Sea Shepherd

Sea Shepherd is an organisation of volunteers dedicated to help persevering the ocean's wildlife all over the world. It is a non-profit conservation organisation whose mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species.

Paul Watson founded Sea Shepherd as he was sick of Green Peace and their weak stance. Paul believed if you were going to defend the wildlife, you stand in the way and hold your ground for them, not merely wave a few banners then pat yourselves on the back, instead you hold your ground and make them accountable for their actions. Watson is leading a group of passionate , undersized volunteers against multi million cooperation’s,  risking the lives of himself & his crew to save the whales being brutally slaughtered in the name of research. However he has not stopped there and his crusade has become bigger and has begun leading campaigns all over the world,  to protect all types of marine life, seals, dolphins, & sharks.

Sea Shepherd is guided by the United Nations World Charter for Nature. Sections 21-24 of the Charter provides authority to individuals to act on behalf of and enforce international conservation laws.
The irony of this all is that the governments give no money towards Sea Shepherd and actually many refuse to work with them and support the own laws they had once agreed on, by not enforcing the laws that the Sea Shepherd are doing their job for them.

Sea Shepherd tactics have caused them world wide publicity and respect from various parts of the world. Some of the Sea Shepherd’s tactics are;
*go between the harpoons & the whales
*ramming the much larger ships
*spraying water into their opposing ships engine rooms
*intercepting paths the Whalers use
*cutting their long lines and freeing the marine life
*throwing glass bottles of butyric acid on the decks
*putting the whalers in the spot light through publicity
*scuttling and disabling commercial whaling vessels at harbor
*boarding of whaling vessels while at sea
*seizure and destruction of drift nets at sea

Though no individual has died whilst on these campaigns, many have been injured and 10 boats have been sunk by the Sea Shepherd directly. This combined with their efforts of preventing the whaling has caused opposition loss of millions of dollars.

By safeguarding the biodiversity of our delicately balanced oceanic ecosystems, Sea Shepherd Australia works to ensure their survival for future generations. Paul Watson's endeavours are the ONLY enforcement of laws to protect marine wildlife in the wild, whilst governments turn a blind eye, he brings the crimes to justice and helps save the world's marine ecosystem for future generations.

As Sea Shepherd are not government founded they rely heavily on donations to help support their campaigns & run  the ship. If you would like to help them out  or for more information on Sea Shepherd in general .

http://www.seashepherd.org.au/