Commentaar

Shepherding “The Cove” to an Oscar

Commentary by Captain Paul Watson

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society laid the foundation for the making of “The Cove” and helped to shepherd the film all the way to the 82nd Annual Academy of Arts and Science Ceremony where Director Louie Psihoyos won the Oscar for Best Documentary film.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society heartedly congratulates Louie Psihoyos, Associate Editor Charles Hambleton, and of course Ric O’Barry, whose life work has been honorably validated with this incredible film that exposes the horrific slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan.

Previous to the Oscar award, “The Cove” released July 31, 2009, won awards for best film at the Sundance Film Festival and the Seattle Film Festival.

The path to the Oscar began in October 2003 when I sent a Sea Shepherd team to Taiji, Japan to document the slaughter of the dolphins. Our crew positioned themselves on the hill overlooking the “Cove” and the images they captured appeared on the front pages of newspapers around the world thanks to a release by Associated Press. The video images were released by CNN.

The Drowning of the Ice Babies

Commentary by Captain Paul Watson

There are two extremely frustrating issues that I am very much at odds with my government in Canada.

The first is the ridiculously stubborn position that the Canadian government continues to hold with regard to the slaughter of seals. The second is the willfully arrogant and ecologically ignorant position that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has taken on the issue of global warming and climate change.

In short, the government thinks there’s a never ending renewable population of harp seals to sacrifice to the Newfoundland and Magdalene Island neo-barbarians in return for their continued political support to keep his government in power, so that he can continue to do his part to destroy our planet with such mega projects as the Alberta Tar Sands and increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

These two issues have now come together this month. The ice that supports the harp seal nurseries is simply not where it is supposed to be this year.

Sea Shepherd is veiliger dan Sea World

Commentaar door kapitein Paul Watson

Ondanks alle verhalen over hoe Sea Shepherd lijf en leden van walvisvaarders, robbenjagers, stropers en zelfs zogenaamd onze eigen bemanning in gevaar brengt, is het een feit dat in 33 jaar van operaties niet één Sea Shepherd bemanningslid is gedood of ernstig gewond is geraakt. Dit omvat meer dan 250 reizen en confrontaties in open zee, in enkele van de meest afgelegen en vijandige wateren van de wereld. Noch heeft enige Sea Shepherd actie ooit gewonden veroorzaakt, laat staan doden, onder hen die we belemmeren, lastigvallen en weerhouden van het voortzetten van hun illegale uitbuiting.

De Greenpeace Stichting beschuldigt Sea Shepherd altijd van gewelddadigheid en onverantwoordelijkheid, maar Greenpeace heeft op zijn minst twee doden op zee gehad., tientallen gewonden en tientallen bemanningsleden die veroordeeld zijn voor zware misdaden.

Geen van de bemanningsleden van Sea Shepherd is waar dan ook ter wereld veroordeeld voor een zwaar misdrijf.

Een andere Sea Shepherd criticus is Sea World, wiens knechting van orka's en dolfijnen honderden miljoenen dollars aan winst heeft opgebracht.

En nu heeft weer een gevangene van Sea Word – Tilikum- zijn derde mens omgebracht