Sea Shepherd asks European Commission to hold Denmark accountable for pilot whale slaughter
With the formal support of 27 Members of the European Parliament, Sea Shepherd Netherlands has officially submitted a request to the European Commission to launch infringement proceedings against Denmark for facilitating the slaughter of pilot whales and other cetaceans in the Faroe Islands.
Every year from June through November, hundreds of pilot whales are driven onto the beaches of the Faroe Islands using motor boats, then slaughtered in a practice known as the grindadráp, or Grind. Although there is an EU directive prohibiting member states from all forms of deliberate disturbance, capture, or killing of cetaceans, the self-governing Faroe Islands are a dependent territory of Denmark but not an EU member state and are, therefore, exempt from EU laws.
Despite our efforts to once again disrupt the slaughter of whales in the Southern Ocean, the Japanese whaling fleeting has reached their self-allocated quota of killing 333 minke whales.
Today Sea Shepherd mourns the loss of these whales. We have called an emergency meeting of the Global Board of Directors in Amsterdam this weekend to review our whale defense strategy in the Southern Ocean, and will release a more detailed statement on Monday morning.
On March 21st, after receiving intelligence that a refrigerated cargo vessel was suspected of transmitting a fraudulent identity outside the Port of Monrovia, the Liberian Coast Guard assisted by Sea Shepherd crew and Israeli maritime advisors and conservationists boarded the 93-meter Sierra Leone-flagged motor vessel (M/V) Lian Run.
The Automatic Identification System (AIS), a navigational aid which a vessel uses to transmit its identifying information, such as name and radio call sign, was transmitting an IMO number that did not exist in any record. IMO numbers are unique identifiers that remain linked to a vessel throughout its lifetime to improve the safety of life at sea and reduce maritime fraud.
On March 13th the Nigerian-flagged fishing vessel (F/V) Star Shrimper XXVwas boarded in waters belonging to the West African state of Liberia by the Liberian Coast Guard, assisted by Sea Shepherd crew and Israeli maritime advisors and conservationists. The vessel was actively fishing without a Liberian fishing license, the most serious offense under the Liberian Fisheries Regulations, for which the penalty can be a fine up to one million United States dollars (USD 1,000,000).
Sea Shepherd Launches Operation Sola Stella with the Liberian Ministry of National Defense: New campaign to eradicate illegal fishing kicks off with the arrest of three poaching vessels
For the past three weeks, Sea Shepherd has been secretly patrolling the waters of the Republic of Liberia in West Africa in a covert operation to tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Working in partnership with the Liberian Ministry of National Defense under the coordination of the Honorable Minister Brownie Samukai, the MY Bob Barkeris patrolling Liberia’s coastline with 20 crew under the command of Captain Fraser Hall, ten Liberian Coast Guard sailors with the authority to board, inspect and arrest ships violating Liberian law, and two Israeli maritime advisors and conservationists providing training assistance.
by Captain Alex Cornelissen, from Sea Shepherd Global Headquarters in Amsterdam
After 75 days at sea our ships are still in the waters around Antarctica chasing the Japanese whaling fleet.
This is the first year that Sea Shepherd has returned to protect the whales from the Japanese poachers since their new and revised “research” program was started in the 2015/2016 season, when they killed 333 minke whales, more than half of them pregnant females. The Japanese government seems unconcerned by the opinion of the rest of the world and despite tough words from the international community, nothing has been done to put a stop to this “research whaling” charade.
The annual Goed Geld Gala of the Dutch Postcode Lottery was held Monday in the Royal Theater Carré in Amsterdam. Drs. Geert Vons, General Director of Sea Shepherd Netherlands and Captain Alex Cornelissen, Sea Shepherd Global Executive Officer, both attended the Gala. Imme Rog, Managing Director of the National Postcode Lottery, presented them both with a check for 900,000 Euros.
This year marks the tenth year in which Sea Shepherd has been awarded support from the National Postcode Lottery. To date, we have received 15.6 million Euros, funds that greatly benefit Sea Shepherd’s global campaigns.
Our Social Media Coordinator Lex Rigby monitors and moderates comments on Sea Shepherd Global’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube accounts. Since we’ve found the same questions get asked over and over, we thought it was time to address these in a more comprehensive way.
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With the formal support of 27 Members of the European Parliament, Sea Shepherd Netherlands has officially submitted a request to the European Commission to launch infringement proceedings against Denmark for facilitating the slaughter of pilot whales and other cetaceans in the Faroe Islands.
Despite our efforts to once again disrupt the slaughter of whales in the Southern Ocean, the Japanese whaling fleeting has reached their self-allocated quota of killing 333 minke whales.
On March 21st, after receiving intelligence that a refrigerated cargo vessel was suspected of transmitting a fraudulent identity outside the Port of Monrovia, the Liberian Coast Guard assisted by Sea Shepherd crew and Israeli maritime advisors and conservationists boarded the 93-meter Sierra Leone-flagged motor vessel (M/V) Lian Run.
On March 13th the Nigerian-flagged fishing vessel (F/V) Star Shrimper XXV was boarded in waters belonging to the West African state of Liberia by the Liberian Coast Guard, assisted by Sea Shepherd crew and Israeli maritime advisors and conservationists. The vessel was actively fishing without a Liberian fishing license, the most serious offense under the Liberian Fisheries Regulations, for which the penalty can be a fine up to one million United States dollars (USD 1,000,000).
Sea Shepherd Launches Operation Sola Stella with the Liberian Ministry of National Defense: New campaign to eradicate illegal fishing kicks off with the arrest of three poaching vessels
After 75 days at sea our ships are still in the waters around Antarctica chasing the Japanese whaling fleet.
Our Social Media Coordinator Lex Rigby monitors and moderates comments on Sea Shepherd Global’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube accounts. Since we’ve found the same questions get asked over and over, we thought it was time to address these in a more comprehensive way.
