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----- Original Message -----Monday, June 16, 2003 9:08 PM
From: "Paul Watson" <paulwatson@earthlink.net>

                                  A great day for whales
Subject: Stop the Press. We won on the Berlin Initiative - A great day for
the whales

Thank-you for writing letters and sending e-mails but you can put down your
telephones and relax your typing fingers - we won this one.
                                                                                                    Captain Paul Watson
                                                                             Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Victory for whales in Berlin  June 16, 2003

The International Whaling Commission Has Spoken.

The Berlin Initiative proposed by Australia, Austria, Brazil, Finland,
France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New
Zealand, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, U.K., and the U.S. has passed.

It was carried with 25 countries voting in favor, 20 against, and 1
abstention.

What does this mean?

It means that the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has taken the
strongest stand in years to protect the world's whales.

It means that the IWC did not buckle under to Japanese pressure to overturn
the commercial whaling moratorium and it means that Japan was unable to
bribe enough countries to carry the vote.

The 55th Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in
Berlin will be long remembered as a milestone in whale conservation.

"The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has long upheld the regulations of
the IWC." Said Captain Paul Watson from the bridge of the anti-whaling
intervention ship Farley Mowat berthed in Seattle. "These regulations have
been our guidepost for enforcement measures. Every whaling ship that we have
ever targeted and destroyed has been in blatant violation of IWC
regulations. The IWC has been judge and jury and the Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society has been a force for enforcement of the rulings. This
decision makes our job easier and will certainly justify continued
intervention against international illegal whaling. This is a great day for
the whales and a delightfully lousy day for the pirate whalers of Japan and
Norway."

For years the IWC has not been as effective as it should have been. Whale
populations have diminished and many populations have been wiped out. The
fight to conserve and protect the whales has been long, hard and bitter, but
conservation is winning and exploitation is the deserved loser in today's
decision.

The Berlin Initiative calls for the creation of a conservation committee to
meet and organize future protection work on all species of whales and
dolphins. The Initiative will address all threats to whales and dolphins,
including hunting, entanglement in fishing gear, pollution, and collisions
with shipping vessels.

Sea Shepherd's work is far from over.

"We anticipate an increase in illegal whaling and we expect the
Japanese, and the Norwegians to go renegade. If they do, we will
aggressively intervene to uphold international conservation law against
their illegal activities." Said Captain Watson.

When asked if this meant sinking whaling ships, Watson replied, "We
don't sink whaling ships, and we never have sunk whaling ships. We have sunk
and we will continue to sink pirate whaling ships. Sea Shepherd does not
break laws, we have a great respect for the rule of law. What we do is
assist in the enforcement of international marine conservation law. Kill a
whale, prepare to go to the bottom. The only practical use of an outlaw
whaling ship is for underwater habitat for fish."

Since 1979, Sea Shepherd crew and agents have sent ten illegal
whaling ships to the bottom.

1979 - The pirate whaler Sierra - rammed and sunk in Portugal.
1980 - The outlaw whalers Isba I and Isba II sunk in Vigo, Spain.
1980 - The pirate whalers Susan and Theresa sunk in South Africa.
1981 - The illegal whaling ships Hvalur 6 and Hvalur 7 sunk in Iceland.
1992 - The outlaw whaler Nybraena sunk in Norway.
1994 - The pirate whaler Senet sunk in Norway.
1998 - The pirate whaler Morild sunk in Norway.

In nine of these cases, no charges were ever laid against Sea Shepherd
activists and thus no accusations of criminal activity by Sea Shepherd can
be claimed. In the case of the Nybraena, charges were laid but Norwegian
officials did not allow Captain Watson and his crew a proper defense.
Captain Watson was arrested in Germany in 1997 under a Norwegian warrant and
released the same day when the Bremen prosecutor ruled that the Norwegians
did not have a case. Captain Watson was then arrested in the Netherlands
under the same Interpol warrant and held for 80 days to await an extradition
trial. The Dutch courts ruled that Captain Watson could not be extradited to
Norway. Norway then dropped the case and Captain Watson was issued papers
from the Norwegian Department of Justice withdrawing any further arrest
warrants against him. Ten whaling ships sunk and not one conviction and the
reason for this is that all ten whaling ships were outlaws.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society acts in accordance with the U.N. World
Charter for Nature. This charter provides for the enforcement of
international conservation law by nation states, non-governmental
organizations and individuals. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is an
anti-piracy organization and sinking pirate ships is sanctioned under
international maritime law.                               <http://www.seashepherd.org>

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