Has Paul Watson Been Done In?

So, Paul Watson is stepping down as the leader of "Sea Sheperd Conservation Society".

A step that many, myself included, thought would never happen.

Has he finally seen the light?

One could only hope.

He said that he's stepping aside to honor an injunction by a US court, banning him from coming within 500 yards of  and interfering with any Japanese Whaling Ship. On Sea Shepherd's website it states that: "Paul Watson will remain aboard to document the campaign." 

I'm sure that he'll only be documenting and not doing anything else. I mean he's Paul Watson, self appointed enforcer of international law! He wouldn't violate those international laws himself.

Nope, not Paul Watson!

Take his current status for example. He's not really a fugitive from the law, with a warrant out for his arrest by Interpol. He didn't endanger a fishing vessel in Costa Rican waters, when he tried to force them into port, to face the Costa Rican justice system, the same justice system that he's now not really running from.

So why did he really step aside from Sea Shepherd? I suspect is has more to do with a story that got less media attention. The fact that he's being sued by Ady Gil, the owner of the famous ship that was supposedly hit and sunk by a Japanese whaling ship. Ady Gil alleges that Paul Watson ordered the sinking of the ship, rather than bringing it back for repairs, for publicity reasons.

 A video on youtube clearly shows the "Ady Gil" just drifting in the water, alongside the Japanese ship. Then, at around the 19 second mark, the video shows whitewater behind the props, a clear sign that the "Ady Gil" engaged the props and propelled itself into the path of the whaling ship. So it was actually the "Ady Gil" that rammed the whaling ship, not the other way round no matter how many press releases from Sea Shepherd say otherwise.

His stepping aside is most likely an attempt to prevent Ady Gil's suit from potentially getting a lien against Sea Shepherds other ships.

So why do I think that the story about this lawsuit is really important? This is the first time that a big time supporter has come out against him. Someone who's given him a 5 million dollar vessel is now disenchanted by his actions to the point that he's suing him.

Maybe this will be a catalyst for other Sea Shepherd supporters to also take a closer look at how they operate. Hopefully this will signal a start to more support for mainstream conservation efforts. Efforts that can affect real change, instead of just media hype and self promotion. Efforts that have not only lacked financial support, because of money that's going to Sea Shepherd, but efforts that have also been undermined by the extreme and often fruitless actions taken by Sea Shepehrd.

Again, one can only hope, but when it comes to Sea Shepherd's Paul Watson, hope is something that's running in short supply these days.

Cheers,

Martin Graf
Managing Director
Shark Diver
Sharkdiver.com

About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at sharkcrew@gmail.com.

Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd, Cowardice Under Direct Action Fire?

Interpol, the worlds police, have issued a Red Notice for Paul Watson titular head of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Watson is currently on the run exhibiting a simply stunning display of abject cowardice in the face of Direct Action.

This is a wake up call to his donor base both large and small. Your conservation money, the money you had hoped would be used for change, has been taken from you by a slick conservation media machine.

And while no one wants to get inside the mind of the Sea Shepherd faithful for fear they will discover an overweight hamster on a giant wheel wheezing to a techno version of Kermit The Frogs, "It's not Easy Being Green," one has to ask, why run Paul?

Paul Watson is more than happy to send his volunteers/unpaid reality tv actors into situations that ultimately put then in harms way while he himself is unwilling to even step into a court room where he would get to explain his Direct Action policies to the widest audience he has ever had.

Watson instead has crafted a series of inane excuses for his lack of,  "Doushitemo" (at any cost), which flies in the face of far too many of Watsons own stump speeches to his donor base where he regales them with tales of personal bravery on the high seas.

About that, as it turns out Watson is also not above faking his own assassination attempts to bolster his claims of conservation bravery. This is an organization that, "at any cost," spends donor money to pump out slick conservation media fakery, year after year, to garner more donations.

It's a Conservation Möbius Loop of the worst kind.

After 30 years Sea Shepherd has proved an abject failure as an organization for actual and lasting changes to wildlife.

They have become unfortunate parodies of themselves and in the minds of their donor base, "too big to fail." There's a meme out there that suggests, and is propagated by Sea Shepherd, that if they stop their Direct Actions the entire world will go to hell in a hand-basket because there are no other organizations out there to fill the void.

It's a lie.

In fact there are plenty of small boots on the ground organizations out there, thanks in large part to social media and smart phones, that need your help now. They are the real face of conservation, not the donor paid vacations in the South Pacific with Sea Shepherds elite Shark Angels - an ongoing conservation sham where the biggest hurdle this "elite team" faces has been the lack of access to dwindling supplies of glitter lip gloss and SPF 50.

You have a choice, dig a bit deeper in your search for a conservation organization org that delivers change, or continue to support a bloated increasingly irrelevant organization that at it's core (Paul Watson) fails to live up to the ongoing hype.

Paul Watson as an conservation organization leader has shown to the world that his organization does not deserve your respect, admiration, or money.

For many out there in the conservation sphere this is not news. For the Sea Shepherd faithful who like the idea of wearing pirate shirts and being part of something grand, this is gut check time.

Support something new, try something small, grow an organization that delivers conservation change and one that you know will spend your conservation money wisely. Fact is when any organization gets to over 11 million dollars in revenue resources and it's Conservation CEO is placed on Interpols Red Notice you have to wonder...are the worlds animals really being served here?

About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at sharkcrew@gmail.com.

Sea Shepherd, Paul Watson, and Direct Action on Trial

Paul Watson has fled Germany.

So much for the vaunted Sea Shepherd mantra, "we will do anything for wildlife."

That quote is part of Sea Shepherds media machine or as the rest of the hard working conservation world knows it, the "Donor Dollar Sucking Machine."

Why did Paul Watson flee Germany?

He was about to be arrested, deported, and sent for trial in Latin America. It's part of the world of Direct Action, a conservation policy that says it is o.k to harass and ram vessels and interfere directly with wildlife harvests anywhere in the world - irregardless of treaties, fisheries policies, and or the personal health and well being of the participants on either side of the wildlife issue.

We're all for it, "if" it has long lasting results, like stopping a slaughter completely...and forever.

Unfortunately Direct Action is a failed policy because it stops nothing, from seal harvests, to Bluefin tuna, to whales. One might think that 30 years is enough time to gather a consensus on any policy failed or not.

Direct Action does create great Reality Television moments like this one for Season One of Whale Wars where Paul Watson faked being shot in the chest. It also sucks conservation dollars out of the atmosphere like an out-of-control and cartoonish Hoover vacuum.

And that's the problem with Direct Action. Donor money that could be used by forward thinking conservation entities who have boots on the ground and great conservation programs that actually save wildlife being sucked away by a constant, high profile, and unrelenting Direct Action Buffonery lead by Sea Shepherd and Paul Watson.

30 long years, and now when the chips are finally down for Watson, when it looks like he will have to face some measure of legal reality for his failed conservation policy...he slips away under cover of darkness.

The lawsuit, the extradition, the ensuing media surrounding Paul Watson's trial in Latin America was to be a public airing of Direct Action as a policy by conservationists the world over.

Sadly, because Paul Watson is ultimately a coward who would rather invent death defying moments at sea vis-a-vis his faked assassination moment, we will never get to see Direct Action on trial.

Instead prepare yourself for another 30 years of invented Direct Action moments that fail completely, save for the flow of money leaving the rest of the conservation sphere and into more inventive media moments brought to you by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Run, Paul, Run.

More here.

Sea Shepherd Fiji's Shark Conservation Boondoggle?

South Pacific vacation idylls with donor money? Yup!

First of all an indulgence and a short education of the word, "Boondoggle."

Boondoggle - work of little or no value done merely to look busy waste, wastefulness, dissipation - useless or profitless activity; using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly; "if the effort brings no conservation gain it is a waste"; "mindless dissipation of  donor resources."

Which brings us to the topic du jour, Sea Shepherds South Pacific Shark Conservation Campaign.

You know the one. It was preceded by several breathless press releases and this over-the-top conservation PSA which promised to kick ass and take names and numbers once the Sea Shepherds arrived in the South Pacific.

For the sharks!

This particular PSA was met with the following statement from the Ministry of Defense in Fiji and if you have not read it, read it, it's an eye opener. In short Fiji has several amazing shark conservation programs in place with hardworking folks and a plan to make Fiji a Shark Sanctuary.

These are long term, local grass roots programs, the best of shark conservation in action.

Sadly, like most of Sea Shepherds media outreach the reality on the ground for Operation Requiem could not be more different from their media hype and this post is directed at the Sea Shepherd donor base whose money pays for Sea Shepherd vessel assets to spend months in the South Pacific wandering about from island to island.

Is this how you envisioned your money being spent?

Instead of changing the world for sharks as the propaganda suggests by direct action where members of this elite (ahem) South Pacific team would "gladly trade their lives for sharks," they, in the fine tradition of missionaries the world over, are spending their time spreading the Gospel of St Paul The Conservation Redeemer to islanders, and even commercial long liners.

More on those commercial long liners in a minute.

In Fiji their efforts have been about as helpful as tourists who steal things from World Heritage Sites.

It's great "conservation work" if you can get it and we know of at least a half dozen or so hard working NGO's who at this very moment are saving actual sharks with boots on the ground efforts that could use a three month "vacation" to the South Pacific to "save" sharks.

Unlike Sea Shepherd, these NGO's do not have hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend pumping out simply fantastical cover stories or even have access to floating palaces to causally saunter from island to island with. These NGO's do not seek the mainstream media limelight, their staff do not demand a personality cult for species. They are the real deal vs grandiose "look-at-me-ain't-I-grand" conservation buffoonery at sea.

Once again Sea Shepherd's media vs actual conservation realities stand at stark contrast to each other. No sharks are being saved in this campaign but the weather is nice and the media they are pumping out looks great.

So back to the commercial long liners. In Fiji the proposed Shark Sanctuary is in its final decision process and for anyone in the shark conservation community who has fostered a shark sanctuary you know these final days are finger nail biting times where last minute deals, phone calls, and conversations hopefully lead to thousands of square miles of shark safe zones. A first step in a long and drawn out process.

These are precarious times, and anything can derail these last minute negotiations.

Enter Sea Shepherd and a post on their website from the elite team of Shark Angels who, if you remember, were asked in no uncertain terms to stay out of Fiji in the first place. They ignored that request and instead sat down with a local long liner who had his own anti shark sanctuary propaganda to spill forth.

Until Sea Shepherds Shark Conservation Campaign came along this Fijian long liner had no one willing to regurgitate his propaganda for him:

"Nathan worries the Fijian shark sanctuary proposed won’t be effective – the sharks will simply be taken elsewhere and legitimate operators will be the ones punished. He feels the use of wire traces should be prohibited (and enforced) around the world and it will decrease shark mortality by at least 80%. And he believes the fact none of his peers and the commercial fishing industry were properly consulted will result in its lack of the Shark Sanctuary approval in Fiji - in order to be successful, the legislation needs to consider all constituencies.  Pretty sound reasoning (regardless of whether I agree or not) for someone I had assumed was going to be without a clue."

You read that correctly. It is conservation garbage. It has also been mainlined directly into the propaganda machine that is Sea Shepherd for reasons that no one in the wider shark conservation community understands. It serves no purpose but to derail delicate negotiations in Fiji by a group of wandering shark media interlopers who are masquerading as actual shark conservationists.

Is this how you want your donor money being spent?

There's a choice people have to make. Support organizations that do real work and have real metrics for success when it comes to saving wildlife. Or fall for the hype and glossy PSA's that show action! pathos! and steel jawed animal savers with the wind in their hair, and just the right amount of lip gloss to catch the light.

You quickly find that 99% of the hype is good old fashioned conservation bullshit lead by conservation leaders who inspire their hand selected followers with their own brand of faked media moments for wildlife.

It has to end because the flip side to all this conservation noise is the donation button. It's the button Sea Shepherd hopes you press so they can continue on with their 30 year Boondoggle Machine.

Their machine is a well oiled beast that drops "elite teams" into hot spots around the world to take a few pictures, hype a few videos, and produce more media content next to that donation button.

The choice is ultimate yours and your wallets. Are you donating for changes to wildlife or another reality tv show?

In Fiji the choice is clear. We wish the Sea Shepherds well on their continued voyages and as a helpful hint make sure you use that 50 SPF sunblock. You don't want to start looking like someone from an actual NGO who has just finished planting 30,000 mangrove roots to create a shark nursery.

No, that would just be too horrible to contemplate and frankly nothing media worthy about it at all.

About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at sharkcrew@gmail.com.

For Fijian Sharks It's Decision Time, Or Not?

This is a reprint from the Shark Defender Blog and great stuff as well.

It is equally important to point out that behind the push to create a Fijian Shark Sanctuary are some smart groups and people like Pew and the Coral Reef Alliance who have actual boots on the ground efforts here to make this happen.

Sadly, and you probably know where we are headed here, Sea Shepherds Operation Requiem posted anti shark sanctuary propaganda either willingly or unwittingly at a time for Fiji's sharks when any contrary views that might endanger this well thought out plan are unwarranted, unwelcome, and frankly amateur conservation at it's finest.

 "Nathan worries the Fijian shark sanctuary proposed won’t be effective – the sharks will simply be taken elsewhere and legitimate operators will be the ones punished. He feels the use of wire traces should be prohibited (and enforced) around the world and it will decrease shark mortality by at least 80%. And he believes the fact none of his peers and the commercial fishing industry were properly consulted will result in its lack of the Shark Sanctuary approval in Fiji - in order to be successful, the legislation needs to consider all constituencies.  Pretty sound reasoning (regardless of whether I agree or not) for someone I had assumed was going to be without a clue."

Well done Operation Requiem and Julie Anderson. Since when did Sea Shepherd Conservation Society post the views of the commercial long line industry as "gospel fact" in the face of existing and coordinated legislative efforts to save sharks in any given region?

On to serious shark conservation efforts, perhaps Operation Requiem should read this:

According to the Fiji Times, the Cabinet will consider the Fiji Shark Sanctuary decree on Tuesday, July 30, 2012.  Previous reports stated the decree would be taken up yesterday. From the Fiji Times:

THE Ministry of Fisheries will make its submission to Cabinet on July 30 for the proposed legislation to turn Fiji's 1.2 million square kilometre Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) into a shark sanctuary.

Deputy permanent secretary of Fisheries Penina Cirikiyasawa confirmed this, saying they were happy with the draft submission.

"We will be giving the copy of the submission to the Minister of Fisheries Joketani Cokanasiga by the end of this week," she said.

"The only change that could be made is recommendations from the minister himself. Other than that, we have already had consultations with the industry stakeholders and other relevant stakeholders and we are pleased with the draft that has been compiled.

The Fijian government has been considering shark protections since 2009 and has engaged with the Coral Reef Alliance and Pew Environment Group since December 2010 to conduct stakeholder consultations, including four rounds of consultation with the fishing industry, gather data, support research, including research that is identifying endangered scalloped hammerhead nursing grounds, and organize outreach activities, including the production and distribution of Shark Hope, a Fijian-made film about the importance of sharks to Fiji's culture, environment, and economy.

The Fiji Shark Defenders, a coalition headed by the Division of Fisheries, The Fiji Times, CORAL, and Pew, recently concluded a shark art contest for World Ocean's Day.  The winners of the contest received school supplies and had their photos and stories in the Fiji Times.  Additionally, entire schools have taken on the shark sanctuary campaign and organized their curricula around sharks.  The Suva Multiple Intelligence school in Suva was recently interviewed about what they have been doing all year:

Students from Classes One to Nine are encouraged to learn all aspects of shark conservation, including statistics, scientific terms as well as creating their own perceptions about the worldwide conservation efforts to protect sharks.

The school's co-founder Doctor Robin Taylor, through this shark conservation project, says his students are able to learn other subjects like mathematics and English as well as other skills that are applicable in real life.

"For the upper classes we have a puppet video production and the students have to write the screenplay, design the storyboard, write the dialogue and shoot the video of the puppets. These skills are real-life skills and they're learning it through this shark project," Dr Taylor says.

"The teachers can only suggest and supervise their activities but the students themselves come up with the original writing.

"Another example will be they get to learn how much shark fin costs as compared to one pound of tuna per square inch. By calculating this they are learning mathematics," Dr Taylor adds.

There is still time for you to participate in the creation of the Fiji Shark Sanctuary. Here are five simple things you can do right now to help:

1. Take the Fiji Shark Defenders pledge. We'll add you name to our petition, and call on you if we need your help. We will also inform you as soon as Fiji's sharks become protected.

2. Write a short letter to the Fiji Times and Fiji Sun explaining why you support shark protections.  Say you want to see full protections with no loopholes.  If you don't live in Fiji, say that you can't wait to come visit our sharks. Email your letter to: editor@fijitimes.com.fj and letters@fijisun.com.fj

3. Write a letter to the Fiji Director of Fisheries Sanaila Naqali thanking him for standing up for sharks, and encouraging full protections for Fiji's sharks including a ban on the commercial fishing, sale, trade, possession, and transshipment of shark and shark products, and retention of sharks caught as incidental bycatch. Mail your letter to: Director Sanaila Naqali; PO BOX 2218; Government Buildings; Suva, Fiji Islands.

4. Post our public service announcements to your Facebook wall. PSA #1 and PSA #2 talk about the importance of sharks, while PSA #3 (starring shark champion Senator Tony DeBrum from the Marshall Islands) talks about the importance of banning bycatch and transshipment.

5. Update your Facebook and Twitter status to I love Fiji Sharks #FijiMe #Finsanity Please Like, Share, and ReTweet the message every time you see it.


About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at sharkcrew@gmail.com.

Sea Shepherd Fiji and Conservation Carpetbagging?

The conservation world became alerted to "something odd" in the shark conservation space a few weeks ago when the island nation of Fiji posted this warning about Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

What was particularly interesting about this open letter to the world was Fiji's recognition that Sea Shepherd as an organization had become more of a conservation parody of itself over the past decade with it's homespun reality tv shows and media stunts, and less an actual force for real and lasting conservation change.

Fiji's open letter was the first look behind the Green Curtain for Sea Shepherd, revealing for the first time by a sovereign nation a bloated conservation media machine run by kool aid drinking drones who seek fame in the conservation space as the new Conservation Kardashians.

We wrote a satirical post about this last week.

Case in point Sea Shepherds abject failures to stop sealing in Canada after 30 years of media circus, whaling in Antarctica, Bluefin Tuna harvests, or even propose and foster any manner of metrics based conservation efforts that leave behind lasting change for wildlife.

In fact metrics based conservation, the kind of lasting hard work in one area to see that conservation is done right is not in Sea Shepherds DNA. They are spectacle makers first and foremost choosing the easy conservation route of shifting conservation baselines, and "awareness for conservation."

By now, and thanks to the hard work of tens of thousands of people the world over who have never sought the limelight, people are fully "aware" that sharks are in trouble.

For the past decade and lead by some true innovators in the region Fiji has created several admirable boots on the ground programs that have made real and lasting differences to the lives of sharks and these amazing programs continue to this day.

What's a stake in Fiji is a new Sea Shepherd reality tv show that looks very much like Sea Shepherds other reality tv shows that offer hype, broken vessels, and a particularly nauseating brand of "personality cult for species" that is looking to carpetbag its way into Fiji for a quick media pump and dump.

Conservation Carpetbagging is not new, but it has been perfected by Sea Shepherd.

The Academy Award winning movie The Cove was subsumed by Sea Shepherd in an orgy of bad taste and poor media judgement. It was Conservation Carpetbagging at its finest and a clear indication of Sea Shepherds willingness to take any effort done by others and make it their own for the clear purpose of draining conservation dollars into Sea Shepherd coffers.

Hence the grave concern being directed at the new Fijian shark effort by Sea Shepherd and it's clones.

The shark world does not need another personality cult and sharks could care less if these hackneyed media seekers would "die for sharks."

In fact to even publicly state this, to put yourself in a media situation that you know is completely false from the get go is to let down the animals you profess to care so deeply about. It is the poorest choice of words for animals that need change, not hype and more "awareness."

Sadly the issue of this new programs involvement in Fijian waters has not been resolved even with the recent letter by the Fijian Government to the rest of the world. As it turns out instead of moving on to other Pacific islands could in fact use help for sharks Sea Shepherd is trying to back channel their way back into the region and into work done by others.

For readers of this blog you'll note we broke with Sea Shepherd the year Paul Watson faked his own assassination for season one of Whale Wars. It was an eye opening moment that should have shocked others in the conservation space to their core.

It did for some.

For others it opened their eyes and desires to become Conservation Rock Stars. The reality that you could bald face lie to millions on television and then be invited to swanky Hollywood cocktail parties to feast on $75.00 sustainable appetizers served to you by out of work actors whilst being feted by big dollar donors who admired your latest brush with death for wildlife.

Sharks don't need this. Sharks need actual help.

Reality tv shows that are designed to callously suck up conservation dollars in return for media spectacle and personality cult offering "awareness" are as damaging to sharks as the fishing fleets that target them, because those on the actual front lines with real solutions need those dollars more than ever.

Food for thought.


About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at sharkcrew@gmail.com.

Direct Action Failure? Sea Shepherds Next Act

While Sea Shepherd congratulates it's self on an eco win this year, the second act of it's direct action policy is playing out in Japan.

There's always a second act.

As was the case last year, Japan is considering moving whaling operations to fragile coastal waters targeting whale and dolphin populations within Japans territorial limits.

"Jun Morikawa, an academic at Rakuno Gakuen University and the author of a book about Japanese whaling, says he is concerned that because fewer whales were killed in the Southern Ocean, Japan may want to hunt more whales and dolphins in its own waters."

This is Japans ultimate trump card, regional whaling pressure on a scale not seen since the end of WW2, and a disaster for coastal whale populations.

Does Sea Shepherd have a plan for this outcome?

Probably not, as their thin veneer of legitimacy and argument against scientific whaling would all but disappear in the face of Japans navy and coast guard vessels. A similar Catch 22 to Sea Shepherds now completely failed 30 year anti-sealing effort in Canada, which culminated in the loss of a two million dollar vessel, impounded and then sold off by the Canadian Coast Guard in 2008.

Canada has recently signed a multi-million dollar trade agreement for seal products with China, the largest trade agreement of it's kind for seals, and a complete repudiation of 30 years worth of direct action policy on the part of Sea Shepherd.

Whaling must end, but is direct action the method in which long term success can be achieved, or like a water balloon, are Sea Shepherds actions just putting pressure on other animals that, until now, have enjoyed relative safety and security off the coast of Japan?

Story here.

Sea Shepherd - Watson "Fiddling Around" While Rome Burns

The revelation this week that Sea Shepherd actually lies, fabricates and manipulates media, and has a zero effective rate at saving wildlife should come as no surprise to the readers of this blog.

For the past two years, and much to the SSCS faithfuls consternation, we have been deconstructing the Sea Shepherd Media Myth in a series of ongoing posts. Detailing the millions of donor dollars lost or squandered by SSCS, the actual SSCS media distortions and fabrications, and calling into question SSCS claims of saved wildlife.

Sea Shepherd Post Gallery.

To be fair, we were once full fledged supporters of SSCS and Paul Watson's seemingly take no prisoners brand of Direct Action. All that ended with the "shot that never was," wherein Paul Watson fabricated, out of whole cloth, the myth that Japanese whalers shot him dramatically in the chest during season one of Whale Wars.

Call it what you will, this myth, lie, fabrication, staged media moment, was lapped up by a series of green blogs and Facebook groups as consummate fact, transforming a horrific lie into a myopic truth, which then perpetrated a nasty racist backlash directed at Japan and Japanese people from around the world.

Our support ended there as credibility with NGOs is something we hold sacrosanct.

To be effective you have to be a credible source.

SSCS has sold (cheaply) every shred of dignity, credibility, and the public's trust to grease the wheels of a bloated media machine that has very little to do with wildlife conservation and everything to do with glitzy Hollywood parties, $60 vegan appetisers, and a somewhat dubious reality television show now into its third season.

There's no doubt that whaling needs to end.

Into that conversation stepped Sea Shepherd who have hijacked the global conservation movement and created a new toxic paradigm for what conservation is, bending the ideal of actual constructive work and metrics for success into a series of inane staged stunts. In the process they have created many "SSCS Lite" conservationists who believe that anything goes in the world of conservation. In this dark place metrics for actual success are a distant goal.

While Rome burns, Paul Watson and his entire media troupe fiddle around with faked press releases, staged media moments, and outright media lies. As if any of this will stop a harpoon with an explosive tip ripping though a whale, or the sharp tip of a Hakapik into a seal, or the rusty blade of knife through a sharks fin.

Demand more from your conservation org. After 25+ years Paul Watson has no conservation victories to his or his organizations credit, every single wildlife issue he has tackled is still ongoing, and your donations perpetrate more of the same in a rudderless and increasingly hysterical conservation organization that should depart the world scene - soon.

In 1978 a younger, slimmer, more idealistic Paul Watson blew the whistle on Greenpeace, much like Peter Bethune did this week with Sea Shepherd. In this video Watson details the stark reality behind Direct Action conservation campaigns with open ended commitments.

In this video Watson is also revealing Sea Shepherds unpleasant reality as it stands today when "the organization becomes more important then the issue."

Sea Shepherd Giving Up C4H8O2 - Left With Taunts?

Yes, it has been a while since we poked at the increasingly irrelevant and bloated Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Mainly due to the fact that poking at a dead conservation corpse is about as much fun as...well poking at a corpse.

One story that did get our attention this week was SSCS sudden reversal from the use of C₄H₈O_2.

As a mainstay in the SSCS arsenal of moronic direct action tools, Paul Watson and company have touted the use of Butyric acid as it's direct action darling. Where Greenpeace were afraid to go SSCS would step boldly - Direct Action!

So why the sudden and very public reversal/spin on the use of C₄H₈O₂?

This is a question best left for those that follow this org religiously (we happen to love this guy) and one we'll leave to the SSCS experts to debate long after this non profit (?) has disbanded.

Fun Times Instructional Video

With SSCS now out of anything media worthy to hurl at Japanese whalers, we would like to offer the following instructional video on how to taunt your conservation opponent. Sadly whales will be killed once again during the 2011 Antarctic research hunt, and once again Sea Shepherd's reality television show will be there to...well, we're not sure what they will be there to do, but the following video might help the Shepherds in their ongoing Whale War - now in season number four with the highest ratings to date!

Sea Shepherd - Losing Hearts and Minds

Sea Shepherd has "Jumped the Shark."

In the process they have become an open laughing stock of not only the conservation world but of the general public as well. What started with last summers expose on South Park has become a full blown online rebellion against staged reality television under the increasingly thin guise of protecting and saving wildlife.

By any metric including Sea Shepherds own Paul Watson they are losing the media battle for the hearts and minds of a non-radicalized public.

Watson recently posted a long winded and far fetched explanation for why the worlds online comment media is not buying into his spoon fed and faked Whale Wars spectaculars, such as the ill fated "Watson Was Shot" (Whale Wars Season One) and this years alleged ramming of the Ady Gil.

Paul Watson

"One of the most insidious and underhanded attacks has been the ability of the Japanese whaling industry to use cyber warfare. We have reason to believe that they have infiltrated internet social forums and websites with a well funded campaign of disinformation and strategies designed to undermine our morale and erode our support with a barrage of lies, ad hominem attacks, character assassination, and cyber bullying."

The most obvious explanation for Watson's pseudo Clive Barker analysis? The public is no longer buying into patently faked Sea Shepherd media. Sea Shepherd has grossly underestimated its audience and their intelligence.

Therein lies the problem. Across the Internet and beyond Western audiences are tuning out of the conservation message of whaling. Anti-whaling efforts have become an entertainment vehicle, not conservation, and Sea Shepherd is to blame for this bizarre shift in consciousness.

If Western watchers of these seasonal media antics are not buying into them, where are Eastern sympathies for Japans ongoing whaling efforts?

Smart Conservation People

There are some undoubtedly smart, dedicated people who work with Sea Shepherd, and to ignore them would be wrong. Like pirate vessels of old, the captains role as master and commander of his vessel was a "performance based job." Pirate crews had the right to depose their captain if he failed to deliver.

We would like to suggest that happens now.

Over the past decades Paul Watson alone has managed to stubbornly apply a leisure suit wearing 1970's strategy to every "save the" campaign he has put forth. Today, twenty plus years later, whales are still being killed, seals harvested, and sharks taken all over the world.

Meanwhile in just the past two years Watson has lost close to 4 million dollars in donor money, vessels and equipment. Canadian authorities recently sold his impounded vessel the Farley Mowat at auction and now the Ady Gil lies at the bottom of the sea. Not to mention the untold gallons of diesel and oil spilled into the pristine Antarctic, trying to save whales - yet again.

Paul Watson's continual resetting of eco goals is one indication that even he, in his most private moments, realizes his organization is failing to effect any real and lasting changes. Over the years he has been quoted as saying his goal is to "stop whaling." That soon changed to "limit the numbers of whales killed," and today Watson's new and fully open ended commitment to whales suggests that his goals are to "bankrupt the whalers." With that one statement Watson has slyly committed Sea Shepherd and its radicalized followers to another 20-30 years of ineffective media staging.

This years sinking of the Ady Gil was tantamount to a group of camera laden PETA protesters ramming a car into the side of a meat processing plant...and then blaming the plant for attempted murder.

The conservation world is becoming tarnished by a small group of increasing irrelevant media event stagers who have redefined the meaning of metric based conservation to reality entertainment.

Clearly, the public has had enough. What is needed now is leadership change from within.

Which begs the question, are there any real leaders within the Sea Shepherd ranks?

Sea Shepherd - Mastering Reality Disasters?

We would like to congratulate Sea Shepherd and Animal Planet on a fantastic staged event for television - perhaps one of the best staged disaster moments of 2010.

As production people ourselves we know the hazards and very real dangers of staging live disasters for television. It's a highly technical world only professionals can effectively operate in.

Multi-million dollar staged disasters are often canceled at the last minute due to OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) non-compliance or studio fears of death and dismemberment. Sea Shepherd on the other hand have found a way to circumvent all of the requirements for staged disaster television by only allowing volunteer crews and staging the events against non-paid, non-union, Japanese whalers.

By-passing all clean environmental requirements for television productions by producing this man made disaster in the Antarctic ocean was another master stroke. The clean up of several thousand gallons of bio diesel spilled by the Ady Gil and retrieval of the vessel from the sea floor would have cost Sea Shepherd and Whale Wars Productions millions if this disaster had been filmed in the USA.

Brilliant!

Managing to move Sea Shepherds $2 million dollar vessel Ady Gil into the path of Japanese whalers was a quirk of nautical timing by a seasoned captain who knew his vessel and the direction wind, waves, and engines were carrying it. Catching the whole thing on video from the Bob Barker at just the right angle was pure reality television.

We were doubly impressed with the witty and show branding quote from SSCS Paul Watson immediately after the stunt, "Now we're in a Real Whale War!" reminding the global audience that this is, after all, Must See TV!

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society have clearly evolved from earlier staged productions such as Paul Watsons being shot by Japanese whalers. In terms of production quality and emotional leverage that earlier staged event was not one of the top three of the 2007 reality television season.

Kudos to Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Paul Watson, and Animal Planet for once again bravely leading the way into a new decade of reality television firsts. The televised disaster staging they have created together keeps getting better and better, and their complete and ongoing circumvention of all production norms and safety regulations allows their organization to literally shoot-for-the-moon.

We're looking forward to more man made disasters in the coming months!

More on Sea Shepherd Conservation Society here.

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.

Sea Shepherd - Throwing Rocks For Media

Sea Shepherds ongoing international disappointment continues as a recent media tirade slammed South Africa's Marine and Coastal Management (MCM) officials who are now being labeled as "bloodthirsty tyrants" and "mad-dog killers".

Their crime, according to Sea Shepherds titular head Paul Watson, was the unfortunate mass euthanasia of a pod of beached whales.

Watson, whose organization circulated the media tirade, has called MCM a "disgrace to the nation" and said MCM official Mike Meyer had carried out a "savage, merciless, cold-blooded massacre".

Wait a Minute!

This is the same Sea Shepherd who just a few months ago was embroiled in a completely faked whale saving news story that this blog uncovered and then covered again as the story unfolded to its sad conclusion.

Sea Shepherds "Vanessa Pearce" claimed on national news that Sea Shepherd crews were actually on site of a mass Sperm whale standing in Tazmania. She went as far as claiming that Sea Shepherds vessel the Steve Irwin was on site with "actual whale saving gear" but was turned away by Park Rangers leaving the animals to suffer while shadowy figures used chainsaws on recently dead animals.

The entire story turned out to be bogus, but this is Sea Shepherd a direct action eco org that revels in throwing media bombs to maximum audience exposure and little effect.

At the recent tragic stranding in South Africa nothing could be done to save these animals from of lack of resources, ocean conditions, and time. It is to be noted some 120 local volunteers heroically tried to save whales in icy and rough conditions - to no avail. South Africa's Marine and Coastal Management staff are not "bloodthirsty tyrants" and "mad-dog killers" as Paul Watson has publicly charged. They made a tough decision, in tough conditions to put long suffering animals out of misery.

That takes guts, and foresight.

Perhaps Watson and company should spend less time throwing media rocks at glass houses and actually invest in that hypothetical "whale saving gear" his staff claims on Nine-MSN Tazmania to have on board the Steve Irwin.

They could have used it in South Africa recently.

Demand more from your eco org.

Sea Shepherd to Nine News MSN - Liars!

Wagging the Conservation Dog

Did SSCS fabricate a sperm whale rescue story for Nine News - MSN?

This week we highlighted what appeared to be a bald faced media fabrication sent out to Nine News - MSN by none other than Sea Shepherd’s National Director for Research, Vanessa Pearce. A SSCS organization title she now claims was never designated to her.

See Story

A person identifying herself as Ms.Pearce has come back to this blog refuting 90% of her story in the national news and the direct quotes in it (see blog comments). According to Sea Shepherds Ms.Pearce, Nine News - MSN reporter Sean Cusick misquoted much of her conversation to him in an interview she now claims she never gave to Mr.Cusick.

We have highlighted the actual quotes our blog and Sea Shepherds Ms.Pearce now agree are complete and absolute media fabrications about a whale rescue story in the national news that never happened:

Sea Shepherd members travelled on their ship Steve Irwin to a mass beaching of more than 50 sperm whales on the Tasmania's northwest coast on January 22 — but they were told their help wasn't needed despite carrying marine scientists and expert whale-saving equipment on board.

"When we arrived there on the Steve Irwin, we found about eight guys standing around with nothing but a bucket and a hose," Ms Pearce said. "We asked if we could help and they said, 'No thanks, we're fine'." The crew members claim to have witnessed one man dismembering a dead whale with a chainsaw just metres from another that was still alive, causing the live mammal even more distress and suffering.

We spoke in person with Executive Editor Hal Crawford from Nine News - MSN this evening. Clearly something was not right. Either his reporter made 90% of a story up in the national news as Ms.Pearce alludes, or Sea Shepherds Ms.Pearce is lying through her teeth again, backtracking on a national news story so fake, so egregious, that we felt the need to call it out in the first place.

Ms.Pearce is on record saying that Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin was actually on site of a mass sperm whale stranding 1 22.2009 with "whale saving equipment" and was "turned away" by park staff. The documented fact was the Steve Irwin was almost 1500 nautical miles away at the time. The illusion to this story is that many SSCS whale staff and even a "marine scientist" were on hand to save stranded sperm whales. In fact only three actual SSCS volunteers made the trek out to the stranding site for what turned out to be a quick photo op with dead whales.

No whale saving equipment, no marine scientists, and no flagship vessel Steve Irwin.

The story we highlighted this week shows how Sea Shepherd routinely fabricates news for it's own purposes, namely eco donations, from a well meaning public who are subjected to "seriously massaged and erroneous" major media output by SSCS both in terms of news articles and reality television shows like Whale Wars.

Executive Editor Hal Crawford of Nine News - MSN had this to say today. As we suspected MSN backs their reporter 100% and has thrown Ms.Pearce and SSCS under the proverbial bus:

We absolutely stand behind the story posted to Nine - MSN as being accurate. I stand by reporter Sean Cusick as having given a fair representation of the conversation between him and Ms.Pearce. There's no question that she did speak with Sean Cusick and what she said to him in an interview was accurately represented as she told it. We will not be taking the article down anytime soon, we have no reason to.

Motive

The simplest answer to this he said/she said is the most likely. Nine News - MSN had nothing to gain by fabricating a whale story filled with whale saving gear, the Steve Irwin, and marine biologists. Additionally MSN reporter Sean Cusick has nothing to gain by adding deep story fabrications such as SSCS organizational titles for Ms.Pearce calling her Sea Shepherd’s National Director for Research.

On the flip side for an eco org that constantly seeks donor money, and who have willfully fabricated many eco storylines from elements of Whale Wars to an attempted assassination claim and video last season, this national news piece is in line with their ongoing disinformation campaign. Wagging the Conservation Dog.

Your Money

Your money is important to the ongoing and unfortunately, global efforts, to roll back environmental disasters and unsustainable fisheries. Hundreds of NGO's are literally begging for donations to get serious and lasting work done. As we discovered first hand, donations to SSCS only Wag the Conservation Dog and do little to help move agendas forward or work with disparate groups for long term solutions.

SSCS has had 31 years to effect change. Fabricated eco news is the best they now have to offer the global eco movement in an attempt to capture your hard earned dollars.

If you want your donations to work, ensure whoever you donate to is transparent and can show metrics for success not just massaged eco news clips that cash in on the horror's of dead whales, seals, and sharks to fund more of the same.

Demand more from your eco org.

Sea Shepherd - Your Money, Farley Mowat

We have been active critics of Sea Shepherd for the past year. What prompted our sudden reversal from donors and supporters to critics, was the realization that Sea Shepherd was wasting our money by Wagging the Conservation Dog.

When you support an eco org you expect results. Your money stands in your stead to effect change, and Sea Shepherd skillfully plays the "results card" when courting donors. From self generated arrest warrants for the entire Japanese whaling fleet, to quotes on websites and in public interviews, Sea Shepherd claims they will protect and save wildlife.

SSCS are well practiced at the trigger wording for well meaning eco donors.

The ugly fact is for the past 31 years Sea Shepherd has failed to stop whaling, the Canadian seal hunt, and shark kills. While other eco orgs have moved wildlife agendas forward and gained legitimacy with world opinion, Sea Shepherd has all but painted itself into a radical corner with fewer governments supporting them and fewer ports to call on.

Sea Shepherds trail of titanic financial missteps and its headlong rush to irrelevance is the direct result of insular 1970's eco thinking, poor judgment, and poor use of new media where the public backlash is immediate and unforgiving.

Case in point Sea Shepherds other "eco enforcement vessel" the Farley Mowat. You do not hear about this multi million dollar debacle because Sea Shepherd has all but abandoned this vessel in Canada, after once again being absolutely ineffective with the ongoing Canadian seal hunt.

The financial loss of this vessel to Sea Shepherds donors is staggering. Currently the Canadian government is demanding well over 3 million dollars in fines from Sea Shepherd and this week put the entire vessel up for auction. Two crew members will be back in Canadian courts in April running up untold and unmentioned legal bills.

These are your dollars being wasted for an unchanging 1970's eco policy and an agenda that went nowhere once more in 2008. Seals are being killed again this season.

As we started to look into Sea Shepherd one other revelation came forth. Sea Shepherd is good at one thing, media and grabbing attention. This is what initially attracted us and many others. Unfortunately the blow back for Wagging the Conservation Dog is literally sucking all the air out of the room.

Legitimate eco orgs are finding it increasingly difficult to get equal media time and financial donations on pressing issues like whaling, sharks and seals. Your financial contribution to Sea Shepherd not only fails to effect change - but damages the global eco movement as well.

Great discussion on this topic 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.

Whale Wars Season Two - Cut, Print

As Sea Shepherd departs from the Southern ocean, once again, claiming to have saved whales from evil whalers let's take a look at their anti whaling efforts in perspective.

This week titular head of organization Paul Watson rammed his vessel into whalers with Animal Planet film crews capturing every moment for season two of Whale Wars. Classic Wagging the Conservation Dog moment with just days to go for Sea Shepherds departure from the area.

The conflict of interest with their reality television relationship goes beyond mentioning, suffice to say it begs the question "what is real and what is staged?"

After this weeks boat ramming spree Watson then claimed "the situation down here is getting very, very chaotic and very aggressive". This statement is tantamount to anti meat protesters ramming their cars into the side of beef processing factories and claiming the same. Add to that a waiting reality television film crew and you begin to see not only the uselessness of actions like these but the abject media fueled cannibalism of the entire event.

What you are looking at is staged eco theater with a side of dead whale at a cost of millions of well meaning dollars from people who really want to see and end to whaling. Like us.

To put this into perspective, this year Watson and company will claim to have saved perhaps 60 whales, that claim, like so many others from Sea Shepherd, will be seriously contested. Meanwhile Watson and company dangerously and egregiously risked a fuel oil breach from either his own vessel or those he rammed in the Southern ocean this year.

In the time it took Sea Shepherd to elicit funds, build a campaign, invite a reality television crew aboard and pump out a mass of seriously massaged media sound bites-whales died worldwide:

48 Sperm Whales Stranding

2 Right Whales Stranding

65 Pilot Whales Stranding

10 Sperm and Pilot Wales Stranding

150 Pilot Whales Stranding

At what cost per whale will donors continue to subsidize and support ineffective media theatre brought to you by Sea Shepherd and company. For us the equation is simple:

Has whaling stopped? No.

Will season two of Whale Wars have moments of high drama with vessels being rammed? Yes.

Is this quality eco work? The answer to that question can be answered with the contents of your wallet or your check book. Place you bets where they will be most effective. For our money Sea Shepherd is out of touch, out of game, and out of time.

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.

Shark protestor hangs own skin on hooks-Tasteless

And THIS will save sharks?

No-it will not.

As the months grind on for the seemingly rudderless Sea Shepherd organization they continue to resort to more frantic, ill timed, ill advised "stunts" to raise awareness and ultimately collect money from donors.

The litany of outright fabricated news and bad eco theatre goes back a few years but the desperation in this latest stunt set in London is sadly almost palatable. This is an organization whose messaging has become more important than affecting actual change.

Darwin was right and Sea Shepherd is proving, in a most spectacular manner, that evolution is a fickle mistress. What you are seeing here is the death throes of an Eco Dinosaur who's time on this planet is coming to an inglorious end. Like the reign of the dinosaurs Sea Shepherds demise will be slow and sad to watch, but the first coughs, staggers and sputters are here.

Suffice to say the final days will not be pretty.

Story here