Since our founding over 40 years ago, to today and into the future, the position of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society remains unequivocal and unchanged;
We are opposed to the killing of any whale, by any one, anywhere, for any reason, without exception.
Whether it is the Japanese Taiji dolphin hunt, Faroe Island annual mass killings of pilot whales or the commercial hunts in Japan, Norway and Iceland, or anywhere in the world, we are committed to ending these unnecessary and cruel practices. That is why we are seeking observer status at the International Whaling Commission, to bring our science into the policy arena and advocate for an end to loopholes in the Convention that allows for the continued hunting of whales and dolphins.
Despite our on-the-water campaigns in the Southern Ocean ending Japanese whaling in Antarctic waters, 6 out of the 13 great whales are still listed as endangered or vulnerable under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List. This is why Sea Shepherd protects the calving and mating grounds of humpback whales in the Revillagigedo Archipelago and beaked whales off Guadalupe Island. This is why Sea Shepherd sends ships to protect the feeding grounds of humpback, fin and blue whales from industrial trawlers plundering krill in Antarctica, and in 2025 we will be working to have huge swaths of the area protected by law. This is why Sea Shepherd is leading an international coalition to stop the senseless slaughter of pilot whales in the Faroe Islands.
As with all ocean issues, our own survival is directly impacted by the health and sustainability of the world’s whale population. Perched atop the ocean’s food chain, whales maintain the crucial balance of our planet’s ecosystem, with each whale sequestering an estimated 33 tons of carbon dioxide. Their waste provides a nutrient-rich source of sustenance for phytoplankton and krill, two of the foundational building blocks of life on earth. Competing threats beyond hunts include whales being caught in nets and drowned particularly as a result of massive illegal, unregulated or unregistered fishing fleets devastating the world’s ocean, and the rapid loss of food sources for them due to overfishing.
Sea Shepherd’s roots have always been in whale conservation. Our dearly departed Board Member Dr Roger Payne was part of a pioneering generation that brought the world’s attention to the oceans, and he used the song of the whales to do it. It was the “exuberant, uninterrupted rivers of sound” from whales that he harnessed so a generation could learn the language of conservation and realize our shared obligations to the sea, and to them.
The world’s cetaceans are under greater and greater threat. Now is the time for more determination and more action on behalf of the largest mammals in the world.
