Ten Reasons that Operation Musashi by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society against the Japanese whalers Has Been a Success!

1.- The Japanese whaling fleet was located very quickly in the campaign, the earliest ever that the fleet has been intercepted. The fleet was also relocated very quickly on the 2nd Leg of the campaign.

2.-The Steve Irwin pursued the Japanese whaling fleet for over 2000 miles between December 18th and January 7th disrupting their whaling operations for 19 days. The Steve Irwin returned and relocated the whaling fleet shutting down operations of the fleet for an additional 8 days. We can claim 27 days that we physically prevented the whalers from killing whales. This means many less whales killed and more whaling profits lost. The whaling fleet will not meet its quota for the fourth year in a row.

3. The Yushin Maru No.2 suffered ice damage to its propeller while being pursued by the Steve Irwin. This took the harpoon vessel out of operation between December 20th and February 5th, for a total of 46 days. This will also reduce the number of whales killed and will cause a further loss of illicit profits for the whaling industry.

4. The Yushin Maru No.2 was refused permission to do repairs by Indonesia, a significant embarrassment to Japan.

5. Australia refused to agree to Japan's request that the Steve Irwin be denied permission to refuel in an Australia port. This was extremely embarrassing for Japan to be denied this request and demonstrated an error in diplomatic judgment. Nations should never make public demands unless they know they will be met.

6. The Japanese whaling industry spent a small fortune rigging their ships with anti-boarding devices, covering their ships with netting and installing long range acoustical weapons. In addition they spent money on fuel while under pursuit and repairs to the Yushin Maru No.2. They also spent a great deal of money to charter the Taiyo Maru No.38 to transport a special security force. This ship had to deliver three injured crewmembers to Fiji (they were injured during normal whaling operations, not by any of Sea Shepherd's actions), and because of this diversion the Steve Irwin was able to relocate the fleet and intervene before the security force could return.

7. Sea Shepherd crewmembers engaged the entire Japanese fleet in a dramatic two day confrontation that demonstrated the determination and the resolve of the entire crew to intervene against illegal Japanese whaling operations. The reaction to this year's campaign by the Japanese whalers was a revelation of their frustration and desperation by physically and violently attacking the Sea Shepherd crew.

8. The campaign received wide international media coverage, once again exposing Japan's continued illegal whaling activities. The campaign received coverage in Japan and has contributed to the growing controversy in Japan over Southern Ocean whaling.

9. Over a thousand hours of video was recorded for the 2nd Season of Whale Wars by Animal Planet. This program has angered the Japanese whaling industry more than anything else we have done. With Whale Wars we are reaching millions of people around the world to expose illegal Japanese activities. The first season of Whale Wars was a hit and the 2nd season will be even bigger.

10. Not a single Japanese whaler was injured and the crew of the Sea Shepherd suffered only very minor injuries. Our record of never injuring our opposition remains unblemished. We made the decision to withdraw in the face of escalating violence by the whalers because we could not control the situation with one ship against four vessels, three of which had greater speed and maneuverability.

HELP SAVE THE GALAPAGOS - JOIN S.P.E.C.I.E.E.S.

In addition to working with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to uphold international conservation laws I have recently joined the Board of Directors of a new organization called S.P.E.C.I.E.E.S.

It stands for the Society to Prevent Exotic Contamination of Island Ecosystems and Endangered Species.

This group is headed up by Allison Lance who has had years of experience in rescuing animals.

And the first task that S.P.E.C.I.E.E.S. is taking on is the awesomely difficult job of addressing exotic species in the Galapagos Islands.

The Galapagos are a world Heritage site and the rising number of dogs, cats, and goats is having a devastating impact on indigenous species like the giant tortoise, the marine iguana, lava lizards and the many beautiful species of birds found on the islands.

Allison has worked since 2001 with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and with Animal Balance to help spay and neuter dogs and cats on the islands. She has the experience and the skills needed to address this problem. More importantly she has the passion to accept this formidable challenge.

Despite the fact that the Special Law for the Galapagos prohibits the importation of dogs and cats, more than 4,000 of them have been fixed. Unfortunately the numbers keep growing as people bring in more animals from the mainland and breed more.

Of course the most destructive exotic species is the human species and many of the people working in the Galapagos are not legal residents.

S.P.E.C.I.E.E.S. is not proposing a lethal solution for exotic animals. Instead, Allison has a program to continue to sterilize animals and to capture and relocate stray animals to the mainland. She is also working with the Ecuadorian authorities to increase the costs of pet owning permits and to raise fines for animals that run loose and threaten wildlife.

S.P.E.C.E.I.E.E.S. is also working to promote alternatives to cars to lower the impact of the human species.

Partnered with Sea Shepherd, Animal Balance and the Galapagos National Park, Allison's new organization of which I am proud to be a director fulfills a very real need in the effort to protect native species and habitats from the damage caused by introduced exotics.

When I first landed in the Galapagos in 2000, there were marine iguanas sunning themselves on the sidewalk in the town and herons boldly walking down the main street. Lava lizards were constantly darting across my path and the large ancient giant tortoises lumbered along without a worry. All has changed due to more people, more tourists, more dogs, more cats and invading insects and domestic farm animals.

We can lose the Galapagos unless we take action. If we cannot protect a place like this, a world heritage site, and a national park than what hope is there for any other eco-system on the planet.

Help me to make S.P.E.C.I.E.E.S a success and sign up as a monthly or yearly supporting member of this much needed organization.

With your help we can save these enchanted isles.

Donations can be made to:

S.P.E.C.I.E.E.S.
P.O. Box 3241
Friday Harbor, WA 98250
USA

$25 - Annual Membership feeor become a supporting monthly donor at ______ per monthor send a donation of any amount.

And you can adopt a dog or cat from the Galapagos.

T - (360) 370-5772
C- (360) 298-0368

Website:
www.speciees.org

Contact Allison Lance at:
allisonlance@speciees.org

Founder & President:
Allison Lance

Board of Directors: Captain Paul Watson Larry Richman DVM James Moss JD Board of Advisors: Dr. Diego Barrera DVM Emma Clifford (Animal Balance) Alex Cornelissen Dr. Chinney Krishna

Byron Maas DVM
Jami Pannell J.D., B.L.A.
Grant Pereira
Phil Wollen
Dr. Lew Seidenberg DVM

Please pass this on to other friends. The Protection of the Galapagos National Park is a priority international conservation issue.

Global Anti-Shark-Finning Campaign

Shoppers on Regents Streets in central London Likely got more than they bargained for this afternoon. In a dramatic illustration of how sharks are caught and killed for their fins, Alice Newstead, perfomance artist and former employee of LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, voluntarily had her skin pierced with actual de-barbed shark hooks and hung suspended from the ceiling in the window of one of LUSH’s busiest shops for all to see.

As a crowd gathered to watch in horror, Newstead said, “I am doing this because the demand for shark fin soup and other shark products is wiping out the shark population.” Unlike the 100 million sharks who are brutally slaughtered each year for their fins, Newstead commented, “I will be left with scars, but the wounds will heal.”

“Sea Shepherd is deeply impressed by LUSH’s commitment to shark conservation and its willingness to use its 500+ storefronts as a global platform for educating the public on such a critically important issue,” said Kim McCoy, International Executive Director of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. “We applaud Alice for her courageousness in using her body as a tool to help educate consumers about the urgent need to protect sharks. She is an inspiration to us all.”

“Sea Shepherd will be presenting Alice Newstead with an award for courage for her incredible achievement in focusing public attention on the worldwide slaughter of sharks,” said Captain Paul Watson, Founder and President of Sea Shepherd. “What she and LUSH have contributed to this conservation effort is enormous. The cruelty of the shark finning industry was brought intimately into focus with the piercing of Alice’s flesh and the dripping of her blood down her back. LUSH, Sea Shepherd, and Alice are very much aware that if we drive sharks to extinction, we will destroy our oceans, and if we do that, civilization will collapse and humanity will disappear.

What Alice did was not just for the saving of sharks, but for the salvation of humankind. Our admiration for her sacrifice is profound, and the scars that she will bear represent a rare courage demonstrating that we all must do what we can with the talents we possess to save our oceans.”

Today’s dramatic enactment of the gruesome manner in which sharks are caught kicks off the beginning of a global campaign between LUSH and Sea Shepherd. Each of LUSH’s storefronts across the UK now hosts window displays featuring Sea Shepherd’s jolly roger flag, LCD screens playing a continuous loop of Shark Angels footage, and other educational materials.

LUSH’s staff are dressing as pirates and handing out Sea Shepherd shark brochures (PDF) in an attempt to educate consumers about the desperate plight of sharks. Among other things, LUSH is urging consumers to boycott restaurants that serve shark fin soup and health food stores that sell shark cartilage supplements. LUSH has also delivered letters to local restaurants and health food stores asking them to “wash their hands” of this barbaric industry and stop selling shark products.

To assist these businesses in “cleaning up their act,” LUSH has created a new and cruelty-free product especially for this campaign, called Shark Fin Soap. The UK stores plan to sell a limited batch of 11,416 bars, with 100% of the proceeds going to Sea Shepherd. Why 11,416 bars? In recognition of the fact that a staggering 11,416 sharks are killed every hour, and that populations are being wiped out faster than they can reproduce.

OPERATION MUSASHI

Captain Watson´s commentary

Can a small handful of volunteers bring down the largest whaling fleet in the world?

The answer is yes!

We have the powerful Japanese whaling fleet on the ropes and all we need to do is deliver the knock-out punch.

The Japanese pirate whalers are hurting bad. They are over fifty million dollars in debt and we have stopped them from getting their full kill quota for three years in a row.

Our first campaign in 2005/2006 saw us chase the fleet for 3,500 miles westward along the Antarctic coast. Although handicapped by a slower vessel we confronted them three times and we kept them on the run. We sideswiped their supply ship and forced them to return to Japan and by the end of the season, the whalers were 83 whales short of their quota. We had cut their kill numbers by 10%.

We knew that we would need a faster ship if we were to return in 2006/2007. We also had the problem that our ship the Farley Mowat was placed under arrest in South Africa because of pressure from the Japanese and Canadian governments.

Thus began the impossible mission of Operation Leviathan. As I searched the globe for a faster ship, Captain Alex Cornelissen deftly managed to cut the Farley Mowat out of Cape Town harbour by departing covertly at 0300 Hours in the morning, following a freighter out in the dark with all lights shut off. They then successfully eluded the South African navy escaping into the Indian Ocean.

Following that daring escape the Farley Mowat weathered extremely severe weather until reaching the friendly port of Freemantle in Western Australia where the ship and crew were welcomed as heroes and Mayor Peter Tagliaferri presented us with the honour of having Fremantle declared our honourary home port.

Meanwhile I had inspected a ship in Malta but it was to expensive to purchase. By June I had located a 2^nd ship in Trinidad and after spending two months working to purchase the vessel we were forced to drop the acquisition due to illegalities with the ship's owner.

With the next whaling season rapidly approaching, we finally found the perfect ship in Edinburgh, Scotland in October. It was the Westra, the retired Scottish fisheries patrol vessel. We bought it during the first week of November thanks to a bank loan from a very loyal and generous supporter. By mid-November the ship was in drydock and by December 5^th, the Westra now renamed the Robert Hunter was heading south down the length of the entire Atlantic Ocean through the Straits of Magellan reaching the Ross Sea by January 19^th, 2007.

I took the Farley Mowat out of Melbourne and met the Robert Hunter in the Ross Sea where our crew constructed a helicopter deck on the Robert Hunter in only two days.

It was not easy. The Japanese government has pressured the Canadian government to pull our flag. We re-registered with Belize but within 9 days, the Belizean flag was pulled but not before we were able to depart from TasmaniaAntarctica. We entered the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary as an unregistered pirate ship. southward towards the coast of

Together the two ships hunted down and engaged the Japanese fleet twice. Then an accident occurred on the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru - a fire that killed one of their crew and crippled the ship.

The Japanese whaling fleet was forced to retreat back to Japan with less than half their kill quota. More than 500 whales were spared.

The Japanese government was furious and forced the British registrar to pull the Red Duster from the Robert Hunter leaving us flagless.

We quickly re-registered our two ships under the Dutch flag, a nation not vulnerable to being dictated to by Japan or any other pirate whaling nation.

In June 2007, I entrusted Captain Cornelissen to take the Farley Mowat to the Galapagos and then onto Iceland for Operation Ragnarok, the campaign to intervene against illegal Icelandic whaling operations.

The Robert Hunter remained in Melbourne to prepare for a return to the Whale Sanctuary in December.

Once again we had the Herculean task of raising the funds for the next campaign.

By the time the Farley Mowat reached the Galapagos, Iceland decided to cancel it's whaling operations and the Farley Mowat turned it's attention to confiscating illegal long lines, intervening against shark poachers and stopping plans by a company called Planktos to dump iron dust into the ocean off the Galapagos.

That summer we investigated and seized 45,000 shark fins and over 100,000 sea cucumbers from poachers and smugglers in Ecuador.

I was awarded the Amazon Peace Prize by the President of Ecuador and a contract was placed on the heads of Sea Shepherd Galapagos Director Sean O'Hearn and myself by the sharkfin mafia of Manta, Ecuador.

Sean was forced to resign at the assistance of his wife and one of our police officer supporters sent me a bullet proof vest.

By the end of the year, Planktos had been stopped. Captain Alex Cornelissen took up the position of Sea Shepherd director for the Galapagos and I was ready to take the helm of the Robert Hunter for the return voyage to Antarctica in a campaign we named Operation Migaloo.

In a move that the late Robert Hunter would have approved of, I renamed the ship the Steve Irwin to reflect the passion of Australians in opposing illegal whaling and to focus on the symbol of the whales of Australia – Migaloo, the beloved white Humpback whale who the Japanese said they would harpoon if they got the chance.

We headed southward on December 5^th after Teri Irwin officially launched the ship under Steve's name. Onboard was a film crew from Animal Planet to begin work on a series to be called Whale Wars.

It was a long, dangerous, and successful pursuit as the Steve Irwin covered over 22,000 miles in three legs chasing the Japanese whaling fleet across the vast expanse of the remote and unpredictable Southern Ocean. We boarded a harpoon vessel creating an international incident that captured headlines around the world. Most importantly we shut down whaling operations to the point that once again the whalers failed to take their kill quota.

Of their quota of 50 Humpbacks they did not take one. Of their quota of Fin whales they did not take a single one. Of their quota of Piked whales they took 582. We saved the lives of 522 Piked whales and a total of 622 whales of all three species.

It was an economic and public relations disaster for the Japanese whaling fleet and their frustration was demonstrated when they threw concussion grenades and shot at our crew, one of the bullets striking me in the chest and a concussion grenade throwing cameraman Ashley Dunn to the deck injuring his thigh.

Fortunately my bullet proof vest stopped the bullet and there were no serious injuries from the confrontation.

We discovered that we could find them and shut down their operations. Our only handicap was the need to refuel. It takes about 10 days to return to port, a few days to refuel and re-provision and another 10 days to return to the fleet. That was when the whales 583 whales died.

If we could secure another ship we could shut them down 100%.

And that is our impossible mission for the present. We can and we will return to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in December with the Steve Irwin. The task now is to find and secure a 2^nd fast ship to relieve the Steve Irwin when it is forced to return to port to refuel.

Towards that end we are working to raise more funds to purchase a 2^nd ship. We also need to raise funds to fuel, outfit and provision two ships.

We won't have any problem crewing the ships. We are being overwhelmed by applications. This is a relief because now we will be able to crew the ship from a pool of many individuals of many skills and abilities. Our last campaign was slightly handicapped by a few quitters and a few faint hearted types who did not seem to understand that to be a Sea Shepherd crewmember requires a rare type of passion and courage. If someone is not willing to risk their life for the defense of a whale they don't belong on our crew. And if they don't understand why we would ask that question they don't belong on our crew.

I personally believe that taking risks to protect endangered species is far more noble and worthwhile than risking one's life to protect real estate, money and oil wells and they pin medals on people who do that.

We fight for life, for diversity and for the future of humanity and all living things and in my opinion that is the ultimate justification for sailing into harm's way.

Which brings us to Operation Musashi.

Miyamoto Musashi is a legend in Japan and I chose the name because Musashi wrote of the strategy of the twofold way of pen and sword. In other words Musashi knew that in addition to aggressive intervention, it was necessary to communicate and educate.

Last year for the first time ever in Japan, the issue of illegal Japanese whaling made the headlines. The reason is that our dramatic and aggressive tactics were news and this enabled us to tag messages to the news stories about the slaughter of the whales.

This has brought us support in Japan from Japanese people who oppose the whale killing policies of their government.

Our interventions are the sword of direct action and the media is the pen and thus our approach is exactly what Musashi had in mind.

A few years ago, everyone told us that fighting the Japanese whaling fleet was a losing cause – the ruthless crimes in the Southern Ocean were being committed by a Yakusa controlled union crewing large ruthless killing machines. The Nisshin Maru was the formidable Cetacean Death Star. The murdering crimes of the whalers were taking place over vast stretches of iceberg studded, frigid, storm tossed hostile seas. We didn't have the money. We didn't have the ships. In other words only a fool would think of venturing into those hostile waters without adequate resources on a Quixotean exercise in futility.

But I remember what my friend Martin Sheen once said to me. "Losing causes are the only causes worth fighting for."

And enough people have called me a fool to the point that I have no problem believing them and thus striking out on the path of the fool like Don Quixote on a hopeless mission to protect innocence and life was, well to be frank, it was very appealing.

And now our hopeless, impossible mission has made such an impact that I now believe we can win this war to drive the criminal whalers out of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

There is no question that we have the moral high ground. The Japanese whalers are targeting endangered and defenseless whale in a whale sanctuary in violation of international law and the moratorium in commercial whaling. They are sadistic killers involved with the Japanese Yakusa in an industry that has no honour and of no necessity to the welfare of the Japanese people.

We are going forth to defend and protect life. We have never injured anyone. We are so non-violent that our ships are vegan vessel. We have never been convicted of a felony crime anywhere in the world. We are volunteers risking our lives to protect life.

The Japanese government can call us eco-terrorists and pirates until Mount Fuji erodes away but the fact remains that we fight for life and they kill for profit.

In this case the good pirates wear black and our Jolly Roger is a symbol of hope for the whales and for the protection of our oceans. We are pirates of compassion and life in a battle to subdue and defeat the pirates of greed and death.

Woody Allen once said that 90% of success was just showing up. In this case he is absolutely right. We just need to continue showing up on the tail of the Japanese fleet, harassing them and intervening against their killing. We need to wear them down by forcing them to endure financial losses every year until they are so far in debt they will have to submit.

We can and we will destroy the Cetacean Death Star. We intend to sink the Japanese whaling fleet – economically. Without hurting a single person we can drive their operation into bankruptcy and we can end the killing.

Your investment in our operations have and will continue to show results.

What is the life of a whale worth to you?

Your trust and support for my crew and I will be repaid with the gift of life for the whales and a gift of promise to the future survival of our oceans.

More information at www.seashepherd.org