Editor’s Note: I just received the following press release from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society—looks like some positive developments in the fight to stop the killing of endangered whales: Judge vows to examine the legality of ICR’s whaling operations February 20, 2012- Seattle, Washington– A Seattle district court has denied a preliminary injunction in
“A truly joint effort” Campbell Plowden describes “one of the craziest weeks in his 14 years with Greenpeace” in The Story Behind the Big Miracle: Operation Breakthrough. He shares with us his work contributing to the meeting of synchronized forces as they merge in a pragmatic action successfully. “In the end, the rescue was truly a joint effort between the Eskimos,
The news: Reportedly, 3 sea shepherd activists(or whale warriors) have been injured in a clash with Japanese whalers. “The Japanese whalers have escalated their aggression by throwing iron grappling hooks at Sea Shepherd boats,” the Sea Shepherd team writes. “Two Steve Irwin crew were struck in the shoulder with iron grappling hooks and one crewmember was
If you haven’t heard, three anto-whaling activists, or whale warriors, were ‘taken captive’ by Japanese whalers after boarding the Shonan Maru 2 several days ago are supposedly to be released. The Australian activists from Forest Rescue — Geoffrey Owen Tuxworth, Simon Peterffy, and Glen Pendlebury — were facing trial and possible imprisonment in Japan for
To better keep an eye on Japan’s whaling fleet, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society activists have taken the advice of its helicopter pilot, Chris Aultman, and created battery-powered drones to follow the hunting ships. The drones, launched from the Steve Irwin every day, can go 300km (190 miles) and “uses GPS co-ordinates and provides both
Whilst in pursuit of the Japanese whaling fleet, the Sea Shepherd scout vessel Brigitte Bardot was struck by a rogue wave on December 28, 2011, severely damaging the hull and detaching the port side pontoon. Since then, the Steve Irwin moved to intercept the Brigitte Bardot and is now escorting it back to Fremantle, Australia,
If you haven’t run across this news yet, it’s pretty disheartening… a lot of disaster relief funds given to Japan to help it recover from the terrible tsunami and nuclear disasters that slammed it in March are reportedly being used to support the country’s whaling operations, something which is, by all practical standards, illegal.
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
In a statement released on Thursday the United States has expressed their deep “regrets that Japan has decided to continue its controversial whaling in the Southern Ocean.”
The statement also went on to state that “the United States also expresses its deep concern about the possibility of violence in connection with such whaling.”
This sort of nonaction and pussy-footing around an issue such as this is one of the reasons why individual nutjobs like Paul Watson and his Sea Shepherd Conservation Society are out on the seas trying to protect animals who have as much right to live as anything else, especially given how close to endangered many species of whale are getting.
President Obama in a report to Congress on Thursday announced his intention to follow the suggestions of then Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke to discourage Iceland from its whaling policy.
Here is a touching story of a family that decided to help one of the largest creatures on earth that was entangled in a fishing net. Sadly, whales get caught up in things like this often, but without the happy ending.
Following some strange migratory pattern of its own design, and emitting a plaintive call-song that is never answered, a solitary whale roams the depths of the northeastern Pacific Ocean. The call-song has been tracked through NOAA’s underwater, sound surveillance system since 1989, when a research team out of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute noticed “whale-like” sounds occurring in the 51.75 Hertz band of the radio spectrum. Amongst the scientists who have faithfully tracked the song since, the mystery whale is known as ’52 Hertz’, but popularly, “she” is known as Alice.
Jeremy Bloom of our sister site Red, Green, and Blue reported yesterday on Japanese whalers’ apparent retreat in the middle of this year’s whaling season, and shared the news here on Planetsave as well. It is still unclear if the hunting season is finished or only suspended, but there is strong indication that it is
Following the Japanese governments admission and apology for embezzlement related to Japan’s whaling policy and industry (whaling officials finally acknowledged accepting whale meat ‘gifts’ from the company conducting whale hunts, Kyodo Senpaku), Greenpeace is urging the initiation of an official investigation into this matter. As the ailing and fraudulent ‘scientific’ Japanese whaling fleet conducts a
Six months ago two Japanese whaling crew members reported to Australia’s ABC Foreign Affairs program that other crew members were taking whale meat that legally belongs to the Japanese tax payer for personal profit. Today, the Japanese Fishery Agency has admitted to the fact, confirming that they had reprimanded five of its officials for taking
Killing off some of the most amazing creatures in the history of the planet, whales, is one of those things we are doing right now that make you really question the intelligence of humans. How can we do such a thing? Calling on humans to be more sensitive creatures but also to realize and protect
Big recent news in the world of ocean and environmental activism is that Avatar and LOST actress Michelle Rodriguez is going to join the Sea Shepherd crew on its next Antarctic anti-whaling campaign.
Updates on the International Whaling Committee decision about legalizing whaling of endangered species. Some organizations see the decision as a (temporary) win, some see it as a big failure. We wrote a few articles leading up to a major International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting that was supposed to involve a vote on whether or not
One of the last countries on Earth to still hunt whales, Japan, is considering withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission. [social_buttons]Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Masahiko Yamada said Tuesday that, unless an international ban on commercial whaling is eased, Japan could withdraw from the IWC, the international body that regulates whaling. The IWC are
A controversial new proposal would allow nations (i.e. Japan, Norway and Iceland) to kill endangered whales. Quotas will be based on politics, not science. In 1986, commercial whaling was officially banned by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), an entity established to protect dramatically declining whale stocks. Despite this ban, certain nations, most notably Japan, Norway
Greenpeace activists blocked a shipment of endangered fin whale meat going from Iceland to Japan via Rotterdam in Holland and sent a request to the Dutch government as well. [social_buttons] On Friday morning, Greenpeace activists sacrificed their Easter holidays in order to help stop the killing and trade of endangered fin whales. Fewer than 50,000
All six crew on board the Ady Gil, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s high-speed intercepting vessel, are safe, but the fate of the boat is in doubt after a collision with a Japanese harpoon vessel left it disabled off the coast of Antarctica. Anti-whaling activists, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, made famous in the Animal Planet
Chris Aultman is the helicopter pilot and Aviation Director of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. He served for six years in the United States Marine Corps prior to joining the Sea Shepherd team. During that period Chris spent 13 months at sea and became a veteran of the Gulf War. Aultman’s first experience with
Just Born — the makers of Marshmallow Peeps — says they’ll be producing whale-shaped, and whale-sized, Marshmallow Peeps in an effort to end Japanese whaling. [social_buttons] The Peep-maker said the joint effort is between Darryl Hannah, The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Greenpeace, and that they are uniting under the moniker PEEP: People for Everything
A while back we posted about a bomb threat against the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s ship, the Steve Irwin. Well, the mystery has been solved: a drunk fisherman called in the threat on his cell phone from his ship across the harbor. [social_buttons] Kenneth James Archer admitted to calling in the threat because of a
Fishing nets often inadvertantly become entangled around whales, and while that is a crime under the Endangered Species Act, hardly anyone ever faces charges. But one unlucky fisherman has been caught in the act. Robert J. Eldridge Jr. faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine if convicted of three felony charges.
The five Sea Shepherd crew members on board the Steve Irwin found Tasmanian police back at their ship a few weeks after they had confiscated all their video material from the latest campaign. But this time, the police arrived to protect the crew. [social_buttons] “Someone called in a bomb threat about 20 minutes ago, stating
Two British supermarket chains will ensure that none of the seafood products they carry will be supplied by companies that support or engage in whaling or the hunting of other sea mammals. [social_buttons] Waitrose, one of the two stores, has already written to the Icelandic government asking them to reverse their decision to allow an
Things turned bad for Sea Shepherd when they arrived back to port in Tasmania today. They were greeted by Australian federal police who boarded the Steve Irwin ship with a warrant. [social_buttons] They confiscated “all edited and raw video footage, all edited and raw audio recordings, all still photographs, producer’s notes, interview transcripts, production meeting
Contrary to previous reports, Iceland’s new government announced that they will keep the controversial increased whaling quota that the outgoing Fisheries Minister enacted last month, just one day before leaving office. [social_buttons] Steingrimur J Sigfusson, Iceland’s new Fisheries Minister, said that the country will keep the whaling quota, but added that whalers should not expect
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is calling for a complete economic boycott of Icelandic products after the country’s announcement extending their illegal commercial whaling campaign into the next five years. [social_buttons] Last year, Iceland killed nine endangered Fin whales. A few months back they began exporting the meat from the endangered whales to Japan, which
23,000 Dolphins are slaughtered each year in a hidden cove in Taiji, Japan. The Japanese government covers it up. No one could get in. Until now. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/Sw5qgVp0jng] [UPDATE: Dolphin Slaughter in Taiji’s ‘Cove’ Suspended]! The Cove exposes an atrocity of unimaginable brutality. The dolphin slaughter depicted here is committed yearly and without knowledge of the
[social_buttons] Anti-whaling activists aboard the Sea Shepherd vessel ‘Steve Irwin’ have covered a whaling ship with a smelly cocktail of rotten butter, methyl cellulose and indelible dye. The unconventional sliming operation was carried out in a bid to intimidate the Japanese whaler, Kaiko Maru, into moving out of Australian Antarctic territorial waters. According to Peter
[social_buttons] The Brazilian government has today signed a federal decree establishing the Brazilian Whale and Dolphin Sanctuary, which will drastically increase protection for all cetacean species along the country’s entire 5,000 mile long coast. According to José Truda Palazzo, Jr., Brazilian Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission, “the initiative sends a clear and powerful message
Greenpeace issued a lengthy statement on their website in an attempt to further distance themselves from Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd yesterday. With an aim at setting the record straight, Greenpeace made the statement out of frustration with what it claims are lies and falsehoods propagated by Watson, compounded by a general public misconception that
We’ve covered Sea Shepherd and their new television show “Whale Wars” quite a bit the past couple months, and while we love the organization and the show, we must admit that we cringe every time they make a disastrous mistake on the TV show. But things are looking brighter for the next season, being filmed
The announcement by Japan’s Fisheries Agency that Sea Shepherd crew will be arrested if they disrupt Japanese whale killing operations has done little to stop the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The direct action animal rights organization, as seen on Animal Planet’s “Whale Wars”, says they are “undettered” by the threats. [social_buttons] “When you are willing
[social_buttons] Former playboy playmate Vanessa Carbone has staged an unconventional protest against Japanese whaling, by holding a naked demonstration outside the Japanese embassy in Santiago, Chile (pictures). The Argentinian model was among a group of protesters demanding that the Chilean government create a whale sanctuary in the country’s territorial waters. Stripped down to nothing more
Japan will drop its minke whale targets from 935 to 750, the first reduction made in over 20 years. On top of reduced whale meat demand and world-wide pressure, Japan cites the unrelenting sea protests as a reason for this decision. This comes as both a huge victory for the animal rights community and also
Prior to Friday’s premiere of the new Animal Planet series Whale Wars, Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research has accused Animal Planet of ecoterrorism. The show will chronicle the exploits of an anti-whaling group who takes their quest directly to the front lines, trying to stop Japanese whaling vessels from succeeding in killing whales. [social_buttons] Planetsave
Let’s not try and talk about this as breaking news, for many people have already seen the horrific pictures. But the fact is that this is huge news, and I’m going to take a quick look at just what it is, what it means, and why. However if you haven’t turned on a TV or
It’s true, lemons often turn into lemonade. It happened to me, and I gotta tell the story.year-end.mp3
