A report prepared for the IWC recommended that the moratorium be lifted and commercial whaling be resurrected. You can read a response to this ridiculous report in the news article “Sea Shepherd Will Not Compromise on Whaling” which details Sea Shepherds stance on whaling – if the IWC resumes whaling it will be a declaration of war on the whales by humanity. We cannot sit by and watch as any innocent creatures are destined to be slaughtered.

To that end, we are ready to embark on our seal campaign. With the Canadian seal slaughter starting in March 2005 and our flagship, R/V Farley Mowat, in Bermuda ready to go to the ice floes in February, we have crew coming from around the world to join the ship in Bermuda or in Sydney, Nova Scotia. To coincide with the first official day of the Canadian-sanctioned slaughter, March 15th, we will be holding an International Day of Protest. Please visit our website for continued campaign updates.

As part of our mission to document and expose atrocities being committed against marine wildlife and their habitats, we actively seek media coverage of our campaigns. Recently, NPR re-aired a show called Alternative Radio which features a lecture that I gave in Alma, Michigan. We have gotten a lot of positive response to it, and hope you will enjoy listening to it. You can listen to that show and more, and see some of the media coverage that Sea Shepherd has received around the world on our newly designed Sea Shepherd in the News page.

With whaling and sealing escalating, it is more important than ever that we do not back down. In this coming year we will need your ongoing support more than ever before. For ahead of us stretch thousands of miles of ocean as we sail forth to seek the enemies of those we defend – the threatened and vulnerable families of the sea.