WHALE DEFENDERS IN ANTARCTICA
In 2008, Animal Planet released Whale Wars, a reality series known in Spanish as Defensores de Ballenas. This is how much of the public got to know Sea Shepherd, the leading organization: for seven seasons, the program followed the fight of crews of volunteers to stop the illegal whaling by Japan in the waters of the Southern Whaling Sanctuary, in the Antarctica.
Year after year, Sea Shepherd followed illegal Japanese vessels to document and expose these killings. In 2014, the International Court in The Hague confirmed the organization’s claims: despite Japan’s pretexts that they were hunting for scientific purposes, it was a commercial hunt, and they had to stop immediately. Later in 2019, Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission and, while continuing to hunt in its territorial waters, announced the end of its whaling program in Antarctica.
But whaling is not the only problem facing the oceans today, and the work of this organization is far from over.
As its official page says, Sea Shepherd is a global direct action organization focused on the conservation of marine ecosystems.. It was founded in 1977 by Paul Watson, and has come to have a presence in more than 20 countries. It is an international movement, made up of dependent chapters, established around the world, with volunteer crews operating both on board and on land. Today, Sea Shepherd’s international fleet numbers 12 ships, plus a variety of small craft.
One of the main axes of Sea Shepherd is to enforce legal regulations in places where the authorities are not always present. So, on the one hand, the organization has campaigns aimed at exposing illegal activities on the high seas, and others that seek to strengthen collaboration ties with local governments, in order to assist them both in compliance with the local legal system, as well as in control matters.
THE FISHING PROBLEM
Today, one of the biggest reasons for concern is the overexploitation of the seas through the fishing industry. It is estimated that between 11 and 16 million tons of global fishing comes from illegal catches by unregistered vessels operating outside the law, either on the high seas or in coastal waters. This is one of the major causes of ocean pollution, and is responsible for numerous threats that put the survival of marine biodiversity at risk. For this reason, in recent years, Sea Shepherd’s campaigns have focused mainly on addressing this problem.
- Operation Icefish: overfishing in Antarctica
At the end of 2014, Operation icefish, a campaign on the high seas that ended with the activities of an entire fleet of illegal fishing boats, “the Six Bandits”. For ten years, this fleet evaded the law by regularly changing the names of its vessels and operating in the distant waters of Antarctica, where hiding is not difficult.
These six bandits They were mainly looking for Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides), an exclusively Antarctic species, of very deep waters and slow reproduction. The latter jeopardizes its survival, if it is hunted excessively. Illegal vessels like the Six Bandits fleet, operating without regulation, push the boundaries of what could be a sustainable industry, and become one that is decimating marine populations.
Credits: Sea Shepherd Global.
Operation Icefish was a resounding success: by 2016, the six illegal vessels had been detained by international authorities, thanks in large part to the presence and evidence collected by Sea Shepherd. In addition, this revealed another of the great dangers of illegal fishing: the crews of the M/V Sam Simon and the M/V Bob Barker collected kilometers of abandoned gillnets, which, being made of plastic, remain in the sea for years. the ocean, and they catch any animal that crosses their path.
- bycatch: bycatch and nets prohibited
By acting outside the law, illegal fishing boats often use methods that are prohibited due to the risk they represent for the environment. Such is the case of gillnets or “drift” nets, such as those collected during Operation Icefish, illegal if they exceed two kilometers in length: thousands of animals, from sea turtles to whales, die every year trapped in them. These captures are known as bycatch, or “bycatch”.
One of the most emblematic cases is that of the vaquita, a small cetacean in critical danger of extinction: its population fell to less than twenty individuals. Why? In large part, due to the illegal fishing of totoaba, an endemic species of Mexico and protected by law. This fish is prized on the black market for its supposed healing properties, and is caught using trammel nets, which are prohibited in many places. It is in them where animals such as the vaquita are trapped.
Credits: Sea Shepherd Global.
Bycatch is not a problem limited to illegal fishing: in the Bay of Biscay, France, thousands of dolphins are killed each year in fishing nets. Sea Shepherd, as part of its Operation Dolphin Bycatch, is documenting this activity with the aim of getting the local government to intervene and regulate these practices.
- Competition with local communities of artisanal fishermen
Illegal industrial fishing is also a problem for artisanal fishing communities that depend on the sea for their livelihood. During 2017, Sea Shepherd assisted the Liberian government by patrolling the area delimited as exclusive for artisanal fishing, which was often violated by industrial vessels. Something similar is happening in Gabon, Central Africa: together with the local authorities, Sea Shepherd tours the coastal zone of the country, with volunteers ready to inspect the fishing boats that operate there: since 2016, at least 140 have been detained for illegal operations.
Credits: Sea Shepherd Global.
Illegal fishing is not the only thing that Sea Shepherd seeks to eradicate: the organization has research campaigns, and campaigns against the killing of small cetaceans in places like Taiji or the Faroe Islands, against the harmful industry of salmon farming, and against marine pollution. , among other.
And not everything happens at sea: there is a team of volunteers on land around the world carrying out educational, outreach and fundraising activities. It is that as the founder of Sea Shepherd says, “if the oceans die, we die”: the health of the seas concerns us all, and we must all be involved in their protection.