Sea Shepherd Crew Attacked - UPDATE!
Sea Shepherd News
News Releases
04/14/2008
Canadian Mounties Seize the Sea Shepherd vessel Farley Mowat
On Saturday, armed Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) stormed and seized Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s ship the Farley Mowat. All of the Sea Shepherd crew were brought into Sydney, Nova Scotia by the Canadian Coast Guard late Saturday night.
Captain Alex Cornelissen and 1st Officer Peter Hammarstedt were detained and charged with allegedly approaching within ½ nautical mile of the seal slaughter. They appeared in court on the morning of April 13th. They are expected to be released on bail today. The rest of the crew-members are currently waiting at the court house on a hunger strike in solidarity with Captain Cornelissen and 1st Officer Peter Hammarstedt.
The Farley Mowat remains in the custody of the Canadian Government. It has not yet been determined whether the government intends to permanently confiscate the vessel. The Farley Mowat was documenting the cruel and inhumane slaughter of seals in international waters—not Canadian waters— at the time of the boarding.
“It is these images of brutal sadistic slaughter on the ice floes that Canada is desperate to keep hidden,” said Captain Paul Watson, Founder and President of Sea Shepherd. “What the Sea Shepherd crew have witnessed over the last two weeks has exposed the lies of Canadian government claims that the seal slaughter is humane. Canadian Minister of Fisheries Loyola Hearn authorized an assault on a Dutch registered vessel in international waters in order to detract from the tragedy his department was responsible for two weeks ago when four sealers drowned while under tow by the Canadian Coast Guard.”
In Canada it is illegal to film, photograph or even witness a seal being killed without permission of the Minister of Fisheries. Hearn said that the action was taken to protect the safety of the sealers.
Captain Watson responded by saying, “The sealers have nothing to fear from our cameras and everything to fear from Canadian government’s incompetence. So far Canada has been responsible for four deaths while we were simply taking pictures of sealers inhumanely killing seals.”
NOTE: A special poll was conducted to find out what people thought – whether it was right or not for the RCMP to board the Farley Mowat. The results are shocking.
Sea Shepherd News
News Releases
04/12/2008
Seal Defenders Attacked!
The Farley Mowat Has Been Illegally Stormed and the Crew Assaulted
At 0700 Hours (PST) and 0800 Hours Atlantic time the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel Farley Mowat was attacked by officers from two Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers the Des Groseilliers and the Sir Wifred Grenfell.
Captain Alex Cornelissen informed the boarders that the Farley Mowat is a Dutch registered ship in international waters and that Canada had no legal right to restrict the free passage of the vessel through international waters.
The ship was in the Gulf of St. Lawrence well beyond the Canadian twelve mile territorial limit.
Captain Paul Watson was speaking by phone with Farley Mowat communications officer Shannon Mann when he heard the voices of men screaming for the crew to fall to the floor. The men carried guns according to Mann and could be heard by Captain Watson threatening the Farley Mowat’s crew. As Captain Watson was speaking with Shannon Mann, the Satellite phone went dead and nothing more has been heard from the Sea Shepherd crew.
The Farley Mowat was documenting violations of the humane regulations and gathering proof that the seals were being killed in an inhumane manner. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is assuming that the video tapes will be seized by the Canadian authorities.
There are 17 crewmembers onboard the Dutch registered Farley Mowat from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, South Africa, Canada and the United States.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been cut off from communication with the crew and has no information on where the vessel will be taken. Sea Shepherd has no information on the condition of the crew and the Society is deeply concerned for their crew.
“This is an act of war,” said Captain Paul Watson. “The Canadian government has just sent an armed boarding party onto a Dutch registered yacht in international waters and has seized the ship. Considering that the mission of the Farley Mowat was to document evidence of cruelty by sealers to support a European initiative to ban seal products, I can predict that the Europeans will not be very pleased with this move and most likely this move by Loyola Hearn will guarantee that this bill is passed. In other words the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has just handed us the victory that we were looking for.”
krafty
Bastards…this goes to show that what they are doing is ILLEGAL…I hope the EU pounce on them from a very great height….they are just COWARDS to do this …may they rot in hell for their actions…I hope the crew of the Farley Mowat are ok…!!
Crockpot replied
I know, me too. But it’s like Capt. Watson said – we may now have the victory we were all looking for!
I sure as hell hope so anyway.
And I really hope the crew is okay too, like you said!
ECGardner
How horrible. :(
I hope all are ok.
I hope also that this move by the Canadian authorities has the exact opposite of their intended effect—instead of covering up their practices and avoiding the EU ban, they may have very well sealed their own fate. Erm… no pun intended.
Crockpot replied
I agree.
And I liked your pun, so … :P
Damian
Crap! I’m shocked that govt ships would do this in international waters (would have been not shocked at all if it had’ve been inside their boundaries though). They should’ve been flying the Jolly Roger instead of Canadian flags.
Definately sends the message they’ve got something to hide, and I hope the EU listen.
Damian
Oh, and they shouldn’t have been attacked at all, obviously! I definately have zero support for that!! I just wouldn’t have been surprised at how far they would go to hide evidence.
Crockpot replied
I know – I’m still in shock over the whole thing. I keep checking the Sea Shepherd website to see if there are updates yet…
Steven Lippis
Even if they had been in Canadian waters, the only laws being broken would have been those created solely to stop people reporting on the cruelty going on.
A lot of Canadians seem to support the slaughter because apparently the seals are the cause of the decline in cod numbers (not overfishing!) and it’s always been done and the seals aren’t endangered.
Poor excuses I feel.
Well, a lot of animals weren’t endangered until humans began the wholesale slaughter of them. Why do animals not need protecting before it’s nearly too late?
I hope he’s right and this is the final nail in the coffin for the sealing industry in Canada.
Crockpot replied
I agree – on all levels!
Steven Lippis
The results of the poll are astounding. Although I know very well such things can be easily skewed. I’ve always wanted to visit Canada. I doubt I ever will now, even if the killing stops. They’re just not a people I want a thing to do with.