The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which includes some of the most well-known activists on the planet, is getting ready for its 8th Antarctic expedition to stop the Japanese whaling fleet from killings whales in the Southern Ocean.
Sea Shepherd succeeded in making the Japanese cut their whale hunting expedition short last year, one in which the Japanese whaling fleet killed less than 100 of their 1000-whale quota.
One has to wonder how much more prepared the Japanese whaler hunters will be for Sea Shepherd activists this year. You know Sea Shepherd is planning a big winter (or summer down South).
“We are preparing to send three ships with 88 crewmembers and we hope it will be our last season because we put an end to this annual atrocity,” Sea Shepherd writes. “Please be part of this monumental effort to protect these precious, sentient whales – we need you!” You can donate to Sea Shepherd’s efforts here.
On the same page, they note their great success in the last several years, and especially last year.
“During the past seven campaigns, we have saved the lives of over 2,781 whales and exposed illegal Japanese whaling activities to the entire world. Last season, we were able to save more whales than the Japanese whalers were able to kill. Eight hundred and sixty-three (863) whales are alive and swimming in the sea because you enabled us to intervene by supporting our ships and crews.”
The activists are “die-hards.”
“I ask every one of my crew members if they’re willing to risk their life to protect the whale and if they say ‘no’, then we don’t want them,” perhaps the most famous captain in the world, Paul Watson, says.
We’ve been covering Sea Shepherd efforts for years here on Planetsave. Hopefully, we will have all good news to report this year.
By the way, if you didn’t see in the image at the top of the page, this year’s campaign has been titled “Divine Wind.”
The Japanese, which claim that the hunting is for scientific research “to study the whales’ ecosystems” have killed about 10,000 minke whales since 1986 and have no scientific breakthrough to show for it. The hunting is legal, but barely so, and the international process for granting it legality has been shown to be wildly corrupt.
Image via Sea Shepherd
Confuses me how little goverment suport the sea shepherd has. Shows how crooked all the people in power are