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Sea Shepherd News

27 Jul 2022

Sea Shepherd Expands Its Fleet

(Photo: Sea Shepherd)

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society announced it has acquired the MV Sharkwater, a storied vessel with a long history of conservation. SSCS took possession of the ship 12 miles off-shore of San Diego, on July 8, 2022.Built in 1997, the 48 x 7.4 meter ship will be the largest in the SSCS fleet, weighing in at 287 gross tons. Throughout August and September it will be refitted for Sea Shepherd’s missions in protecting the vaquita in the Upper Gulf of California and in fighting against IUU in the Pacific Ocean.

19 Jul 2021

Several People Missing after Cargo Ship Sinks Off Liberia

A sinking ship - Image for illustration only - Credit: roibu/AdobeStock

At least seven people are missing after a cargo ship that had been barred from sailing sank off the coast of Liberia, the country's Maritime Commissioner said on Sunday.The Liberian-registered Niko Ivanka left the capital Monrovia on Saturday morning for a port in the country's south, despite being under a Liberia Maritime Authority detention order for failing to meet basic safety requirements.The vessel sent out a distress signal that afternoon notifying the coast guard that it had taken on water, Maritime Commissioner Eugene Nagbe told a news conference.

28 Jan 2021

Analyzing Attacks at Sea: It's Not All Piracy

© remipiotrowski / Adobe Stock

Pirate attacks against merchant ships off the African coast have been reported regularly over the past decade. And despite measures to suppress it, Somalia-based piracy remains a concern. On the other side of the continent, the Gulf of Guinea is now viewed as presenting a much more serious piracy problem.Last year a record 130 crew members were kidnapped in 22 separate incidents, according to the International Maritime Bureau. The cluster of attacks in November and December has…

04 Mar 2020

Activists Protecting Rare Mexican Porpoise Come Under Attack

© David / Adobe Stock

A boat from a conservation group carrying Mexican government inspectors was attacked while monitoring a near-extinct porpoise species in a protected zone of Mexico’s Gulf of California, Mexico’s environmental prosecutor Profepa said.The attack occurred on Tuesday when a boat operated by conservation group Sea Shepherd encountered two small vessels engaged in illegal fishing in the area. Fishermen threw Molotov cocktails as part of the attack.In early February, Sea Shepherd reported…

28 Jul 2019

Sea Shepherd, Namibia Fight Fisheries Crime

The Namibian Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR) compliance officials and Sea Shepherd, onboard the Ocean Warrior, have jointly carried out successful surveillance activities in Namibia`s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), effectively causing illegal factory trawlers to abandon the Skeleton Coast.The main objective of these joint patrols was to tackle Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in Namibian waters. These initiatives assisted the MFMR and other Namibian law enforcement agencies to force illegal and foreign industrial factory trawlers out of the Namibian EEZ suspected to have targeted horse mackerel stocks through IUU activities.Large foreign industrial factory trawlers – former Soviet Union made trawlers -  have been ‘border hopping`…

16 Dec 2018

Tanzania: Captain Sentenced to 20 for Possession of Shark Fins

The captain of the Malaysian-flagged fishing vessel Buah Naga 1 Captain Han Ming Chuan, a Taiwanese national, has pleaded guilty to the charge of Unlawful Possession of Shark Fins in a plea agreement with Tanzanian Prosecutors.The vessel was arrested by Tanzanian law enforcement agents as part of Operation Jodari, a joint partnership between Sea Shepherd, Fish-i Africa and the government of Tanzania, to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.Captain Chuan has been in custody since January 2018 when he was charged with five crimes: Conspiracy to Commit Criminal Acts, Unlawful Possession of Shark Fins, Pollution of the Marine Environment, Unlawful Possession of a Firearm and Unlawful Possession of Ammunition.The owner, Mr. Dato Seri Lee Yee Jiat, and agent, Mr.

27 Jul 2018

Aussie Pump Goes to Sea

(Photo: Australian Pump Industries)

Marine conservation group Sea Shepherd has recently installed another Aussie GMP bronze pump from Australian manufacture Australian Pump Industries, commonly known as Aussie Pumps. The unit is fitted to the M/Y Steve Irwin and forms part of the updated seawater sewer system.Brian Race from Sea Shepherd Global chose the Aussie because of its high-quality nickel aluminum bronze construction and open impeller. The open impeller will handle salt water with small compressible solids.Any…

13 Jul 2018

Sea Shepherd Says Endangered Blue Whale Killed in Iceland

An endangered Blue whale has been killed by an Icelandic whaling company Hvalur hf to be sold for export to Japan, a conservationist organization Sea Shepherd said. "Sea Shepherd volunteers monitoring the Hvalur hf whaling station in Hvalfjordur Iceland have documented the slaughter of an endangered Blue whale on the night of July 7th, the 22nd endangered whale killed and butchered for export to Japan by Kristján Loftsson’s commercial whaling company since June 20, 2018," said a press release. Although the first 21 whales killed were endangered Fin whales – which the Icelandic government has permitted Loftsson’s company to slaughter…

30 Aug 2017

Japan Won't Lower Guard of Whaling as Sea Shepherd Changes Tactics

(Photo: Sea Shepherd)

Japan will not lower its guard over its whaling even though its biggest foe - the Sea Shepherd conservation group - has said it will not send ships to disrupt its fleet this year, a government official said on Tuesday. Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, said in a statement on Monday the group’s limited resources made it difficult to compete with the military technology Japan employs to guard its whaling fleet and it would not send ships to the Southern Ocean this year. But an official at Japan’s Fisheries Agency was skeptical.

12 Oct 2015

Captain, 2 Crew Convicted in Illegal Fishing Case

A Sao Tome and Principe court won a key victory against illegal fishing by organized syndicates on Monday when it convicted the captain of a vessel and two crew members on a number of charges, an Interpol official said. Globally, illegal fishing cost at least an estimated $23 billion each year, with one in four fish thought to be caught illegally in Africa with its bountiful marine life. Alistair McDonnell, a criminal intelligence officer at Interpol's fisheries unit, told Reuters that the FV Thunder was part of a fleet of six ships identified as some of the ocean's worst poachers. "This is a great result for transnational organized crime (fighting) cooperation because these guys have been doing this for 10 to 15 years," he said. "We are cutting away at the model.

27 May 2015

Sea Shepherd Global Launches Operation Siracusa

Following on from the incredibly successful 2014 campaign, Sea Shepherd Global launches Operation Siracusa 2015. Led by Sea Shepherd Italia, the campaign aims to defend the fragile ecosystem of the Plemmirio Marine Reserve, off the Eastern coast of Siracusa in Sicily, against illegal fishing. Already, the impact of the 2015 campaign has been felt. On Friday May 22, the first day of patrols for Operation Siracusa 2015, Sea Shepherd volunteers came across a vessel that they suspected to be engaged in illegal fishing activity. The vessel was discovered at night, with two divers close-by in the water, at the border of the “A-Zone” - the maximum protected area in the Reserve. Sea Shepherd immediately notified local authorities of the suspicious activity.

30 Mar 2015

Malaysia Detains Nigerian Bandit Vessel

The Nigerian flagged fishing vessel, Viking, has been detained in Malaysia for violations of Malaysian maritime law. Malaysian authorities have indicated that the Viking will also be investigated for alleged illegal, unregulated, unreported (IUU) fishing violations. Viking was detained with 18 crew on board; one Chilean, two Peruvian and 15 Indonesian citizens. The Captain of the vessel, whose nationality is unknown, has been arrested. The vessel is one of the six remaining illegal, unregulated, unreported (IUU) fishing vessels – which Sea Shepherd calls the “Bandit 6” – that are known to target vulnerable toothfish in the waters surrounding Antarctica, and is the second vessel of the six that has been detained by authorities this month. The Viking has a long history of illegal fishing.

29 Sep 2014

Coast Guard: Investigations Underway in Cutter Collision

The Coast Guard is conducting a series of formal investigations after Tuesday’s collision involving a Coast Guard cutter and a fishing vessel off the coast of Puerto Rico. Three separate investigations have been initiated and will review different aspects of the collision between the 110-foot Coast Guard cutter Key Largo and a U.S. Virgin Island fishing vessel named Sea Shepherd. The incident happened at 6:38 a.m, just east of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. No one was injured, but the Sea Shepherd sank after the collision. A Marine Casualty Investigation led by the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB is an independent…

26 Sep 2014

USCG Investigating Cutter Collision

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) is conducting a series of formal investigations after Tuesday’s collision involving a Coast Guard cutter and a fishing vessel off the coast of Puerto Rico. Three separate investigations have been initiated and will review different aspects of the collision between the 110-foot Coast Guard cutter Key Largo and a U.S. Virgin Island fishing vessel named Sea Shepherd. The incident happened at 6:38 a.m, just east of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. No one was injured, but the Sea Shepherd sank after the collision. A Marine Casualty Investigation led by the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB is an…

23 Sep 2014

USCG Cutter Collides with Fishing Vessel off Puerto Rico

USCG photo

The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating a collision Tuesday between the Coast Guard Cutter Key Largo and the 42-foot commercial fishing vessel, Sea Shepherd, approximately nine nautical miles east northeast of Vieques, Puerto Rico. At 6:38 a.m., the Coast Guard Cutter Key Largo was on a routine patrol when the collision occurred. Following the collision, the Sea Sheppard sank at a depth of over 100 feet. The crew of the Key Largo recovered and embarked the two-man crew of the Sea Shepherd, Winston Ledee, 57, and Kenneth Turbe, 30, both residents of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

04 Feb 2014

Whaling Protest Ship Collides with Japanese Harpoon Vessel

Dangerous approaches: Photo courtesy of Sea Shepherd/Eliza Muirhead

The Sea Shepherd conservation group ship 'Bob Barker' has collided with the Japanese whaling fleet harpoon vessel 'Yushin Maru No. 2' as the harpooners attempted to block them in a recent skirmish lasting about 6 hours in southern Antarctic waters. The incident, say Sea Shepherd, is an attempt to deter the protest ships from their current position, blocking the slipway of the Nisshin Maru, in order to prevent them from loading whales poached from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

10 Jan 2014

Whaling Ship Stopped in the Southwest Pacific

A Japanese whaling fleet's harpoon vessel with a slaughtered minke whale in Mackenzie Bay (photo: Glenn Lockitch/ Sea Shepherd Australia)

At 2:50 p.m. (AEDT) today the captain of the Sea Shepherd Australia ship The Bob Barker, Peter Hammarstedt, reported his ship had just crossed into Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) 200 miles off Macquarie Island, but a pursuing Japanese whale harpoon ship, Yushin Maru No. 3, has stopped one mile outside the zone. Federal Minister for the Environment Greg Hunt had been in touch with the Japanese authorities over the impending invasion of the Australian Whale Sanctuary, which includes the EEZ, by the harpoon ship.

26 Mar 2013

AMSA Check 'Sam Simon' After Whaling Protests

'Sam Simon': Photo credit Dexcel at English Wikipedia CCL

Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) surveyors inspect Sea Shepherd Australia’s 'Sam Simon' and interview crew in Williamstown. AMSA's interest stems from reports of a number of alleged incidents in the Southern Ocean in February 2013. 'Sam Simon' is the only Australian-flagged (registered) vessel involved in the reported incidents which included reports of collisions and pollution by vessels and is subject to Australian law. The investigation will include an inspection of the Sam Simon, examination of available documents and records, and interviews with crew.

04 Dec 2008

Rivergate Finishes Work on MY Steve Irwin

Rivergate Marina and Shipyard has completed the new helipad onboard the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s flagship, the MY Steve Irwin. Rivergate’s bid to fit the new helipad was accepted due to a design to move the helipad from the hangar to the fore deck. “Some of greatest ideas come from utilizing tried and tested technology in a new and different way,” said Mr Steve Fisher, General Manager of Rivergate. “The engineers, Marine Engineering Consultants, devised a system of…

10 Aug 2012

Manhunt for Ship Captain Condemned by Whale Watch

Photo credit Whale Watch Alaska

Whale Watch Alaska condemns manhunt for 'Sea Shepherd' captain. In light of the news late last month that Sea Shepherd’s founder, Captain Paul Watson, had forfeited his bail after being held under house arrest for 70 days in Germany, WWA made the decision today to publicly back the beleaguered captain. It is a controversial position to take for for any business, politician or celebrity (which include American actors Sean Penn and Martin Sheen as supporters) - let alone a tourism…

29 Jun 2009

Earthrace Breaks Record, Joins Sea Shepherd

A year after the 100% biofuel eco-boat, Earthrace, finished its around the world dash, her international crew of volunteers have been officially named world record holders by the Union International Motonautique (UIM). The worldwide governing body for powerboating has confirmed that the team did break the ten-year old round the world speed record previously held by British boat, Cable & Wireless Adventurer, smashing the record by almost two weeks. The wave-piercing trimaran began the challenge from Sagunto, Spain on 27 April 2008.

22 Mar 2010

$1.5M Contract for MacDuff Shipyard

Photo courtesy Fifth Ring

Aberdeen Harbour has awarded Macduff Shipyards the contract to build a new workboat. The $1.5m vessel, inclusive of its high-tech survey suite is due for delivery in 2011, and will replace the port’s existing workboat. It will be fitted with twin 350 hp engines, a deck crane and at 147.f ft in length, will be used for general harbour activities including surveying, plough dredging and debris recovery. Ray Shaw, operations director & harbour master at Aberdeen Harbour, said: “Following a competitive tender process we are pleased to award this contract to local supplier Macduff Shipyard.

14 Dec 2012

New Whaling Protest Vessel Ironically Japanese-Built

Sea Shepherd's Sam Simon: Photo credit Sea Shipherd

Los Angeles-based philanthropist & co-creator of TV’s 'The Simpsons', funds purchase of new Sea Sherpherd anti-whaling patrol ship 'Sam Simon'. Sea Shepherd's new Antarctic patrol ship, the Sam Simon, has been unveiled in the port of Hobart, Tasmania, docked at Macquarie Wharf 1. The vessel, retired from service by the Japanese Government in 2010, had since been laid up in Shimonoseki, Japan, alongside the very ships Sea Shepherd will confront this season. Originally built as Seifu Maru in 1993 by IHI shipyard in Tokyo…