Home | Friday 18th April 2008 | Issue 629

Back to the Full Issue

SEALED FATE

Armed forces of the Canadian Coastguard stormed the Sea Shepherd ship the Farley Mowat on Saturday 4th. Following the successful intervention against the Japanese whaling fleet in the Antarctic Ocean - which saw the whaling fleet only achieve half of the kills they intended (See SchNEWS 616) Sea Shepherd put to sea again, this time in the Northern Hemisphere, to take on the harp seal slaughter in Canada’s Gulf of St Lawrence.

Under Canadian law it is illegal to document the seal hunt. Fearful of the kind of backlash which took place when Greenpeace exposed the baby seal cull back in the seventies, the Canadian Government has gone to great lengths to ensure that no-one gets to produce evidence of the sealers’ grisly work. On 31st March a coastguard vessel rammed the Farley Mowat twice in an effort to prevent them sailing towards the killing floes, where the sealers take advantage of the whelping season to slaughter the adult seals.

According to Sea Shepherd, “At around 0700 Hours (PST) and 1100 Hours Atlantic time on Saturday, 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.” 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. There are 17 crewmembers onboard the conservation ship from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, South Africa, Canada and the United States.

Following the payment of $10,500 the ship’s captain and first officer were released from custody and deported back to Sweden and the Netherlands. The Farley Mowat remains impounded – her fate uncertain.

See www.seashepherd.org

Subscribe to SchNEWS: Send 1st Class stamps (e.g. 10 for next 9 issues) or donations (payable to Justice?). Or £15 for a year's subscription, or the SchNEWS supporter's rate, £1 a week. Ask for "originals" if you plan to copy and distribute. SchNEWS is post-free to prisoners.

SchNEWS, c/o Community Base, 113 Queens Rd, Brighton, BN1 3XG, England
Phone: +44 (0)1273 685913
email: schnews@brighton.co.uk

@nti copyright - information for action - copy and distribute!