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After last year's successful actions against illegal bluefin tuna fishing in the Mediterranean, Sea Shepherd is facing a legal setback. The activist organization, subject on Animal Planet's Whale Wars series, has been hit by a lawsuit brought by Maltese fishermen who claim Sea Shepherd caused them commercial damage. As a result the Shepherd's ship the Steve Irwin is being detained in the Shetland Islands by a British court. Should the bond of over $1.4 million not be posted the ship will be held until the trial and possibly sold. Sea Shepherd is soliciting donations to help raise the money to...

The International Whaling Commission's (IWC) annual meeting has closed after a tense final day when relations between opposing blocs came close to collapse. Latin American nations attempted to force a vote on a proposal to create a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic. Pro-whaling countries walked out, but eventually it was decided to shelve any vote until next year's meeting. Earlier in the meeting, governments agreed new regulations designed to prevent "cash for votes" scandals that have plagued the IWC in the past, and passed a resolution censuring the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for putting safety at risk during its...

Welcome to Hippies Failing Badly!TM   BATTLE CRYPremiering Friday, June 3, 9PM e/p The Sea Shepherds depart on their 2010/2011 ant-whaling campaign with a new, fast interceptor vessel. Early on, they find two harpoon ships before the whaling fleet has killed a single whale. Could they be set up for their most successful campaign ever? Video: Operation No Compromise Video: Blood and Sweat Video: Testing the Spud Gun Video: Whaling Fleet Found Deleted: Security Breach Deleted: Tailed by Mystery Boat   NO ESCAPEPremiering Friday, June 10, 9PM e/p After engaging the harpoon ships using the small boat teams, Captain Paul...

Japan has confirmed its ships will be back in the Southern Ocean this year to continue its whaling program. After an early withdrawal from last summer's so-called scientific whale hunt in the region, Japan told the International Whaling Commission meeting in the Channel Islands that it will return this year. Australia has rejected Japan's request for greater protection against activists. The anti-whaling activist group Sea Shepherd has confirmed that it too will continue its pursuit and return to the Southern Ocean.

Welcome to Hippies Failing Badly!TM   BATTLE CRYPremiering Friday, June 3, 9PM e/p The Sea Shepherds depart on their 2010/2011 ant-whaling campaign with a new, fast interceptor vessel. Early on, they find two harpoon ships before the whaling fleet has killed a single whale. Could they be set up for their most successful campaign ever? Video: Operation No Compromise Video: Blood and Sweat Video: Testing the Spud Gun Video: Whaling Fleet Found Deleted: Security Breach Deleted: Tailed by Mystery Boat   NO ESCAPEPremiering Friday, June 10, 9PM e/p After engaging the harpoon ships using the small boat teams, Captain Paul...

Welcome to Hippies Failing Badly!TM   BATTLE CRY The Sea Shepherds depart on their 2010/2011 ant-whaling campaign with a new, fast interceptor vessel. Early on, they find two harpoon ships before the whaling fleet has killed a single whale. Could they be set up for their most successful campaign ever? Video: Operation No Compromise Video: Blood and Sweat Video: Testing the Spud Gun Video: Whaling Fleet Found Deleted: Security Breach Deleted: Tailed by Mystery Boat   NO ESCAPE Friday, June 24, 7PM e/p After engaging the harpoon ships using the small boat teams, Captain Paul Watson makes the call to...

Welcome to Hippies Failing Badly!TM   BATTLE CRYPremiering Friday, June 3, 9PM e/p The Sea Shepherds depart on their 2010/2011 ant-whaling campaign with a new, fast interceptor vessel. Early on, they find two harpoon ships before the whaling fleet has killed a single whale. Could they be set up for their most successful campaign ever? Video: Operation No Compromise Video: Blood and Sweat Video: Testing the Spud Gun Video: Whaling Fleet Found Deleted: Security Breach Deleted: Tailed by Mystery Boat   NO ESCAPEPremiering Friday, June 10, 9PM e/p After engaging the harpoon ships using the small boat teams, Captain Paul...

Welcome to Hippies Failing Badly!TM   BATTLE CRYFriday, June 10, 8PM e/p The Sea Shepherds depart on their 2010/2011 ant-whaling campaign with a new, fast interceptor vessel. Early on, they find two harpoon ships before the whaling fleet has killed a single whale. Could they be set up for their most successful campaign ever? Video: Operation No Compromise Video: Blood and Sweat Video: Testing the Spud Gun Video: Whaling Fleet Found Deleted: Security Breach Deleted: Tailed by Mystery Boat   NO ESCAPEPremiering Friday, June 10, 9PM e/p After engaging the harpoon ships using the small boat teams, Captain Paul Watson...

Welcome to Hippies Failing Badly!TM   BATTLE CRYPremiering Friday, June 3, 9PM e/p The Sea Shepherds depart on their 2010/2011 ant-whaling campaign with a new, fast interceptor vessel. Early on, they find two harpoon ships before the whaling fleet has killed a single whale. Could they be set up for their most successful campaign ever? Video: Operation No Compromise Video: Blood and Sweat Video: Testing the Spud Gun Video: Whaling Fleet Found Deleted: Security Breach Deleted: Tailed by Mystery Boat Real Time Update: 'Brigitte Bardot' takes activists to tuna war off Libya Photo courtesy Sea Shepherd Conservation Society msnbc.com staff...

Effective next month, two Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ships will enter the waters off the coast of Libya, an area declared to be in a state of war as NATO-backed rebel forces struggle to topple the despotic dictator Muammar Gaddafi, with the goal of intercepting bluefin tuna poachers and freeing any illegally caught fish in attempt to save the species from nearing extinction. The territorial waters off Libya are a declared a no-fly zone by NATO, which means there will be a distinct absence of poaching surveillance in the region. NATO is not interested in illegal fishing operations, and no...

On June 3rd, 2011, Animal Planet’s popular series Whale Wars just may enter into its fourth and final season. The new ten-episode season continues to follow Captain Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as they attempt to stop the Japanese from whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Last year, when the Japanese whale meat processing ship – the Nisshin Maru – turned around and set its course back to its homeport in mid-February, Captain Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherds declared a cautious victory. The whalers’ actions not only signaled a possible victory for the Sea Shepherd,...

Did a TV show force Japan to suspended its whaling operations? The Sea Shepherd, the ship featured in the Animal Planet series "Whale Wars," has become so successful at harassing whaling ships at sea that activist groups are saying the TV show is at last partially responsible for ending whaling as a modern industry. "Sea Shepherd's repeated sabotage is. . .deplorable," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yukio Edano, was quoted saying in Australia's Sydney Morning Herald. But, at the same time, he confirmed that the government has suspended whaling.

VSO Day Victory in the Southern Ocean Day for the Whales Pilot Chris Aultman and crewmember Mark Cullivan in an emotional embrace. Photo: Barbara VeigaPilot Chris Aultman and crewmember Mark Cullivan in an emotional embrace. Photo: Barbara VeigaIt’s official – the Japanese whaling fleet has called it quits in the Southern Ocean, at least for this season. And if they return next season, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will be ready to resume their efforts to obstruct and disable illegal Japanese whaling operations. “The Nisshin Maru made a significant course change immediately after the Japanese government made it official that the...

The Sea Shepherd scout vessel Gojira found the illegal Japanese whaling ship Sea Shepherd calls the Cetacean Death Star at 2115 NZST on February 9th. The Nisshin Maru was caught in the process of unlawfully flensing a whale on their aft deck at the position of 74 degrees 16 minutes south and 149 degrees 2 minutes west. The Gojira immediately gave chase as the Nisshin Maru attempted to escape by entering a field of ice. The Gojira attempted to block the huge factory ship to buy time for the Bob Barker to arrive from some 28 miles away. Captain Locky...

Riding a Storm in Pursuit of a Black-Hearted Sun It is Day Seventeen since finding the Japanese whaling fleet, and it is a wee bit uncomfortable today after the whaling fleet supply vessel Sun Laurel decided to lead us into a storm to try and shake the Bob Barker and the Steve Irwin off its tail. We are now over 300 miles north of the Antarctic Treaty Zone Boundary and the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary as the Sun Laurel wanders northward and eastward hoping to unload her cargo of heavy fuel for the Nisshin Maru and diesel fuel for the...

THE JAPANESE ARE KILLING DOLPHINS AND WHALES IN AN ALL NEW "SOUTH PARK" PREMIERING ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28 AT 10:00 P.M. ON COMEDY CENTRAL NEW YORK, October 26, 2009 – The Japanese are on a mad-hunt to kill all the world’s dolphins and whales in an all-new "South Park" titled, "Whale Whores," premiering on Wednesday, October 28 at 10:00 p.m. on COMEDY CENTRAL. Stan and his family are spending his birthday at the Denver Aquarium where they will get to swim with the dolphins. Things turn bloody when the Japanese attack, kill all the dolphins and ruin Stan’s big day....

A controversial animal-rights group preparing to embark on its annual harassment campaign against Japanese whalers has stepped up its effort this season by enlisting the aid of ... Godzilla. The swift and ominous-looking interceptor vessel has the moniker Gojira, named after the ferocious monster in the legendary Japanese film, which in English means Godzilla. The 115-foot boat was launched by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on Monday in Fremantle, Australia, and has joined the larger vessels, Steve Irwin and Bob Barker, in Hobart. At midweek all three will begin their journey to Antarctic waters, where their crews will await the...

JAPAN has attracted 27 countries to a summit of pro-whaling nations to be held next week. This comes as the Japanese whaling fleet prepares to leave port for its annual hunt in the Southern Ocean. The Japanese Fisheries Agency announced it would convene the summit after the collapse in June of international talks on a compromise plan to phase out the Antarctic whale hunt in return for a resumption of limited commercial whaling. The contentious Antarctic hunt - expected to again be the target of protests from the Sea Shepherd conservation group - is carried out under Japan's officially sanctioned...

Much like Daryl Hannah before her, Michelle Rodriguez’s much-publicized plans to join the Sea Shepherd on their upcoming anti-whaling campaign in the Antarctic have been cancelled. Video of her indicating as much first surfaced from the red carpet during the Sea Shepherd benefit in LA a few weeks back. A recent article on Treehugger talking about her “Eco Maverick” award from Opportunity Green also mentions her absence this year. “I’m not going to make it to this run at the end of the year,” she said in a video by The Fashion Patrol. “I have to go work. I have...

The title of “World’s Most Expensive Beer” shifted from Scotland to Australia last night where a single bottle of Antarctic Nail Ale sold for $800. The limited edition beer, of which only 30 were bottled, was created at the Nail Brewing headquarters at Edith Cowan University in Perth. It was sold as part of an auction benefiting the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society — and made from Antarctic ice brought back from their last anti-whaling campaign in the Southern Ocean. “Over 90% of beer is water, so the Antarctic Nail Ale could possibly be the world’s oldest and purest beer,” brewer...