Animal Planet, Daryl Hannah Join Sea Shepherd Crew For More Whale Wars

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As seen on TV, the Sea Shepherd Society is once again readying their boat in order to thwart the efforts of Japanese whalers

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Just earlier this week the Japanese whaling ship called the Nisshin Maru left port to begin hunting and slaughtering an expected 1,000 whales. Luckily enough, the Sea Shepherd Society has the whales’ backs…er, fins? It’s an annual confrontation between the society and the whalers, one that I’m enormously grateful for!

It’s been estimated that last year the tactics of the Sea Shepherd saved around half of the whales targeted by the Japenese fleet, approximating in a $70-million dollar loss. It wasn’t easy Watson says, as he was shot during one of the forays. “I was wearing a bullet-proof vest, ” he told an Australian newspaper, “but the bullet hit my badge (an anti-poaching badge) so I had this bullet and I jokingly gave it to the guy who played Grissom in CSI (actor William Petersen) – he’s one of our supporters – and said ‘Hey, take a look at this because no one else will.’

I admit, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to interact with whales off the coast of Baja. That’s me petting one in the picture above. I’m far from religious but the experience is like that of seeing God. It’s beautiful and utterly unreal. If only the Japanese were Mexican.

Let me give a shout out to my motley crew of whale watchers. We’re a gang of engineers, a Brit, a Sea World veterinarian, and some Asian guy – none of us really know what John does. We’re just a movie star short of being a Gilligan’s Island spin off. It’s the perfect blend.

But make no mistake, it’s not my interaction with these creatures that fuels my interest in their plight. I find them majestic, yes, but the actions of the Japanese are inexcusable and just plain lame. Luckily, I believe in karma and that there is a special version of Hell just for whalers.

In the meantime, we have Daryl Hannah. Yup, Daryl Hannah — actress, activist, and part-time mermaid — is joining the Sea Shepherd crew this time around, headed by Captain Paul Watson. The crew itself is made up of over 40 volunteers and a Animal Planet film crew. Animal Planet will document the adventures for their hit television series Whale Wars.

The boat — the Steve Irwin — leaves port from Australia on December 1st. Wish them luck.

[Via: Ecorazzi]

Photo: Jerry James Stone, San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja California Sur



Jerry James Stone (29 Posts)

Jerry is a web developer, part-time blogger and a full-time environmentalist. His crusade for all things eco started twenty years ago when he ditched his meat-and-potatoes upbringing for something more vegetarian-shaped. He currently works at Care2 and also blogs over at Treehugger. His passions include green tech, eco politics and smart green design. And while he doesn't own a car anymore, he loves to write about those too. Jerry studied at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA. During his time there he was a DJ at the campus station KCPR and he also wrote for the campus paper. Jerry currently resides in San Francisco, CA with his cat Lola. You can stalk him on Twitter @jerryjamesstone.


  • ashish mehra

    how i join sea shapared

  • zala

    Bomb the bloody Nishi Maru. The Japanese are not researching anything. Drop your weapons and try killing a whale, you cowards.

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  • Uncle B

    Sadly, Japan, a small group of islands with over-population problems, have no vast areas of fields for food production! They have always “farmed” the oceans – for centuries now! Americans, noble interests in whales have intervened, and forceful, xenophobic and hegimoniously dictated in a situation they little understand, and like “Marines” they don’t try to understand, they simply barge in rudely and begin dictating! Arrogant – yes! Ignorant – yes! Uneducated – yes! Uninformed – yes! heavy handed – yes! Nazi like – yes!
    First the offended party should examine the problem, find out the who’s, whys, whats, wheres, and whens, of the situation, then provide a studied response to a nation that has fed itself from the seas even long before the America’s were even discovered! An alternate, workable plan to attain the same food, but not damaging to the environment must first be presented! Acceptance is much more likely by this route. This article fails to mention that those people have as much right to food as any American, who in fact consumes 80% of the worlds resources without questions or justifications today! Americans are meeting with the Asian Fact of the world as we speak, and will be soundly critiqued for their errors too! no doubt!

  • Ang

    You need a bigger ship, so that you can really fight for the whales. You wouldn’t want me on there I would be kikin butt. Major…

  • Steven Butcher

    BTW, I wish that you had sunk their ship when you accidently collided with them.

  • Steven Butcher

    To the crew of the Sea Shepherd; I think you guys are AWESOME! Keep up the good work that you are doing. Maybe someday, someone will provide you with another ship and some more equipment. Someone out there has to have the money for that. I think whaling is outdated and senseless. THEY NEED TO BE STOPPED!

  • Melody Burgin

    I agree with Jenny(above) Haters need to but out. You Haters are losers. Let Paul and the crew fulfill the dream they have without your Loser comments. To Paul and crew,” The Whales count on you. And you are making a difference. I don’t see any of the Losers out there doing what you all are doing! Keep up the good work. My prayers are with you all.

  • Melody Burgin

    Dido, to all of the above!! The Whales only hope out there right now is the Sea Sheperd and crew. I agree with JENNY (above comment) THE HATERS need to BUT OUT!! To the Sea Sheperds Crew ” Keep on doing what you do best”. You have alot of veiwers that Have your Back. Bless you all!

  • http://planetsave.com LaDonna

    I love what the sea shepard crew is doing just wish there was more that could be done for these awesome creatures of the world there is nothing more majestic then whales wish we could get more ships out there to help in the effort and get governments to step in and stop the killing everywhere and to the japenese just because you think something tastes good does not mean you need to eat it what if mother people thought you tasted good and started eating you it is horrible how these animals are slaughtered for fake research that you can see is not done because what ever is not packaged is thrown back in the ocean unstudied.

  • Jeannie P

    I am so grateful to all of the volunteers of the SEA SHEPHERD and Captain Watson, Keep up the great work! It is very upsetting to watch these magnificent whales getting tortured and watching them suffer before getting slaughtered, and so sad that the Japanese are such idiots and that they don’t care anything about our eco-system or these beautiful creatures that God has created.I wondered about helicopter drops too? Be safe!!!! Jae

  • http://aol.com braden

    i cry when the whales die………dont tell annyyyybody that

  • http://aol.com braden

    iiiiiiiiiiii hate nishi maru!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • http://aol.com braden

    i freken want to be on the team but im just a kid i realy want to kill those butt head whaling nishi marus i wanna kill them!

  • http://Plantsave.com Jennifer c Gibson of Tacoma WA

    I cant believe they allow such evil,ignorant,childish and heartless people and i use the term people loosely to spew there hate and stupidity around the world you people again i use the term loosely are Environmentally irresponsible! Your the ones killing our earth and helping bring disease and hunger to the world and killing so many of those whales are damaging are eco system and then when everything is gone what nasty thing are you going to rag on or will you start saying lets kill all the babies there tasty and japan are big fat liars research my @#$%^& its just cause the Japanese cant figure out how to raise a cow get over your F in selves and to the moron who commented on the weight of captain Watson grow up you couldnt last 2 days on that ship p—y why dont you be part of the solution not part of the problem HATERS!!! And to the awesome heroic crew and captain of the Sea Shepherd you are everything that should represent the world. keep kickin a– oh and how bout helicopter drops? hmmmm love ya Jenny

  • Phong

    Whale meat taste great!!! keep up the great work Japan!

  • Rondi Nelson

    Great job I watch your show and I wish I could come with you. Not being in good health just want to tell you that I am with you by praying for the whales and for the crew of the Sea Shepherd. I’ve always view whales as a great and beautiful animal. Wanted to go up to Alaska to go watch the whale magration. love and peace to all, I will keep on watching.

  • rplky

    Anyone read the ISCS reports for the stink bombs they use (Butyric Acid)? Environmental Data notes:The substance is harmful to aquatic organisms! Now thats ironic..lol, note that there are 17 subcategories of aquatic organisms, 4 of which are marine mammals, this includes whales and dolphins, according to Wikipedia.( food for thought)http://www.inchem.org/documents/icsc/icsc/eics1334.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Aquatic_organisms

  • Rick

    Mule he is indeed a warrior .. he fights for what he believes in

    as for the estimates, it is my understanding the whalers have a certain time period which they can whale hunt which you can sorta break down how many whales can be killed and processed per day when you figure in time constraints .. if the Sea Shepherd can harass even one of the harpoon boats, thats less whales killed .. last season they even stopped the main slaughter/packaging boat from doing its job for a couple days which is the key boat to the whole operation as the harpoon boats just harpoon the whale and then transfer the line to the slaughter boat for processing

  • Mule

    How in the hell do they come up with that “estimate”?

    And to Candy, do you think Steve Irwin would approve of calling Japanese citizens “Japs”?

    These people aren’t “warriors” and even remotely referring to them as such is a slap in the face to real warriors.

    An aside: how does one blimp up like Watson on a vegan diet anyway?

  • http://bellsouth.net candy

    Dear Whale warriors, Great Job!! Keep it up and don’t stop untill you put these guys(Japs) out of business. We all need a happy ending and many are with you on the Steve Irwin (in spirit, including Steve, himself)