Sea Shepherd forced to cut direct ties with U.S.
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A message to our global supporters From Sea Shepherd?s new Global Executive Officer, Captain Alex Cornelissen Because of an injunction by the Ninth Circuit court in the United States that prohibits Sea Shepherd USA and all its employees from coming within 500 yards of the Japanese whale poaching vessels, we, as members of the ocean conservation movement, have no other option but to continue on without the support of the US entity. Sea Shepherd worldwide consists of numerous volunteers and supporters that are spread over dozens of countries. Some of these countries are small; they consist of a small group of dedicated volunteers and supporters. In other countries, like Australia, Netherlands, France, Germany and the UK there is a lot of support. These countries are registered as independent organizations taking directions from their national board of directors. We have given this decision a lot of thought, but with the upcoming Antarctic Whale Defense campaign, Operation Relentless, we cannot allow our US colleagues to be held in contempt of the US courts. The only way we can prevent that from happening is by distancing ourselves, in any possible way, from Sea Shepherd USA. This means that the US will have no input whatsoever in the movement of our ships. The ships are owned in the Netherlands and are flagged in the Netherlands and will be operated during the Antarctic Whale Defense campaign by Sea Shepherd Australia. It also means that Sea Shepherd USA will be unable to contribute funds, staff, or volunteers to the campaign. Furthermore they will not report on the campaign. In effect they will not have any participation in anything involving the campaign. Does this mean we will not execute our tenth Antarctic Whale Defense campaign this coming December? Quite the contrary: by continuing under the leadership of Sea Shepherd Australia will once again return to the Southern Ocean to stop the Japanese whale poachers for the tenth year. As the ICR fruitlessly pursues Sea Shepherd USA to stop our ships, we will return stronger than ever. We will not be intimidated from intervening against violations of international law. Although they don?t yet realize it the Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR) has made Sea Shepherd Global stronger. They have spent and continue to spend millions from the Tsunami relief funds, paid by the International community, in order to stop us but they do not realize that Sea Shepherd is not the United States. Sea Shepherd represents the passion to defend our oceans by people around the world, including Japan. They do not realize that Sea Shepherd is not an organization, it is a movement. A movement of dedicated people worldwide all inspired by our founder Captain Paul Watson. We cannot be stopped. The ICR wants to take away our funding in the US. No worries, we will get the funds elsewhere. The ICR wants to stop US involvement? No worries, we will have other independent countries and individuals take over. The ICR wants to stop the US from reporting on the campaign? No worries, we will report about it on all our other websites and at the same time open a global landing site: www.seashepherdglobal.org There is absolutely no doubt in our minds that at the end of this year we will go down to the Southern Ocean better equipped, better prepared, better protected and with an even more determined crew than ever before. We cannot be stopped. We are Sea Shepherd. We are asking our supporters, wishing to contribute to the Antarctic Whale Defense campaign, to donate to the countries that are part of the Sea Shepherd Global initiative. Don?t stop donating to Sea Shepherd US, they have many other important campaigns; just don?t donate to the US for the Southern Ocean campaign. We have set the goal for this year?s Southern Ocean campaign at four million US dollars. One and a half million to be raised by Sea Shepherd Australia and two and a half million by the Sea Shepherd entities in Europe as these are our strongest support bases outside of the US. I have all the faith that we will not only meet these goals, we will shatter them. The world is fed up with the destruction and blatant disregard for the law that the Japanese whale poachers have demonstrated over the years. Our founder and dear friend Captain Paul Watson is currently unable to lead the organization, for legal as well as logistical reasons. As long as the bogus charges against him exist he will remain in international waters out of the grasps of the corrupt governments of Costa Rica and Japan. He is well and understands the sacrifice he needs to make to protect life in the oceans. We are all sad that such an important environmental hero is being treated like a criminal by the international forces in power. We are not surprised though, it seems like our opponents are becoming more and more desperate to stop us, without success. My respect for Captain Watson is only bigger, I know few people that have given up so much in defense of life on the planet. I will be taking on the role of Global Executive Officer (GEO), communicating with all the independent entities around the world, making sure that we will stand as united as can be. I have been part of Sea Shepherd for more than a decade and know in what direction Captain Watson would like to go. Even though he no longer is our president, I intend to do exactly what Captain Watson would do. All of us in the Sea Shepherd movement intend to do the same. We are all Sea Shepherd. We are all Paul Watson.
