Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

www.seashepherd.org

Founded in 1977

Mission: to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species.

Known for obstructing Japanese whaling activities in the Southern Ocean since 2005, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a Washington-based mar ine conservation organization with direct action tactics to save the oceans. Founded by Captain Paul Watson, a former member of Greenpeace, under the name Earth Force Society in Canada, the organization is involved in a number of “controversial activities” to protect the ocean and marine life. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society carries out operations that involve direct, non-lethal tactics including scuttling and disabling whaling vessels, intervening in seal hunts and throwing bottles of foul-smelling butyric acid onto whaling vessels at sea, among others. Somebody even consider them so-called “eco-terrorists”.

Today the movement has independent entities in over 20 countries working together on direct-action campaigns around the world. With the largest private navy on the planet, they collaborate with governments who share their ships and use their authority to intervene and enforce the law.