball if they care about global warming, and thusly throw it in the face of others.

[Nihil]

50. If you "really care" about whales or the environment in general ...

... then don't whinge about one activist who is DOING something while
cut&pasting generalised shit about an unrelated issue ...

Stop apologising for Harper and do something.

[jmowreader]

28. I'm afraid the whaling ships may eventually mount torpedo tubes

I'm going to assume that the Farley Mowat isn't all that well armored.

[MindPilot]

35. So it's illegal to kill whales.

If something is illegal then it was made illegal by a legislative body of some sort. If there is the mechanism to make law, then it logically follows there must be a mechanism to enforce law.

What or who is the enforcement agency that would respond to illegal whaling? I'm certain it is not a group of activists out committing what amounts to fighting piracy with piracy.

[Barrett808]

38. Pravda: Japanese whaling vessels to be chased with new speedy boat

Paul Watson, captain of the Sea Shepherd group's flagship Farley Mowat, said the new boat will soon join his vessel in Antarctic waters for a monthlong campaign to obstruct the Japanese whalers.

Watson, who declined to name or describe the new ship, said it would overcome the whalers' ability to outrun the protesters. "We now have a vessel that can match their speed, so that's what will be different this year."

Japan plans to harpoon up to 935 minke whales and 10 endangered fin whales during the annual hunt.

Watson said he hoped the Farley Mowat, which was used to deliberately sideswipe a whaling vessel during the last hunt, will set out from the southern Australian city of Hobart this weekend.

(more)

http://english.pravda.ru/news/world/27-12-2006/86148-whaling-0

[Barrett808]

39. Kiwis Join Sea Shepherd's Fight In Antarctic

Kiwis Join Sea Shepherd's Fight In Antarctic
Juliana Venning

The Sea Shepherd is attempting to save some of the 900 Minke and countless Humpback Whales from Japanese ‘scientific’ whaling in International waters. Whaling which will be in an environmental zone and a ‘safe’ breeding ground for the species, near Antarctica. Japanese, use explosives in their harpoons; dying is a slow, sad process. The two New Zealand crew are Jaimie Brown from Kaikoura and Marcus Graham of North Shore, Auckland. Both are utterly sure that what they will be doing will be of importance and mean a worthwhile result.

A tour around the vessel, which was resting in a ‘free’ berth courtesy of Melbourne Port generosity, whilst it built up stocks for the long and arduous trip into Antarctic waters, was conducted by a former teacher, from the Netherlands Christian de Vaan. Mr Vaan had illustrated to his pupils, the size of the whales, by drawing their outline around the school playground. The Blue Whale (another target)has a tongue as big as a car, a heart as heavy as an elephant. He, like the other crew members, is a volunteer who had to quit his professional job to come on this mission.

All crew are required to be vegan whilst on board, meals are prepared in the spartan Galley and eaten in the small quarters nearby, amidships. There a video of Captain Paul Watson is shown to people taking the tour, to graphically bring home the message of how inhumane ‘culling’ these great creatures is. Whales are shown dying in agony, friends around, seeking to help but being deliberately targeted also.

How do crew sustain themselves? They have the ‘imprimatur’ of the Dalai Lama. There is a fierce dragon-like statue given by him with a message of being pro active to prevent evil being done. “If you want to change people and put them on the path of enlightenment use a little bit of fear.” Alongside this is a bust of Neptune and a photograph of the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Farley Mowat, after whom this ship is named.

The mantra: “We are Pirates of compassion, hunting down pirates of profit.”

The Captain of the vessel, Paul Watson says: “The slaughter of whales has no place in the 21st Century.”

(more)

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00334.htm

[GoddessOfGuinness]

43. I want some of that beer...

So I can drink to their health! :toast:

[AnnieBW]

44. Save The Leviathans!

Moya and all of her kin are counting on you!

[BreweryYardRat]

51. Said it before, I'll say it again.

Crippling whaling ships may remove the immediate problem, but Sea Shepherd needs to go after the greedy bastards at the top. They've apparently had some success doing so in the past, so it makes sense to do so again.

[Barrett808]

53. The boycott was quite successful, but unfortunately, the fleet is now owned by the government

Under boycott pressure, Nissui sold off the whaling fleet last year. But now the fleet is owned by ICR, which is essentially the Japanese government. Canberra won't apply pressure to Tokyo because of trade deals, and no other nations seem much interested in pressuring the Japanese government, so by default it's now official Japanese policy to defy CITES and to kill, illegally, endangered humpback and fin whales.

If you have new ideas for pressuring the Japanese government, please post them!

[BreweryYardRat]

54. Yeah, you've mentioned that before.

And as for new ideas...I'll work on it. The only ones I can think of immediately involve homicide, and that wouldn't really work.

Be satisfying, but it wouldn't work.