by Robert Read – Chief Operating Officer at Sea Shepherd UK
The grindadráp of the 21st May 2017 was also the first hunt since the extraordinary court trial on the 24th November 2016 of Sea Shepherd captain Jessie Treverton (UK). The Faroese prosecutor in Tórshavn put Jessie Treverton on trial for breaching Faroese animal welfare laws by causing 'unnecessary suffering' to a pod of dolphins. This followed an action by Jessie Treverton and two other female crew members from France on the 17th September 2014 where Jessie successfully protected a pod of over 200 protected Atlantic white-sided dolphins from a potential grindadráp by driving them away from the islands using the Sea Shepherd boat MV Spitfire. Afterwards MV Spitfire was chased and boarded by Danish armed forces in a military RIB resulting in Spitfire being confiscated and the three women arrested by Faroese police.
by Robert Read – Chief Operating Officer at Sea Shepherd UK
On the evening of 21st May the first pilot whale drive hunt (grindadráp) of 2017 took place on the Danish Faroe Islands at the killing bay at Bøur, near the town of Sørvágur.
The Pod of long finned pilot whales was driven for almost four hours by at first three boats, then five (including at least two RIBs) then by over 20 Faroese boats of various types including small sports fishing boats, speed boats and a large RHIB from the Faroese Government patrol vessel ‘Brimil’.
During the drive hunt images were being uploaded to Faroese online news websites taken from at least one of the participating small boats while at least three local journalists and/or photographers were waiting with cameras at the killing bay at Bøur.
After almost 12 weeks of patrolling, the border areas between Liberia and her neighboring countries are unusually silent.
Lightning flashes briefly light up distant waters, appearing like specters of the industrial fishing trawlers that used to make nightly incursions in Liberian waters.
After having made five arrests since the start of Operation Sola Stella, the news has finally spread - these waters are protected.
We could say that we assisted the Liberian Coastguard to shutdown illegal fishing in Liberia, and although that’s true of tonight, we know that the poachers are not coming in anymore because we are here… and the Bob Barker cannot remain in Liberia forever.
Today we received the saddening news that the Japanese whaling fleet reached their bogus self-allocated quota, despite Sea Shepherd’s best efforts to impact it.
While that news is gravely disappointing, we must remember that the Japanese whaling program in Antarctica is radically different from what it was when our Antarctic Whale Defense Campaigns began 15 years ago.
On my first campaign to the Antarctic, the Japanese whaling fleet intended to kill 1,035 whales. Their annual quota is now 333 whales, a quota reduced because of the success of Sea Shepherd’s campaigns. Thus, every year 702 whales are saved.
For the crew of the M/Y Bob Barker, and the 10 strong Liberian Coast Guard boarding team, it was just a matter of waiting and letting the illegal fishing boats come to them.
The day before the M/Y Bob Barker arrived in Liberia, local fishermen from the border town of Harper, situated just 13 miles from the where the Cavalla River divides Liberia from Cote d’Ivoire, had been airing grievances on national radio about foreign trawlers running over their artisanal fishing nets. The fishermen appealed to the Liberian Coast Guard for assistance.
Although the Cavalla River forms a natural boundary between two West African countries, its nutrient-rich waters spawn fish for whom borders are meaningless. For the fishing vessels chasing fish west as the fishing season in Ghana, which lies to the east, has closed, borders are equally unimportant.
By Lamya Essemlali, Co-directrice Sea Shepherd Global
The campaign “Another Perspective on Fish” is a global campaign committed to the emergence in the collective consciousness of the question of sentient aquatic animals (fish, but also cephalopods and crustaceans).
Fish represent 97-98% of the animals killed for their flesh, with capture methods and killing processes that would shock the public and that would certainly be forbidden if they were land animals. Yet, what appears to be ethically outrageous and ecologically criminal on land is largely ignored or accepted at sea.
Fruit packaged in plastic and foamThe plastic age is upon us, the effects of mankind’ s obsession with this incredible, indestructible material is now coming back to haunt us. Who ever thought that using the most permanent of materials for disposable single use items was a good idea has doomed humanity, unless we can turn the tide and change our convenient throw away lifestyles.
Commentary by Sea Shepherd Cove Guardian Coordinator Jessie Treverton (UK)
Last night I arrived back in London after what I consider a successful trip despite my entry into Japan being refused.
On 9th December I flew to Japan to continue my work as leader of the Sea Shepherd team currently in Taiji. I had already been in Japan for several months this year documenting the capture of dolphins from the wild for the lucrative live dolphin industry and the linked senseless slaughter of thousands of dolphins destined to be sold as meat for human consumption despite it being proven toxic. This hunt continues daily in Taiji running from September until the end of February each year.
On my arrival back in Japan I got to the immigration desk and handed over my passport and had my fingerprints scanned, I immediately sensed the officers alert. The officer studied the screen and in moments other officers approached and asked me to come with them.
The grindadráp of the 21st May 2017 was also the first hunt since the extraordinary court trial on the 24th November 2016 of Sea Shepherd captain Jessie Treverton (UK). The Faroese prosecutor in Tórshavn put Jessie Treverton on trial for breaching Faroese animal welfare laws by causing 'unnecessary suffering' to a pod of dolphins. This followed an action by Jessie Treverton and two other female crew members from France on the 17th September 2014 where Jessie successfully protected a pod of over 200 protected Atlantic white-sided dolphins from a potential grindadráp by driving them away from the islands using the Sea Shepherd boat MV Spitfire. Afterwards MV Spitfire was chased and boarded by Danish armed forces in a military RIB resulting in Spitfire being confiscated and the three women arrested by Faroese police.
On the evening of 21st May the first pilot whale drive hunt (grindadráp) of 2017 took place on the Danish Faroe Islands at the killing bay at Bøur, near the town of Sørvágur. 
After almost 12 weeks of patrolling, the border areas between Liberia and her neighboring countries are unusually silent.
Today we received the saddening news that the Japanese whaling fleet reached their bogus self-allocated quota, despite Sea Shepherd’s best efforts to impact it.
For the crew of the M/Y Bob Barker, and the 10 strong Liberian Coast Guard boarding team, it was just a matter of waiting and letting the illegal fishing boats come to them.
The campaign “Another Perspective on Fish” is a global campaign committed to the emergence in the collective consciousness of the question of sentient aquatic animals (fish, but also cephalopods and crustaceans).
