Sea Shepherd, marine biodiversity safeguard

Founded in 1977 by oceanographer and activist Paul Watson, a former member of Greenpeace, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society engages in marine wildlife conservation, animal rights activism and anti-poaching campaigns. A well-known conservation society that has been documented in Netflix (Seaspiracy) and TV Series (Whale Wars and Ocean Warriors), Sea Shepherd is has conducted acts of civil disobedience to prevent whaling operations, seal hunting operations, illegal fishing operations, poaching and other environmental crimes. Paul Watson believes that in order to regenerate the ocean, subsidy for industrial fishing should be banned. The Sea Shepherd Conservation society is a non-profit organization that was founded over 30 years ago with the sole purpose to protect marine life. Sea Shepherd is known to some as the “eco-pirates” because of their tactics to protect marine life. The organization has gained much popularity for their efforts to conserve world marine life and they are an inspiration to other conservationists all over the world. This conservation society has widened its horizon to more than 20 countries that solely working on direct-action campaigns around the globe. As of 2021, they have operated 12 ships: Ocean Warrior, Brigitte Bardot, Bob Barker, Steve Irwin, Sam Simon, John Paul DeJoria, Farley Mowat, Sharpie, Jairo Mora Sandoval, White Holly, Martin Sheen and Sea Eagle.

In 1978, Cleveland Amory of the Fund for Animals and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) have contributed funds to buy a trawler that was used for their first campaign opposing the Canadian Seal Hunt. This society became the first ship that went to Eastern Coast of Canada to protect precious seals besides hunting down a notorious pirate whaling ship in Leixoes, Portugal. Subsequently, Sea Shepherd take their next move ambitiously by contributing to the ocean life such as doing continuous campaign, hunting down more pirate’s ship, protecting marine life especially whales, dolphins, and seals. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society operates a fleet of high-speed boats that patrol the world’s oceans to stop illegal poaching, commercial fishing, and whaling. Sea Shepherd is one of few non-profit organisations that have private vessels designed with the sole purpose of environmental protection and conservation. The organization also works with government agencies to prosecute offenders caught breaking environmental laws on the high seas. Sea Shepherd receives no government funding and relies solely on individual donations and contributions from those who concerned with the state of the world’s oceans. The organization is supported by over 50,000 volunteers from all levels of society that contribute their time, money, and energy to help Sea Shepherd reach its goals. These dedicated individuals include doctors, lawyers, teachers, business executives, students, and retirees. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has over 10 offices around the world including – Canada, Spain, Germany, UK, and the United States.

With headquarters located in Friday Harbour of San Juan Islands California, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society allows its volunteers to assign themselves various tasks such as conducting research, monitoring illegal fishing and or searching for poachers in the deep sea. The organization is divided into six divisions: Research & Conservation Operations, Fundraising & Education, Advocacy and Legislative Action, Communications & Media, International Outreach and Sea Shepherd’s flagship program Operation gear patrol. The organization’s core mission is the protection of oceans and all marine life. Their main focus is to prevent poaching and illegal fishing while also supporting traditional whaling practices whereby whales are killed for their meat. Sea Shepherd works with other conservation organisations including Greenpeace, WWF, and World Wildlife Fund to protect wild animals from poachers.

There are few campaigns in Sea Shepherd such as Saving the Vaquita, Preventing IUU Fishing, Protecting Wild Salmon, Beaked Whale Research, Protecting Sea Turtles, Ocean Clean-up, Hurricane Relief and Global Campaigns that caught public attention on ocean life and conservation. The Vaquita Campaign main goal is to save porpoise, a critical endangered marine organism that can only be found in a small region in Mexico’s Upper Gulf of California. The major reason declining of porpoise is due to illegal fishing which contributed to banned of gillnet. Since 2015, Sea Shepherd have been working with Mexican authorities and lead research to save Vaquita and remove more than 1,000 illegal fishing nets. Next, Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing campaign by Sea Shepherd includes Galapagos Islands, Cocos Island, Coiba National Park, Central and South America Ocean is a long-term effort to prevent destructive biodiversity from happening. This specific area has at least 88 species shark that were threatened by IUU fishing. Besides, Sea Shepherd actively commit to cleaning up marine debris specifically plastic in the ocean. A new conservation research campaign in Brazil was introduced to protect dolphins of the Amazon River particularly Amazon River Dolphin and Tucuxi that will begin in October 2021 with the help of National Institute for Research. Crucial issues of decreasing population of these marine habitats are entanglement in fishing nets, intentional hunting for pest control and dam construction.

There is a great extent of solutions that have been emphasised by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society such as stop seafood consumption, refuse single-use plastic straws, purchase food form bulk bins, replace disposable diapers with cloth material and avoid cleaning products with micro-beads by purchasing reusable item will make an enormous impact to plastic consumption. Small efforts always lead to a significant contribution. It also a significant impact if people can participate in cleaning local beach and waterway including supporting four R’s (Refuse, Reuse, Reduce and Recycle).Additionally, a programme named Operation Clean Waves was introduced objectively to manage plastic system, reef assessment and clean water solutions specifically at Fanning Islands. Sea Shepherd founder, Paul Watson, believes that young people should harness their passion and courage and make changes to the world, they should not be deterred by criticism and do not let anybody tell them that they cannot do it. it is time for the people to collectively come together to build a world a better place, for us and for future generation.