Coast guard 'storms' anti-sealing vessel: group (Sea Shepherd)

[Barrett808]

Source: The Canadian Press

HALIFAX -- A militant conservation group documenting the East Coast seal hunt says its flagship vessel has been stormed by armed Canadian Coast Guard officers in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Paul Watson, head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, says boarding parties from the coast guard vessels Des Groseilliers and Sir Wilfred Grenfell boarded the Farley Mowat at around 11 a.m. ADT in the Cabot Strait.

Watson, speaking in an interview from New York, says the coast guard took command of his vessel and were "screaming at people to lie down on the deck.''

Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080412/sealing_confront_080412/20080412?hub=TopStories

[freedomnorth]

1. duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3265757

[sce56]

2. Not really dupe different source actual news media! n/t

[sce56]

3. Notice the media calls them "Militant" I suppose they think it is a warship not a documentary crew!

[flvegan]

4. Ha! CTV: "doesn't have to submit to Canadian regulations"

Nothing to do with Canadian regulations, morons.

[Annces]

5. Seal Defenders Attacked! The Farley Mowat Has Been Illegally Stormed and the Crew Assaulted

Source: Sea Shepherd Conservation

At 0700 Hours (PST) and 0800 Hours Atlantic time the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel Farley Mowat was attacked by officers from two Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers the Des Groseilliers and the Sir Wifred Grenfell.

Captain Alex Cornelissen informed the boarders that the Farley Mowat is a Dutch registered ship in international waters and that Canada had no legal right to restrict the free passage of the vessel through international waters.

The ship was in the Gulf of St. Lawrence well beyond the Canadian twelve mile territorial limit.

Captain Paul Watson was speaking by phone with Farley Mowat communications officer Shannon Mann when he heard the voices of men screaming for the crew to fall to the floor. The men carried guns according to Mann and could be heard by Captain Watson threatening the Farley Mowat’s crew. As Captain Watson was speaking with Shannon Mann, the Satellite phone went dead and nothing more has been heard from the Sea Shepherd crew.

The Farley Mowat was documenting violations of the humane regulations and gathering proof that the seals were being killed in an inhumane manner. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is assuming that the video tapes will be seized by the Canadian authorities.

There are 17 crewmembers onboard the Dutch registered Farley Mowat from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, South Africa, Canada and the United States.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been cut off from communication with the crew and has no information on where the vessel will be taken. Sea Shepherd has no information on the condition of the crew and the Society is deeply concerned for their crew.

“This is an act of war,” said Captain Paul Watson. “The Canadian government has just sent an armed boarding party onto a Dutch registered yacht in international waters and has seized the ship. Considering that the mission of the Farley Mowat was to document evidence of cruelty by sealers to support a European initiative to ban seal products, I can predict that the Europeans will not be very pleased with this move and most likely this move by Loyola Hearn will guarantee that this bill is passed. In other words the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has just handed us the victory that we were looking for.”




Read more: http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_080412_1.html

---

Oh boy.

[Algorem]

6. Canada's gotten all sucky

[flvegan]

7. Good for the seals.

This is now going to be an even bigger international clusterfuck for the Canadian govt and their pathetic stranglehold on their "right" to bludgeon animals half to death before skinning them alive.

Surely, the EU will not be pleased with the unlawful armed seizure (little more than hostage taking, if you ask me) of their citizens.

I wish the crew of the Farley Mowat safety. The Canadian Coast Guard, having already killed 4 sealers, has proven to be unable to protect human lives and to be completely inept at sea.

[Barrett808]

8. Does seem like this will cement the EU ban on seal products

I guess we can't credit Hearn with an overabundance of smarts.

[flvegan]

12. I think Hearn got played like a fool.

The whole campaign, Watson has been very clear about the Farley Mowat being a "registered Dutch yacht" conducting "no commercial business" in "international waters". I think Watson saw this sort of thing coming, one way or another. I think that 1. that's why, even though she's Alex' boat, Watson isn't there; 2. SSCS has been quite unconfrontational, playing things pretty quietly this season; 3. Watson has repeated the aforementioned mantra over and over and over...

Hearn and the Coast Guard (and the sealers) are a bunch of frustrated little tools, and if things happened as Watson has stated in this story, they played right into the demise of the industry.

[hisownpetard]

9. This is horrible! Who, in our gov't, is addressing this hostage-taking act - anyone?

[rucognizant]

16. Meanwhile further south............

The US Coast Guard, gave the Maine Lobstermen 2 weeks notice, to pull their traps to make way for the seiners & draggers...... and then went in to the bay and cut loose all the traps that hadn't complied ( thousands of dollars worth of equipment lost) It takes several months to lay down a big string of traps, NOT possible to gather them all in in 2 weeks time.
Thia has NOT occured in the 17 years I've lived up here.
No lobster for the 1%rs. They( lobstermen) will now do a strike with the truckers! The F word? Disaster Capitalism?
Actually Rev, SUn Moon DOES OWN the biggest seafood distributorship in the country!

[Shoelace]

19. call the US Embassy in Canada: 1 902 429 2480 (I just did)

americans should call the US embassy in canada at
1 902 429 2480
and demand that they contact the canadian authorities to make sure our citizens working aboard the farley mowat are safe. so far canada hasn't released any information about the condition of the crew or there whereabouts.


When I called, I had to report this incident as an "emergency" to get a live person to talk with. She was very nice and said that they were notified about this situation about an hour ago. Wouldn't hurt if ALOT of us called!

[hisownpetard]

21. I just donated $100 to the seal watch project and signed up on their alert list.

I can't even watch the videos. I would literally be throwing up all afternoon.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I am going to call the embassy in Canada now.

[hisownpetard]

24. Called, also said it was an emergency. Said I was calling to register my concern about the safety

of all the people working on the Farley Mowat and to inquire as to whether help was getting to them.

The woman I spoke with said that they had no information they could discuss about the condition of the people involved.
She asked if I was a relative of one of the people on board. I said "No, just a concerned citizen."
She said the person to whom she was going to give the message is busy now, speaking with relatives of the people on board.
If possible, she said she'd ask the woman to call me back.

I pray to God that they're all ok.

This is just a horrendous sin.

[Annces]

10. I hope so

Maybe Holland will get outraged about this. Hearn seems determined to act like he is protecting the sealers from the activists. Things are going to hell in a handbasket this season for the sealers (a good thing).

[LeftyMom]

25. He should have been protecting the sealers from the Coast Guard.

They managed to drown four trying to help. :eyes:

[Judi Lynn]

11. Thanks for getting this information here. Doubt we'll be hearing much through corporate media.

I hope the Canadian government has reamed itself with this illegal act, hope the crew of the Farley Mowat will be fine.

[Canuckistanian]

18. Maybe not AMERICAN corporate media

But our CBC, CTV, and Global are reporting this.

In fact, it's BIG news on CBC. Top story this past hour.

[Judi Lynn]

22. Yep, I was a little slow on that, sorry. Was actually overfocused on the U.S. corporate "news" media

I can see how it would be important in the country where this has happened.

It's fairly common for us to get pure crap from our own "news" sources, as you've probably noticed, a lot of lies, a lot of refusal to carry critically important stories, like the ones they sit on forever, or even refuse to acknowledge altogether, and a whole lot of baloney no one wants to know about, like the private lives of singers, movie people, etc.

[HuffleClaw]

13. since when is propaganda 'news'?

this is not a legitimate news source, why not just link to the CBC instead?

[Annces]

14. Ya right

The media is not going to give accurate coverage, at least not until Monday when the reporters are done with their weekend.

And surprise, surprise you are a Canadian. No bias toward Sea Shepherd eh? (sarcasm)

[HuffleClaw]

32. here's an actual news link

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2008/04/12/seal-hunt.html

[Annces]

33. So what

There is nothing wrong with posting Watson's site. He is an honest person. Why don't you just stick to sites you like and not try to censor others.

[HuffleClaw]

43. who said anything about censoring anyone?

i simply pointed out that a non-news site was being passed off as a legitimate news source, which, so far as i knew, was verboten for LBN

[Larkspur]

15. Will the Canadians call Sea Shepherd "enemy combatants"?

I donate to Sea Shepherd every year. Totally support what they do.

[Shoelace]

17. a total act of war! HSUS has live reports coming in now too

my God I can't believe that the Canadian govt. did this! I've not heard anything about the seal hunt over our media here in the states - nothing. We are going to have to rely on DU to get the word out. I'm hoping, praying that the EU will ban this atrocity THIS YEAR!

This will be world news when we find out what they did with the Farley Mowat crew. By the sound of that news report, it's pretty bad.

US Humane Society has live reports coming in as they get the videos from their helicopters in the area of the biggest hunt off Newfoundland. Yesterday, nearly 3,000 seals were slaughtered. They will have the videos at this link as well as the news. Bless Rebecca Aldworth, she feels very helpless watching this horror as do we all.

http://www.hsus.org/marine_mammals/marine_mammals_news/live_from_ice_032408.html

How we can help? A link to the Harpseals.org:

http://www.harpseals.org/index.html

Also, if you need more info, more links to orgs that have petition sites, etc, go here:

http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2008/03/the-canadian-blood-festival-resumes/

[bananas]

20. Thank you for those links! nt

[LeftyMom]

23. The Canadian seal circus makes the Japanese whalers look almost competent by comparison.

Damn, they must have to get up really early in the morning to think up ideas this fucking dumb.

[Annces]

26. News coverage video from Canadian TV

Ottawa, Graham Richardson, Paul Watson

http://www.ctv.ca/home

[flvegan]

27. Illegal detainment at gunpoint. The only way they could stop them.

Someone's gonna get sued.

Sounds like Canada has taken a page from Bush's book.

[Shoelace]

28. EMAIL Hearn, thank him for his stupidity: [e-mail]

I just emailed the "Honorable" Loyola Hearn, House of Commons,Minister of Fisheries & Oceans. I did point out that by his actions against the crew of the Farley Mowat, this would serve as a catalyst for world outcry against Canada's annual seal slaughter.

Here's the link to the contact page of the Department of Fisheries, Hearn's email addy, etc:

http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Contact_e.htm

[Annces]

29. Also Holland

Since it is a Dutch ship and Captain, I think Holland would want to know. I send an email to a few news sources. Don't know if it will be read or not.

[Barrett808]

30. Update: Anti-sealing vessel raided, two arrested (Farley Mowat

Anti-sealing vessel raided, two arrested
Updated: Sat Apr. 12 2008 11:59:39
CTV.ca News Staff

Canadian Coast Guard officers have seized a vessel belonging to the militant, anti-seal-hunt Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and arrested its captain and chief officer.

The vessel, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is there to document the annual seal hunt.

CTV's Graham Richardson told Newsnet on Saturday that government officials tell him the crew is also being held.

"The government believes this group ... is being too dangerous, getting too close to the sealers," he said.

"I received a call at 1100 hours Atlantic Time from our communications officer on the Farley Mowat," Paul Watson, head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, told CTV Newsnet on Saturday.

"She said that two icebreakers from the Canadian Coast Guard had dispatched four inflatables full of armed men that were coming towards them.

"While I was on the line, they boarded the vessel rather quickly at gunpoint, and while I was on the line, and I could hear them screaming at our crew to lie down on the deck."

His communications officer continued to relay what was happening until the line went dead, Watson said, adding he has no idea if any of his crew has been injured or his vessel damaged.

The Farley Mowat is a Dutch-registered vessel and was outside the 12-mile limit when this incident occurred. That made the Coast Guard's actions illegal, Watson said. In a news release, he described the incident as "an act of war."

Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn issued a news release saying: "The government of Canada has taken action to protect the safety and livelihoods of Canadian sealers by boarding and seizing the Farley Mowat to arrest its Captain and Chief Officer for alleged violations of Canada's Marine Mammal Regulations (MMR). These actions were taken in accordance with Canadian fisheries legislation.

"Today's action will help ensure the safe and orderly conduct of the seal hunt. We will continue to protect sealers while ensuring the sustainable and humane management of the hunt so it continues to provide economic opportunities for Canada's coastal communities in the future."

(more)

http://www.ctvbc.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20080412/sealing_confront_080412/20080412/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

Federal officers board and seize protest vessel in the Gulf of St. Lawrence

HALIFAX — Ottawa's decision Saturday to board and seize a vessel owned by a militant conservation group opposed to the annual East Coast seal hunt amounts to "an act of war," says Paul Watson, head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Watson, speaking in an interview from New York, said armed federal officers from two coast guard vessels stormed aboard the Farley Mowat at around 11 a.m. ADT in the Cabot Strait - the body of water between Cape Breton and Newfoundland.

"(They) took command of the vessel, and .... they were screaming at people to lie down on the deck."

Watson said a communications officer aboard the ship was relaying details of the boarding via satellite phone when the connection was suddenly lost.

The federal Fisheries Department later confirmed the ship's captain and chief officer were arrested for violating Canada's marine mammal regulations.

Last week, the department brought forward charges alleging the Farley Mowat's captain, Alexander Cornelissen, and First Officer Peter Hammarstedt broke rules that prohibit anyone without a valid observation licence from coming within 900 metres of the hunt.

Cornelissen is also charged with obstruction or hindrance of a Fishery Officer or inspector.

"The Government of Canada has taken action to protect the safety and livelihoods of Canadian sealers," federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn said in the statement.

"The safety and security of sealers remains our government's focus and is what guides our decisions on the water."

Watson maintains the Farley Mowat is a Dutch-registered vessel and doesn't have to submit to Canadian regulations.

"We're regarding this as an unlawful boarding," he said.

Watson said the conservation group had been filming seals being slaughtered and he believes the footage will be damaging to Canada, particularly as the European Union considers a ban on the import of all seal products.

"I think we've embarrassed the hell out of the Canadian government and they're desperate," he said.

"Quite frankly, I think Loyola Hearn has made a very, very bad mistake because this is going to blow up in Europe."

The European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, is awaiting a second report on the seal hunt before making its recommendation to the European Parliament, likely this summer.

...

About two-thirds of this year's catch limit of 275,000 harp seals can be taken during the hunt north of Newfoundland.

But federal officials say low pelt prices and soaring fuel costs have made the hunt a money-losing proposition for many sealers. That means the total catch this season is expected to be far below the limit.

Pelt prices have dropped to about $33 this year from an average of $65 last year.

(more)

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5g0HM6eVJECSsoXpoPODumGR3Pl4Q

[dixiegrrrrl]

31. the "militant, " anti-seal-hunt Sea Shepherd Conservation Society????

Militant ?????

Militant: defined: A fighting, warring, or aggressive person or party.

uh,, who boarded what?
who had the guns?
who used force?
illegally at that?


Aarrgghhhh

[hack89]

38. Militant has an accepted politcal context

re: aggressively active (as in a cause)

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/militant

[and-justice-for-all]

34. They are not 'militant', because they are unarmed.

use of the term in that definition would be religious folk in the same boat, more the fundi nuts but still.

[CHIMO]

35. War of words between fisheries minister, Sea Shepherd head

HALIFAX — An RCMP tactical squad stormed and seized the anti-sealing vessel Farley Mowat on Saturday, in a provocative move the federal fisheries minister said would prevent “a bunch of money-sucking manipulators” from interfering with the annual hunt.

Paul Watson, head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, said the seizure of his ship and the arrests of two senior officers amounted to an “act of war” because the vessel is registered in the Netherlands.

“We did the right thing,” Mr. Hearn told a news conference in Ottawa. “I'd rather act when nobody is hurt, rather than react when somebody got killed.”

Mr. Watson has argued that his vessel never entered Canada's 12-nautical-mile territorial limit, but Mr. Hearn said the Fisheries Act gave him the authority to take action beyond that line.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080412.wsealhunt0412/BNStory/National/home

Seems like they put their foot into it.
Hearn must have approval from the Big Guy to act. They are trying to recoup their standing on the East Coast.

The Big Guy must think that NATO will cover them.

Forget it! The people in Europe will not stand for big wigs in NATO calling the shots on this.

The poor fish that Captain Canada supported will be a minuscule thing when compared to this.

[Shoelace]

36. going to be interesting to see how this all plays out

with the international press. So much for the "law of the sea"!

[petronius]

37. I think there is a 200 mile economic exclusion zone in which countries

can prevent other nations from taking fish, minerals etc. Canada might make the case that the EEZ allows them to prevent other nations' vessels from interfering with Canadian economic activities, as well as allowing them to exclude foreign vessels from exploiting resources in the EEZ.

The problem for Canada is that the SS really hasn't done any interfering, and there isn't really any justification for that 900 m buffer. Unless the SS hs been doing a lot of nefarious things that none of us are getting to hear about - kind of doubtful, since publicity is key to their activities - I'm really baffled by Canada's actions...

[Shoelace]

40. they were actually charged with coming too close to a fishing boat

not charged with actually being inside the 12 mile limit. What is really odd about that is this; the Canadian govt. says that the Farley Mowat came within 20 feet of a fishing boat which is against their fisheries laws. They put out a picture as proof of this.

Problem being, as you view the image, you see that the Farley Mowat is far more than 20 ft. away! So if this is the best proof they have then I'd say that they know it's indefensible in any court of law. I've seen pictures of these fishing boats following each other into the ice flows far closer than they should have for safety. Shouldn't they have arrested them as well?

<img src="">

Caption for image:
This photograph released by the Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans purports to show the Farley Mowat near a sealing vessel off the east coast of Cape Breton, N.S. on Friday, April 11, 2008.

Also, regarding the cruelty of said "hunt" - view the latest post from the US Humane Society (today's) that proves it's anything but humane. Be aware that the video is gut wrenching to watch.

http://www.hsus.org/marine_mammals/marine_mammals_news/live_from_ice_032408.html

[petronius]

41. That's what I mean - Canada has made this law that other boats need to

stay 900 meters from sealing vessels, and are using it to charge the SS. I'm guessing they'll argue that this law applies in their EEZ as well as the territorial water, because the law relates to economic activity.

IMO, it's a bogus argument - there is no safety related reason for the buffer zone to be 900 m (maybe ~50-100 ft, but not half a mile), and I don't think that kind of regulation is what the EEZ applies to in the first place.

Of course, IANA(sea-)L...

[Shoelace]

42. methinks it's a ruse to deflect sealer's anger away from their Coast Guards bungling

when the hunt began at the end of March - when the 4 sealers died. It certainly sounds by all accounts that this was a major f**kup on the part of that CG ship which never answered the distress calls of the fishing boat, etc.

I wasn't aware that the limit was 900 meters. What? They figure that's too far for even the best camera zoom lenses wouldn't capture the insane cruelty with which this slaughter is done? There are hundreds of videos to prove otherwise.
My God, I am in hopes that the EU commission sees right through this whole affair. According to recent news reports, the Canadian lobbyists who just met with the EU commission, were NOT successful in convincing the EU that the hunt was "humane"! In fact, it sounds like it had the opposite effect.
BTW, you can email the head of the EU Commission directly, Stavros Dimas who I feel, needs some encouragement to implement a total ban on all seal products. He's a tough environmentalist so it couldn't hurt:

[e-mail]

I agree, it's all a bogus argument and one that serves to infuriate those millions across the world who want this, the largest sea mammal hunt on earth to stop.

[flvegan]

39. Hysterical Hearn Hatefully Harasses Harp Seal Heroes

A clearly agitated Loyola Hearn, Canada’s Minister of Fishy Business held a media conference in Ottawa on Saturday to deliver a vindictive and clearly angry denunciation of Captain Paul Watson and the crew of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship Farley Mowat.

Unable to defend the incompetence of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Hearn decided to get personal by referring to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as “A bunch of money-sucking manipulators." Hearn also said, "And their sole aim is to try to suck as much money out of the pockets of people who really don't know what's going on."

Hearn accused Captain Watson of directing the campaign from his “posh New York hotel suite where he was dining on steak and lobster.” That was a revelation to Captain Watson who is a vegetarian and last night slept on the couch of a friend in Brooklyn.

“Mr. Hearn has the resources of the RCMP at his disposal and they can check my credit card records and they will find just how frugal we are,” said Captain Watson, “but why let evidence and the facts get in the way of good propaganda spin?”

In authorizing the unlawful boarding of a foreign yacht in international waters, Hearn said, "We will continue to protect sealers while ensuring the sustainable and humane management of the hunt so it continues to provide economic opportunities for Canada's coastal communities in the future."

The question is; what is Hearn protecting the sealers from? The Sea Shepherd crew are armed with cameras. The only threat to the safety of the sealers seems to be from the Canadian government. Hearn sent hundreds of flimsy wooden and aluminum hulled vessels into very treacherous ice conditions and because of Hearn’s incompetence and his political ambitions four sealers are now dead. It was his policies that killed these men and now he is using Sea Shepherd to distract from his incompetence by focusing the anger of the sealers towards hating both the seals and those who defend them and of course the sealers are dumb enough to be easily persuaded.

The Canadian Coast Guard along with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Federal Fisheries officers staged an armed boarding of a moving Dutch registered yacht in international waters. This was a dangerous and desperate attack. The Farley Mowat crew did not resist the boarding for fear that some of the Canadian officers would be hurt.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_080412_2.html