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Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship Steve Irwin in risk of loss to illegal poachers
On the afternoon of Friday, July 15, 2011, the Steve Irwin was detained in the Scottish Shetland Islands by the British courts due to a civil lawsuit brought against Sea Shepherd Conservation Society(SSCS) by the Maltese fishing company, Fish and Fish Limited. They are claiming damages for the bluefin tuna SSCS rescued from their nets in June 2010, fish that SSCS believe were illegally caught after the season had closed, without an inspector onboard, or any paperwork documenting the legality of their catch.
From Captain Paul Watson:
I am writing to you from the ship, in Lerwick, Scotland: I need your help to free our flagship vessel, the Steve Irwin.
On the afternoon of Friday, July 15, the Steve Irwin was detained in the Scottish Shetland Islands by the British courts due to a civil lawsuit brought against us by Maltese fishing company, Fish and Fish Limited. They are claiming damages for the bluefin tuna we rescued from their nets in June 2010, fish that we believe were illegally caught after the season has closed, without an inspector onboard, or any paperwork documenting the legality of their catch.
We have a legal firm representing us, and believe we have the necessary evidence to support our case. This lawsuit will also give us the opportunity to expose what we allege to be illegal activities by Fish and Fish and we will be aggressively defending the case on this basis. The protection of the endangered bluefin is vitally important to our oceans, and to humanity, because if the oceans die…we die.
Photo: Bill RankinPhoto: Bill RankinNow, unless we post a bond for USD$1,411,692.87, the Steve Irwin will be held indefinitely and possibly sold. This would not only be a financial hardship for Sea Shepherd, but more importantly, it could prevent us from reaching the Faeroe Islands to protect pilot whales and threaten our ability to defend whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary from the Japanese whaling fleet this December.
I urge you to help Save Our Ship today! We must urgently raise USD$1,411,692.87 to post bond. Gifts are coming in, but we have a long way to go. I urge you to send the largest gift you can today – your gift is incredibly important and will make a difference by helping us save the lives of endangered whales.
You've already helped save thousands of whales and untold numbers of other marine creatures, but unless we get our ship back soon, whales will die tragic deaths because of our inability to move this ship and protect them.
Please make a donation to save the Steve Irwin so we can return to sea and do what we do best – defend life in our oceans.
Never has the need for your help and support been any greater.
Thank you,
For our Oceans and for the Steve Irwin,
Captain Paul Watson
https://my.seashepherd.org/NetCommunity/SSLPage.aspx?pid=398
------------------------------------------------
July 26th, 2011
Carla Robinson - SSCS Development Director
On behalf of Captain Watson and everyone at Sea Shepherd around the globe, I offer a heartfelt Thank You to all of you who have donated to help us Save Our Ship! However, the ship is still being detained in port in Lerwick, Scotland pending our ability to fund a bond we estimate to be in the amount of USD $1,411,692.87.
How did we get here? As some of you are aware, late on the afternoon of Friday, July 15, our vessel the Steve Irwin was detained in the Scottish Shetland Islands by the British courts due to a civil lawsuit brought against us by Maltese fishing company Fish and Fish Limited. They are claiming damages for the bluefin tuna we rescued from their nets in June 2010, fish that we believe were illegally caught after the season has closed, without an inspector onboard, or any paperwork documenting the legality of their catch.
Since our initial appeal just six days ago, those of you who love marine life have given us a record number of donations in this timeframe and we are deeply touched by your outpouring of support. As of Sunday, July 24, we have estimated donations at USD $442,279.37 – this is fantastic, but we are still far from our goal. We hope that those of you who have not donated yet may find a way to do so.
I have worked with Sea Shepherd for 16 years now so I can’t help but get sentimental during this effort to Save Our Ship. I hope you share our love for this ship that has done so much to defend ocean wildlife. The 174-foot vessel Steve Irwin is very precious to us! In the fall of 2006, when we first found the ship in Scotland it was named the Westra – and had proudly served as a Scottish Fisheries Protection vessel. Sea Shepherd bought the ship with the help our generous supporters, renamed it the Robert Hunter (after Captain Watson’s good friend with whom he founded Greenpeace), and sailed to the Antarctic to surprise the illegal Japanese whalers! With the ability to sail at 16 knots, the Robert Hunter kept the whale killers on the run more successfully than we had done in the past.
In 2007, we officially re-named the vessel the Steve Irwin, in honor of the late Australian conservationist. Just before his untimely death, Steve stated his intention to come to Antarctica with us to defend the whales alongside Captain Watson and our brave crew. Therefore, it was fitting that he should be able to join us in spirit with his name emblazoned on the fastest and most effective whale protection ship in the world.
In the short five years since its purchase, the ship has gone on over 30 voyages and carried hundreds of dedicated crewmembers to remote places where ocean wildlife needed defending. There are untold man-hours invested in the ship in the form of maintenance, repair, and improvements. In addition to the donated labor, there have been a myriad of material gifts brought to the ships by caring supporters including parts, tools, supplies, and food of all kinds (and remember, those edible treats are the stuff that fuels our crew to do what they do best!).
The Robert Hunter, on campaign in 2006The Robert Hunter, on campaign in 2006Because Captain Watson sails the Steve Irwin and leads our campaigns from it, we call her our flagship. “The Steve” serves as our command and control center during campaigns and is also the base for our helicopter. Since our purchase of the Steve, we have built a special enclosure on the stern as well, to protect the delicate blades of the aircraft, and shelter the precision machine them the rust-inducing salt spray of the oceans – and the Japanese whaling fleet!.
That brings me back to our current dilemma! We need the Steve Irwin to be released from detention in Lerwick, Scotland so that the vessel can head to the Faeroe Islands for its next assignment. Our objective is to have the Steve connect with our trimaran vessel Brigitte Bardot (formerly the Gojira) as soon as possible and get to work intervening against the cruel pilot whale slaughter the Faeroese call “The Grind.” Once our mission there in the North Atlantic is accomplished, this work-horse of a conservation vessel will head back down to the Southern Ocean Sanctuary to once again protect defenseless whales from the ruthless harpoons of the illegal Japanese whalers.
More than ever we need our support crew – YOU – to help us overcome adversity and carry on with the mission at hand. If you can give, please know that whatever amount you can afford will truly make a difference. If you have already given, thank you so much for helping us Save Our Ship. If you can’t give at this time, please consider sharing this posting with your friends, family, and circle of influence via Facebook, Twitter, and or e-mail. Your support to us is valuable in whatever form it takes – and we thank you too!
Free the Steve!
Thank you for helping us defend ocean wildlife worldwide,
Carla Robinson
Development Director
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
------------------------------------------------------------------
To see about recent exposure of the Nambia's wholesale slaughter of the seals on their beaches:
Challenging Death on the Beaches of Namibia
http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/2011/07/26/challenging-death-on-the-beaches-of-namibia-1268
---------------------------------
Note from RePoster... SSCS did not ask that this post be made on their behalf. The Bluefin Tuna and the oceans deserve better than we've done as humans with them. The shark finning that occurs, the fishing of species into extinction is just outrageous. Hopefully a bit of education will enlighten people enough to make a donation for a worthwhile cause and allow the Steve Irwin to continue exposing these atrocities of the oceans.
I am writing to you from the ship, in Lerwick, Scotland: I need your help to free our flagship vessel, the Steve Irwin.
On the afternoon of Friday, July 15, the Steve Irwin was detained in the Scottish Shetland Islands by the British courts due to a civil lawsuit brought against us by Maltese fishing company, Fish and Fish Limited. They are claiming damages for the bluefin tuna we rescued from their nets in June 2010, fish that we believe were illegally caught after the season has closed, without an inspector onboard, or any paperwork documenting the legality of their catch.
We have a legal firm representing us, and believe we have the necessary evidence to support our case. This lawsuit will also give us the opportunity to expose what we allege to be illegal activities by Fish and Fish and we will be aggressively defending the case on this basis. The protection of the endangered bluefin is vitally important to our oceans, and to humanity, because if the oceans die…we die.
Photo: Bill RankinPhoto: Bill RankinNow, unless we post a bond for USD$1,411,692.87, the Steve Irwin will be held indefinitely and possibly sold. This would not only be a financial hardship for Sea Shepherd, but more importantly, it could prevent us from reaching the Faeroe Islands to protect pilot whales and threaten our ability to defend whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary from the Japanese whaling fleet this December.
I urge you to help Save Our Ship today! We must urgently raise USD$1,411,692.87 to post bond. Gifts are coming in, but we have a long way to go. I urge you to send the largest gift you can today – your gift is incredibly important and will make a difference by helping us save the lives of endangered whales.
You've already helped save thousands of whales and untold numbers of other marine creatures, but unless we get our ship back soon, whales will die tragic deaths because of our inability to move this ship and protect them.
Please make a donation to save the Steve Irwin so we can return to sea and do what we do best – defend life in our oceans.
Never has the need for your help and support been any greater.
Thank you,
For our Oceans and for the Steve Irwin,
Captain Paul Watson
https://my.seashepherd.org/NetCommunity/SSLPage.aspx?pid=398
------------------------------------------------
July 26th, 2011
Carla Robinson - SSCS Development Director
On behalf of Captain Watson and everyone at Sea Shepherd around the globe, I offer a heartfelt Thank You to all of you who have donated to help us Save Our Ship! However, the ship is still being detained in port in Lerwick, Scotland pending our ability to fund a bond we estimate to be in the amount of USD $1,411,692.87.
How did we get here? As some of you are aware, late on the afternoon of Friday, July 15, our vessel the Steve Irwin was detained in the Scottish Shetland Islands by the British courts due to a civil lawsuit brought against us by Maltese fishing company Fish and Fish Limited. They are claiming damages for the bluefin tuna we rescued from their nets in June 2010, fish that we believe were illegally caught after the season has closed, without an inspector onboard, or any paperwork documenting the legality of their catch.
Since our initial appeal just six days ago, those of you who love marine life have given us a record number of donations in this timeframe and we are deeply touched by your outpouring of support. As of Sunday, July 24, we have estimated donations at USD $442,279.37 – this is fantastic, but we are still far from our goal. We hope that those of you who have not donated yet may find a way to do so.
I have worked with Sea Shepherd for 16 years now so I can’t help but get sentimental during this effort to Save Our Ship. I hope you share our love for this ship that has done so much to defend ocean wildlife. The 174-foot vessel Steve Irwin is very precious to us! In the fall of 2006, when we first found the ship in Scotland it was named the Westra – and had proudly served as a Scottish Fisheries Protection vessel. Sea Shepherd bought the ship with the help our generous supporters, renamed it the Robert Hunter (after Captain Watson’s good friend with whom he founded Greenpeace), and sailed to the Antarctic to surprise the illegal Japanese whalers! With the ability to sail at 16 knots, the Robert Hunter kept the whale killers on the run more successfully than we had done in the past.
In 2007, we officially re-named the vessel the Steve Irwin, in honor of the late Australian conservationist. Just before his untimely death, Steve stated his intention to come to Antarctica with us to defend the whales alongside Captain Watson and our brave crew. Therefore, it was fitting that he should be able to join us in spirit with his name emblazoned on the fastest and most effective whale protection ship in the world.
In the short five years since its purchase, the ship has gone on over 30 voyages and carried hundreds of dedicated crewmembers to remote places where ocean wildlife needed defending. There are untold man-hours invested in the ship in the form of maintenance, repair, and improvements. In addition to the donated labor, there have been a myriad of material gifts brought to the ships by caring supporters including parts, tools, supplies, and food of all kinds (and remember, those edible treats are the stuff that fuels our crew to do what they do best!).
The Robert Hunter, on campaign in 2006The Robert Hunter, on campaign in 2006Because Captain Watson sails the Steve Irwin and leads our campaigns from it, we call her our flagship. “The Steve” serves as our command and control center during campaigns and is also the base for our helicopter. Since our purchase of the Steve, we have built a special enclosure on the stern as well, to protect the delicate blades of the aircraft, and shelter the precision machine them the rust-inducing salt spray of the oceans – and the Japanese whaling fleet!.
That brings me back to our current dilemma! We need the Steve Irwin to be released from detention in Lerwick, Scotland so that the vessel can head to the Faeroe Islands for its next assignment. Our objective is to have the Steve connect with our trimaran vessel Brigitte Bardot (formerly the Gojira) as soon as possible and get to work intervening against the cruel pilot whale slaughter the Faeroese call “The Grind.” Once our mission there in the North Atlantic is accomplished, this work-horse of a conservation vessel will head back down to the Southern Ocean Sanctuary to once again protect defenseless whales from the ruthless harpoons of the illegal Japanese whalers.
More than ever we need our support crew – YOU – to help us overcome adversity and carry on with the mission at hand. If you can give, please know that whatever amount you can afford will truly make a difference. If you have already given, thank you so much for helping us Save Our Ship. If you can’t give at this time, please consider sharing this posting with your friends, family, and circle of influence via Facebook, Twitter, and or e-mail. Your support to us is valuable in whatever form it takes – and we thank you too!
Free the Steve!
Thank you for helping us defend ocean wildlife worldwide,
Carla Robinson
Development Director
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
------------------------------------------------------------------
To see about recent exposure of the Nambia's wholesale slaughter of the seals on their beaches:
Challenging Death on the Beaches of Namibia
http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/2011/07/26/challenging-death-on-the-beaches-of-namibia-1268
---------------------------------
Note from RePoster... SSCS did not ask that this post be made on their behalf. The Bluefin Tuna and the oceans deserve better than we've done as humans with them. The shark finning that occurs, the fishing of species into extinction is just outrageous. Hopefully a bit of education will enlighten people enough to make a donation for a worthwhile cause and allow the Steve Irwin to continue exposing these atrocities of the oceans.
For more information:
https://my.seashepherd.org/NetCommunity/SS...
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Sea Shepherd Frees the Steve Irwin
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