Every Day 'Ocean Day' for Landless Rebel Watson

Captain Watson’s World Ocean Day Report

by Paul Watson - SSCS

Someone asked me today why I had not posted anything about World Ocean Day. Most likely because everyday is an ocean day for me. But okay, why not. My posting for World Ocean Day.

Yes today is World Ocean Day and I’m somewhere on the sea at the moment hundreds of miles from land. This really is the freest place on this planet, a planet called Earth that should actually be called the planet Ocean.

In fact I have been at sea now since the end of July last year. Across the Atlantic, the Pacific, down to the Southern Ocean and across the Indian Ocean. Each morning gives me a spectacular sunrise and every evening an incredible sunset, well except for on the days of an occasional storm. My year has been one of rainbows, icebergs, stormy seas, tropical breezes, freezing temperatures, the southern lights, and star studded nights. Every once in a well I get a glimpse of land, some forlorn shoreline or surf crashing on a reef. I have become in every sense of the word, a citizen of the sea, a place without passports, taxes, politicians, cars, airplanes, pollution and all the other negative aspects of living on land. I have not seen a Wal-mart, a MacDonald’s, a Starbucks, or a KFC for nearly a year. Nor have I seen a traffic light, a traffic jam or drug trafficking on the streets.

Here between the awesome vastness of the sea and the extreme vastness of space, under the panoramic shroud of the Milky Way, I am finding a real peace and a contentment within myself.

But of course, it is not all peace and contentment. We still have to deal with invasions from land by illegal fishing boats, shark killers, whalers, and other assorted eco-terrorists. We still have to deal with the lethal plastic invasion.

But out here we can do something about it.

In recognition of World Ocean Day I am pleased to present this report of what Sea Shepherd has been involved with over the last few weeks.

First the return of the Japanese whaling fleet from the North Pacific with a record low catch of whales showing just how inefficient the illegal Japanese whaling industry has become because of their loss of profits. The Japanese are complaining that our undermining of their profits is making them unable to do their “research”.

Secondly, the legal victory this last week by Sea Shepherd in LaReunion (Indian Ocean) where the Mayor of St. Leu was ordered to shut down his plans to kill sharks in the LaReunion Marine Reserve and ordered to pay Sea Shepherd and two other French organizations 1500 Euros each.

And yesterday we had the decision by the Netherlands to ban Icelandic whale meat from being transshipped from Europe onto Japan where the Japanese want to process endangered Icelandic Fin whales into dog food.

In the Galapagos, a German National named Dirk Bender was sentenced to prison recently in Ecuador for attempting to smuggle four Galapagos Land Iguanas out of the Galapagos National Park. He has already served over a year and is not expected to be released until the end of 2013. This marks the first incarceration in the Galapagos for wildlife smuggling and Sea Shepherd was instrumental in providing evidence and support towards securing this conviction and sends a strong message to others thinking of smuggling wildlife.

Sea Shepherd Brazil has reported a legal victory for whales against irresponsible whale watching operators in the state of Santa Catarina.

Santa Cantarina State’s southern tip is a Southern Right's whale nursery. Whales come to protected bays, around the cities of Garopaba, Laguna and Imbituba, to raise their new born calves. The presence of whales close to shore brings many people willing to profit from their presence, and anyone with a boat has could take tourists to have a close look at the whales.

In October 2012 Sea Shepherd Brazil received the information that Southern Right Whales were being harassed during whale watching operations in the area.Whale watching operators were taking boats right on top of the whales, some times colliding with whales. This was happening in a protected area called Área de Proteção Ambiental da Baleia Franca (Southern Right's Environmentally Protected Area).

Under Brazilian law, it is prohibited to harrass whales, it is prohibited for any vessel to come closer than 100 meters of any whale with engines on, it is prohibited to chase whales and it is prohibited to interfere with their route.

Sea Shepherd denounced the situation to the Environmental Agency Instituto Chico Mendes in October 2012. On the absence of an answer from the public authorities, Sea Shepherd Brazil entered a Public Civil Action against Instituto Chico Mendes, requiring the public authorities to uphold the legislation about the protection of cetaceans and to create regulations about whale watching activities.

In May 2013 the Federal Justice decided to cease whale-watching activities on boats until an environment impact study is made and regulations for whale watching operations are created.

"Sea Shepherd Brazil is not against whale watching activities", said Wendel Estol, Sea Shepherd Brazil director. "We are against people breaking the law for profit, we are against this unregulated operation inside an environmentally protected area, and specially against harassing mother whales with their new born calves."" 

More good news this week with a report that dolphins have returned to San Francisco Bay for the first time in sixty years.

Other good news is that Sea Shepherd Australia is preparing the Sea Shepherd ships in Williamstown, Australia for Operation Relentless. The vessels have been repaired from the damage caused by the intentional ramming by the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru and the International Paint Company has
donated all the paint we needed to repaint all our ships. The Sam Simon has been given it’s own unique razzle dazzle camo design.

Sea Shepherd will be having an official opening of the Williamstown base on July 6th. At present the Steve Irwin, Bob Barker and Sam Simon are berthed at Williamstown. This will be Sea Shepherd’s international base for ship operations.

Since I founded Sea Shepherd in 1977, we have grown to become a global entity with independent Sea Shepherd national groups operating worldwide.

I am not a big advocate of World Ocean Day only because I believe everyday should be a day we think about the ocean for what it is, the life support system for the entire planet.

If the oceans die, we die and unless we stop the escalating rape of bio-diversity in the seas the ocean will indeed die.

This is not just a movement to defend whales and sharks, seals and fish, it is a movement to defend humanity and all other species on this planet Ocean.