Some fierce words have been spoken recently about the actions of The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. One side views their actions as conservation while the other side views these as interference.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, first founded in 1977, exists largely to save senseless killings of ocean wildlife. Since then, the Sea Shepherd has embarked on over 200 voyages where the crew has sailed through international waters and helped to defend defenseless marine life. Actions of the boat’s protective crew have recently been filmed by an on-board camera team and aired on television with huge success. In the first seven weeks of broadcast, Sea Shepherd’s television series, Whale Wars, attracted record numbers of viewers.
This “Big Brother” approach of The Sea Shepherd’s crew, however, is not always looked upon kindly by others … specifically, the Japanese who have been accused of illegal whaling. The nearly 500 whales saved during the filming of Whale Wars deeply affected the Japanese operation. The “ruffling of feathers” doesn’t seem to affect the Sea Shepherd’s crew as they plan to continue doing what they are doing. For the next venture, The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society plans to travel to Australia’s city of Taiji where dolphins are being slaughtered in a small cove. Dolphins are directed into shallow waters and trapped by hunters … the clear blue waters of the cove have been changed to a radiant red as result of the spilled blood.
Should the Sea Shepherd be allowed to proceed with its voyages? This makes for a difficult question. When human lives are placed at risk, one tends to wonder about the sense of such missions … are these sailors brave soldiers or just plain foolish? When our ocean’s wildlife is at risk, it seems that the Sea Shepherd’s actions are noble and ethical. Even negative attention in the form of public controversy can be a good thing as this brings awareness to the issues surrounding global warming.
