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May 22, 2001
The Japanese whaling industry has been pumping millions of dollars into the Caribbean nations of St. Vincent, Grenada, Antigua, and St. Lucia to encourage whaling and to buy their votes to sway the International Whaling Commission to overturn the commercial whaling moratorium.
On Easter Sunday, off the island of St. Vincent, four beautiful and intelligent Orcas from a pod of six were cruelly slaughtered in blatant contravention of the Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife Protocol of the Cartegena Convention, ratified in July of last year. The two surviving Orcas barely escaped with grievous wounds.
Under the law, members of the cetacean family (all whales and dolphins) are effectively protected by the laws of the countries that are parties to the Cartagena Convention. Both St. Vincent and St. Lucia are in this category.
Despite this, in March of this year, St. Vincent whalers deliberately wounded a humpback calf. When the mother responded to the painful screams of her baby, she received a harpoon in her back. Both mother and calf were slain, in violation of both the Wildlife Protocol and the rules of the International Whaling Commission. You can bet that whale meat was served within days at Tokyo sushi bars as Japanese businessmen joked over their sake that, despite the laws, they get whatever they want, when they want it.
The St. Lucians want to kill pilot whales in July. We need to be there to stop them.
In August, the Ocean Warrior must transit the Panama Canal to re-supply our patrol boat Sirenian in the Galapagos. She has been there since December. In addition to helping clean up the oil spill in January that threatened this unique marine reserve, our crew has been purging the area of illegal fishing operations and challenging a system of corruption that has allowed poachers to operate with impunity for years.
In the Galapagos we are making a big difference. The Ocean Warrior will be bringing much needed supplies to the Galapagos Park Rangers. We will also be consulting with the rangers at Cocos National Park off Costa Rica on how to chase illegal fishing boats away from that treasured island.
If we can complete these tasks, the Ocean Warrior will be in position to strike at the Japanese Antarctic whaling fleet in November. For the first time, we will be able to tackle our most powerful foe, and the most evil exterminators of whales on this planet: The Japanese whaling industry. And we won't be going there to hang banners or to wave protest signs. We will be going there to shut them down and chase them back to Japan.
That's it in a nutshell. We have our objectives, and we have the volunteer crew and the hardware. We need fuel, maintenance, and provisions.Let me show you what a few good men and women can accomplish out there on that vast and magnificent ocean if given the necessary support.
Since 1979 we have sunk and disabled pirate whalers, rammed and disabled outlaw drift netters, and we have saved hundreds of thousands of marine life forms. We have boarded, arrested and detained poachers and delivered them to the proper authorities.
And we have never caused a single injury.
We are aggressive, effective, ruthless to machinery, merciless to harpoons, nets, and long-lines, but completely non-violent in our respect for all life, including human life.
There are many conservation and environmental groups in the world. However, there is no group that does what we do, the way that we do it.
Yes, we are controversial and yes, there are many critics of our tactics. For this reason we have become the "Ladies of the Night" of the conservation movement. Many agree with us privately but are embarrassed to be associated with us in the daylight.
But hypocrites won't save our oceans, or our planet. Only men and woman of integrity can do that.
For this reason, we don't strive to build an organization of numbers. We don't measure our success by membership. That's why we spend little on promotion, and concentrate on campaigns.
Our supporters want action and results. That is what we have delivered for over twenty years, and what we will continue to deliver this summer.
Come with me on a courageous and noble quest to intervene against the relentless killers of our seas. If we can count on your support, then the whales, the dolphins and all the other magnificent citizens of the oceans will be able to count on us.
Onward to St. Lucia, the Galapagos, and Antarctica.
For the Oceans,
Captain Paul Watson
………………………………………………………………………………………….
(Print, fill out, and mail)
Dear Captain Watson,
Your crew can count on me to be a sponsor of the Sea Shepherd summer 2001 and beyond campaigns to protect whales in the Caribbean and to shut down the poachers
in the Galapagos. I can help you by sponsoring the following needs:
Fuel Sponsorship We need 120 tons.
$300 per ton. $150 per half ton. $75 per quarter ton.
I wish to sponsor ____ ton(s) of fuel. I enclose $________
Lube and Hydraulic Oil\ We need 10 barrels.
I wish to sponsor ______ barrel(s) of oil for $250 per barrel. I enclose $________
Nautical Charts I wish to sponsor __ nautical charts for $20 per chart. I enclose $
Daily Operating Costs
$200 per day. $100 per half day. $50 per quarter day.
I wish to sponsor _______ day(s) operating costs. I enclose $_______
Panama Canal Fee
We need to raise $5000.
I wish to sponsor $________ towards the Panama Canal fee. I enclose $______
All contributions are tax-deductible and we will send you an official signed
and stamped certificate of sponsorship.
I have donated more than $300 so please send me one of the following:
____An autographed copy of Captain Paul Watson's book Ocean Warrior
____A Sea Shepherd crew sweat shirt
____An officially signed and stamped genuine campaign nautical chartsuitable for framing.
____I have donated more than $1000 so please send me all three.
Sea Shepherd Conservation International
22774 Pacific Coast Hwy.
Malibu, CA 90265
Tel.(310) 456-1141
Fax.(310) 456-2488
http://www.seashepherd.org
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