GreenWatch

Captain Pete Bethune has left the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society organization. Actually, he left October 2010. I just happened to run across his You Tube video explaining why he felt the need to resign. Many of you will remember that Bethune was captain of the high tech Ady Gil.  That was the ship that was in a collision with a Japanese whaler in the Southern Ocean and subsequently sunk. After the sinking Bethune made a daring boarding of the Japanese ship in an attempt to arrest the captain. He was taken to Japan where he spent four months in prison and was given a suspended sentence and deported. His version of events differs from the Sea Shepherd's reasons for leaving. Because I have been a cheerleader for the Society's efforts to dissuade the hunting of whales, I felt I should put on both sides here. You will have to judge for yourselves which is the more truthful.

B. McPherson Many people criticise Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for their methods. The following video allows him to explain his motivation. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has issued a statement that they will continue their Operation Divine Wind in the Antarctic until the end of the Japanese whaling season at the end of March. While the Japanese government maintains that their whaling operation is non-commercial and within the bounds of the whale protection treaty, many people would dispute their stand. Each year a fleet of three whaling vessels has set out from Japan to the Antarctic during the southern summer to hunt whales. They set a quota of about 1 000 whales per season for scientific purposes. Australian researchers have offered to help the Japanese train in ‘no-kill’ whale research but have been rebuffed. The Sea Shepherd Society has attempted over the past eight years to thwart the killing of whales in the Southern Sanctuary....