Scamming The Blog - Useless Film Promotion

A few weeks ago we got a series of emails from blog reader "Ethan" directing us to a seemingly "leaked clip" from a new film questioning the fundamental numbers of shark conservation. Ethan also contacted other Blue Bloggers with the same clip.

"100 million animals are killed each year."

As it turns out the leaked clip was not so leaked and is part of a half assed production now titled "The Shark Con." The premise being if you absolutely enrage dedicated members of the shark conservation movement by highlighting a few zero credibility, lowbrow naysayers, people will buy your film.

As we did not buy Tiburon Productions last half assed shark film we'll be giving this next effort a wide berth and are a little disappointed they did not approach us directly so we could have told them officially to go "crawl back under a rock."

In the interests of watching folks lose their minds to outrage here is the You Tube clip they are peddling around to anyone who will watch so you can post nasty controversial messages like this one:

"You're full of shit and I think you know you are full of shit. This is an attempt to make money and protect your interests by deliberately deceiving people. Find something useful to do with your time instead of destroying species that have every right to exist and which are vital for the health of our oceans."

On a personal note, with as much shark footage as Tiburon Productions have in the can and obvious desire to be part of the shark conservation movement, why bother with this effort?

Manufacturing controversy is as easy as following Sea Shepherds Whale Wars and a media world where facts mean little. Providing real and tangible solutions to shark declines is where the grunt work begins.

That is what we call shark conservation.

What, you afraid of some heavy lifting boys?

Sea Shepherd - Popular Culture and South Park

When Sea Shepherds plans for a new reality television show with Animal Planet were announced - we had to the following to say about it:

"Perhaps one of the most chilling departures from the entire 40 year global eco movement was this year when Sea Shepherd traded it's last shred of dignity and credibility for the cameras of Animal Planet and thus began Eco-Edutainment Television, where media messaging and outright fabrication of events have subsumed the horrors of actual whaling. Where dead whales and story lines are traded with advertisements for SUV's and laundry detergent. This is a meeting of eco media and horror that never should have happened and now that it has will change the landscape of the global eco movement for years to come."

No truer words have been written about the ongoing embarrassment to the global eco movement that is Sea Shepherds Whale Wars.

We're not the only ones to take notice, popular culture commentators South Park decided to expose Sea Shepherd this week in what can only be described as "Skewering the Emperor with no clothes."

We have been covering Sea Shepherds media rise and mistakes for the past year in an ongoing series of blog posts. In one year Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd have managed to completely redefine the term for "conservation," taking the concept from quantifiable metrics for eco success to a series of often inane talking points and million dollar media spectaculars that leverage main stream media's desire to sell advertising as their conservation vehicle.

Meanwhile whales keep being killed, year after year, while Whale Wars ratings climb. It is high time we discuss and enable real and lasting conservation efforts. Reality television shows are not conservation, and fortunately South Park has just embedded that idea with the next generation of conservationists.

Sometimes the best way to enact conservation change is with a popular culture backlash.

Unfortunately Sea Shepherd is soon to announce a new reality television show with sharks in the coming weeks. We're pretty sure the folks at South Park are looking forward to that announcement as well, while the rest of the shark conservation world cringes at the prospect.

See complete Whale Whores episode here.

Whale Wars Season Two - Search Warrant?

In a surprising twist to the ongoing and very sad saga of Sea Shepherd - officers in Hobart, Tasmania boarded Sea Shepherds vessel Steve Irwin this morning.

The ship was met dockside by a party of Federal Australian Police officers with a 40 page search warrant.

The warrant authorized the seizing of "all edited and raw video footage, all edited and raw audio recordings, all still photographs, producer's notes, interview transcripts, production meeting minutes, post production meeting minutes as well as the ship's log books, global positioning system records, automatic radar plotting aid, purchase records, receipts, financial transaction records, voyage information and navigational plotted charts."

In short, the sum total of Animal Planets Whale Wars season two. Exactly why this raid happened remains a mystery. For the money we think it had a lot to do with Watsons pathological inability to tell truth from fiction and the repeated ramming of Japanese whalers last week - done expressly for the film crews of Animal Planet.

This is blow back for Wagging the Conservation Dog. With Watsons second vessel the Farley Mowat owing close to 2.2 million dollars in fines and sitting at a dock in Canada for serious regulation violations we will once again point out that your money is best sent to organizations that effect real and lasting change.

Watson and Sea Shepherd have been attempting to stop whaling for 31 years. This years entire anti whaling effort culminated in the storming of his vessel by Federal Australian Police officers with more downside to come.

Is this what you want from your eco group? Demand more than just hysterical media.

Whales Wars-Wagging the Conservation Dog

“WHALE WARS is an epic adventure that looks at the consequences of taking a stand on an issue,” declares Marjorie Kaplan, president and general manager of Animal Planet. “It’s so important that WHALE WARS calls Animal Planet its home. It’s truly compelling television, and it’s entertainment with a conservation message infused to its core.”

Perhaps one of the most chilling departures from the entire 40 year global eco movement was this year when Sea Shepherd traded it's last shred of dignity and credibility for the cameras of Animal Planet and thus began Eco-Edutainment Television-where the message and outright fabrication of events have subsumed the horrors of actual whaling. Where dead whales and story lines are traded with advertisements for SUV's and laundry detergent. This is a meeting of eco media and horror that never should have happened and now that it has will change the landscape of the global eco movement for years to come.

Sea Shepherds anti whaling operation last season was one of unrelenting and breathless press release after press release. Sea Shepherd members were "taken hostage" by evil Japanese whalers. Sea Shepherd members were "harassed", titular head of the organization Paul Watson was "shot in the chest".

The fact is none of this actually happened the way it was portrayed and 90% of it was fabricated for Animal Planet's cameras creating for the first time a hybrid media organization that,truth be told, is becoming more horrific than actual whaling. Even Discovery Networks are backing away from Watsons "attempted assassination claim" realising their exposure to it might have a negative blow back for the network.

The question most credible NGO's are asking themselves these days, what is worse? Killing whales for bogus research, or exploiting the killing of whales for television ratings and eco donations from a well meaning and ill informed public?

Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd, like the Republican Party, are out of fresh ideas, and out of a true game plan to stop whaling in the Antarctic. One might even suggest this is not the real agenda here. It is well known that Watson hates, with a passion reserved only for the mentally unbalanced, his fellow anti whaling rivals Greenpeace. By allowing reality television crews and cameras aboard his vessel Watson creates his own reality and 20 million unwitting viewers go along for the ride not knowing events are not as they seem. Worldwide Sea Shepherd has all but painted itself into a corner, with fewer and fewer countries and ports allowing his brand of hysterical eco activism into their waters.

Sea Shepherd has chosen, in lieu of actual action, to Wag the Conservation Dog. Where this goes from here is any ones guess. What other NGO's should be doing right now is taking a hard stance against for profit reality television shows like Whale Wars. In the final summation will this stop whaling? No, sadly it will not.

Will it cause dollars to flow into Sea Shepherds coffers and away from other NGO's who are doing real conservation work? Sadly yes, it will, and that's the true horror of Wagging the Conservation Dog.