The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is a non-profit, marine conservation organization based in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, Washington, in the United States.
Paul Franklin Watson is a Canadian-American conservation and environmental activist, who founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an anti-poaching and direct action group focused on marine conservation activism. The tactics used by Sea Shepherd have attracted opposition, with the group accused of eco-terrorism by both the Japanese government and Greenpeace. Watson is a citizen of Canada and the United States.
RV Farley Mowat was a long-range, ice class ship. Originally built as a Norwegian fisheries research and enforcement vessel, she was purchased by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in Edinburgh, Scotland, in August 1996. Originally named Sea Shepherd III, the name was changed in 1999 to Ocean Warrior, before eventually being renamed in 2002 after Canadian writer Farley Mowat.
Neptune's Navy is the name that the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society uses to refer to the ships it operates. Most of these vessels are used to disrupt or hinder fishing, whaling or sealing operations that the group considers illegal.
MY Ady Gil was a 78-foot (24 m), wave-piercing trimaran originally created as part of a project to break the world record for circumnavigating the globe in a powerboat. Powered by biodiesel fuel, the vessel was also capable of running on regular diesel fuel. It used other eco-friendly materials such as vegetable oil lubricants, hemp composites, and non-toxic anti-fouling, and had features such as bilge-water filters.
Marine conservation activism is the efforts of non-governmental organizations and individuals to bring about social and political change in the area of marine conservation. Marine conservation is properly conceived as a set of management strategies for the protection and preservation of ecosystems in oceans and seas. Activists raise public awareness and support for conservation, while pushing governments and corporations to practice sound ocean management, create conservation policy, and enforce existing laws and policy through effective regulation. There are many different kinds of organizations and agencies that work toward these common goals. They all are a part of the growing movement that is ocean conservation. These organizations fight for many causes including stopping pollution, overfishing, whaling and by-catching, and supporting marine protected areas.
The MY Steve Irwin was the 59-metre (194 ft) flagship of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and was used in their direct action campaigns against whaling and against illegal fisheries activities. The vessel was built in 1975 and formerly served as a Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency conservation enforcement patrol boat, the FPV Westra, for 28 years.
The Yūshin Maru No. 2 is a Japanese-registered whale catcher that undertakes whaling operations in the North Pacific Ocean and Southern Ocean. Along with other vessels of the Japanese whaling fleet, she has been featured on American television since 2008, in the documentary-style reality series Whale Wars.
MV Brigitte Bardot is a unique high-tech 35 m (115 ft) stabilized monohull twin diesel engine powered vessel designed by Nigel Irens. Construction of the vessel began in June 1997 and she was launched on 16 March 1998. The official naming ceremony took place on 3 April 1998 in London's West India Dock. This vessel is currently listed for sale.
Canada's 2008 annual commercial seal hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and around Newfoundland, Quebec and Nova Scotia began on March 28. The hunting season lasts from mid-November to mid-May, but the hunt mainly occurs in March and April. Canada's seal hunt is the world's largest hunt for marine mammals.
Whale Wars is a weekly American documentary-style reality television series that premiered on November 7, 2008 on the Animal Planet cable channel. The program followed Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, as he and the crew aboard their various vessels attempted to stop the killing of whales by Japanese vessels (whalers) off the coast of Antarctica.
The MY Bob Barker is a ship owned and operated by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, named after American television game show host and animal rights activist Bob Barker, whose donation of $5 million to the society facilitated the purchase of the ship. She began operating for the group in late 2009 / early 2010 in its campaign against whaling by Japanese fisheries. In October 2010, Sea Shepherd stated that Bob Barker had completed a major refit in Hobart, Tasmania. Hobart is now the ship's honorary home port.
The Shōnan Maru 2 is a Japanese security vessel, operated by the Japanese Fisheries Agency.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society engages in various demonstrations, campaigns, and tactical operations at sea and elsewhere, including conventional protests and direct actions to protect marine wildlife. Sea Shepherd operations have included interdiction against commercial fishing, shark poaching and finning, seal hunting and whaling. Many of their activities have been called piracy or terrorism by their targets and by the ICRW. Sea Shepherd says that they have taken more than 4,000 volunteers on operations over a period of 30 years.
Captain Peter James Bethune is a New Zealand ship's captain with 500 ton master licence, published author, producer of The Operatives TV show, and public speaker. He is the founder of Earthrace Conservation. He works assisting countries in Asia, Central America and Africa with fisheries enforcement and anti-poaching. He is the holder of the world record for circumnavigating the globe in his powerboat Earthrace, a wavepiercing trimaran powered with biofuels. Earthrace was renamed the Ady Gil in 2009 and Bethune sailed it in Antarctica for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society[1] to disrupt Japanese whaling activities. The vessel was subsequently rammed by the Shonan Maru 2, a Japanese whaling vessel. He subsequently boarded the whaling vessel the Shonan Maru 2 and presented the Captain with an invoice for the Ady Gil and attempted to arrest him. Bethune was detained and taken back to Japan and charged with a number of offences related to his trespassing and assault and received a suspended sentence.
MV John Paul DeJoria is a cutter class vessel owned and operated by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. She is being used in their direct action campaigns against illegal fisheries activities.
Luiz Alves Rocha is the Curator and Follett Chair of Ichthyology at the California Academy of Sciences. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of California Santa Cruz and San Francisco State University.
MY Ocean Warrior is a cutter-class vessel owned and operated by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as research/survey patrol vessel. She is used in their direct action campaigns against whaling and illegal fisheries activities.
The MV Sharpie is a cutter class vessel owned and operated by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society since December 2017. She is being used in their direct action campaigns against illegal fisheries activities.
The MV White Holly is a 421-ton vessel owned and operated by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society since September 2018.
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