AR-News: Sea Shepherd Campaign Update

Tue Mar 2 19:59:25 EST 2004

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From:animal_net at yahoogroups.com

      1. Sea Shepherd Campaign Update
           From: "hecal_2000" <hecal_2000 at yahoo.com>

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Sea Shepherd Update 
To: seashepherd at seashepherd.org 
Sent: Monday, March 01, 2004 11:15 AM
Subject: Sea Shepherd Campaign Update

Sea Shepherd Targets Galapagos Security as a Priority

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship Farley Mowat will depart 
on March 5 for the Equator in response to the crisis that has 
developed within the Galapagos National Park.

"We have had a patrol boat working full time in the Galapagos 
National Park Marine Reserve" said Farley Mowat Captain Paul 
Watson. "We have reason to be concerned for the security of our ship 
the Sirenian. After three years of assisting the National Park 
rangers in busting illegal fishing operations, Sea Shepherd and the 
Sirenian are not very popular among the poaches and their 
sympathizers."

On Friday, February 27, the BBC reported that 33 scientists and a 
number of Galapagos tortoises were being held hostage by a mob of 
angry fishermen surrounding the Darwin Research Station and the 
offices of the Galapagos National Park.

Contacts on Santa Cruz island in the Galapagos have reported that the 
situation is tense. The fishermen are attempting to extort the 
Ecuadorian government to lift regulations protecting marine wildlife 
in the Marine Reserve. The fishermen are demanding the right to set 
destructive long-lines to take sharks and they are not satisfied with 
the quotas for lobsters and sea-cucumbers. The fishermen are also 
demanding that large cruise ships be allowed to dock at the islands.

The population of the Galapagos has grown over 300% in the last two 
decades. This population spurt, caused by mass migration from 
mainland Ecuador of people looking for short term profits from 
fishing and tourism is a major threat to the survival of the 
Galapagos National Park, a World Heritage Site.

"We must help the rangers in the Galapagos, "said Captain Watson. "If 
we cannot protect this unique, diverse and priceless ecological 
treasure, what will we be able to protect?

The Sea Shepherd ship Farley Mowat will be delivering donated 
supplies to the Galapagos rangers and re-supplying the Sea Shepherd 
patrol boat Sirenian. 

"It is a strange coalition of fishermen, poachers, and advocates of 
eco-tourism responsible for this assault on the scientists and the 
rangers," continued Captain Watson. "How ironic is it that the unique 
biological flora and fauna is attracting people who both want to 
exploit wildlife for market and those who want to love it to death by 
tourists. What we are seeing is the rapid Hawaiianization of the 
Galapagos. The push is on to build hotels, dock cruise ships and to 
bring hundreds of thousands of tourists and tens of thousands of 
permanent residents to these islands that many people throughout the 
world actually believe are uninhabited? It is a race between 
developers and fishing companies to see who will destroy the islands 
first."

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is concerned that once more the 
Ecuadorian government will give into the violent demands of the 
fishermen as they have so many times before. 

Sea Shepherd Seal Ship Campaign Delayed to 2005

A combination of events has conspired to cancel and make impossible, 
the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's plans to take the research 
ship Farley Mowat to the ice floes of Eastern Canada in March and 
April 2004.

Chief Engineer Charles Hutchings reports, "We have been frustrated by 
complications in the repair of the propulsion system for the ship."   
He further states, "We were scheduled to be released from dry-dock in 
the last week of January but we were not released until the last week 
of February due to damage in the shaft bearings."

"Despite major expenditures for these repairs, it was the time that 
was our undoing. We simply ran out of time," said Hutchings.

Captain Paul Watson was not only disappointed with the breakdown but 
also concerned with the escalating prices of marine diesel. Sea 
Shepherd's budget for this campaign has been hit hard by the costs of 
repairs and even more so by the rapidly rising price of marine diesel 
fuel. The price has shot up from $.85 per gallon to over $1.30 per 
gallon and continues to rise.

"This price rise on diesel plus the delay caused by repairs and the 
recent assault on the fishermen in the Galapagos has motivated us to 
cancel our plans to take the ship to the Labrador ice. We simply will 
not make it there in time and we must conserve our resources to 
address the emergency in the Galapagos."

"But we will still address the seal hunt this year. Despite the 
difficulties, we will not ignore the seals," said Captain Watson. "We 
will have a crew on the ice, they will be airborne, not ship borne. 
Sea Shepherd has been fighting the seal slaughter since the Seventies 
and we will continue to oppose it until we shut it down. We will 
never abandon the seals. My crew will be on the ice this year with 
helicopters."

"From the Galapagos, I will deploy my ship to the Atlantic later this 
year and position it for an intervention on the Labrador Front for 
the spring of 2005."  

In support of the land-based and airborne Seal Campaign 2004, there 
will be an International Day of Protest Against the Canadian Seal 
Hunt on March 15th. The objective is to bring international attention 
to the massive and cruel slaughter of the seals by Canadian seal 
killers; and to continue to pressure those authorities who are in a 
position to stop the hunt but do not have the political will to do so.

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
www.seashepherd.org
t: 1.360.370.5650 
f: 1.360.370.5651
e: info at seashepherd.org

________________________________________________________________________

the wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. he is in front of it - axel munthe

"Never doubt that a small group of dedicated citizens can change the world. 
Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."      Margaret Mead
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