January – March: Three Sea Shepherd ships (Steve Irwin, Bob Barker, Ady Gil) navigate to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to intervene against illegal whaling activities by the Japanese. The Shonan Maru No. 2 deliberately rams and sinks the Ady Gil. Captain Peter Bethune boards the Shonan Maru No. 2 to deliver an invoice for the loss of his sunken boat which results in his transport to a Japanese prison. For three weeks straight, not a single whale is killed while the Sea Shepherd ships follow the whaling fleet. Operation Waltzing Matilda is a success resulting in saving the lives of 528 whales and costing the Japanese tens of millions of dollar in losses.
January: The Cove, a documentary highlighting the dolphin massacre in Taiji and featuring Sea Shepherd, wins the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary.
February: Sea Shepherd receives an additional €1 Million Euros from the Dutch National Postcode Lottery to support ongoing project to protect the Galapagos Marine Reserve.
February: The crew of the Bob Barker remove buoys and confiscates illegal gill nets in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
March: SeaShepherd Outreach Coordinator Zoli Teglas organizes a sting operation, recruiting Charles Hambleton from the Academy Award winning film “The Cove”, helping organize the covert purchase of a plate of sei whale meat. The Santa Monica restaurant, The Hump, closes its doors as a result of Sea Shepherd protests and the resulting public pressure.
April: Our vessel Steve Irwin recovers a FAD (Fish Aggregating Device) 3m x 2m wrapped in a black 12 meter long fishing net 400nm southeast of the Galapagos Islands World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve.
April: Captain Watson speaks at the TED Conference in San Francisco where some of the world’s leading thinkers and doers are invited to share what they are most passionate about.
May: A generous donation from LUSH Handmade Cosmetics enables Sea Shepherd to put a full-page ad in the local newspaper el Colono and run radio station ads raising awareness to the protection of sharks in the Galapagos Islands. Guidebooks for teachers are also being made in order to educate the local schoolchildren.
May: In Puerto Ayora, Galapagos Islands, Sea Shepherd organizes the conference titled “Criminal Environmental Law as a Conservation Tool in Galapagos and the Region”, where the Attorney General of Ecuador announces the designation of the first-ever prosecutor specialized in environmental law for the province of Galapagos. The Attorney General championed the signing the “Declaration of Galapagos,” in which the judicial authorities, army, and police agreed to initiatives aimed to strengthen the application of criminal environmental law in protected areas in Galapagos.
May: Captain Watson speaks at the ABC Courage Forum in NYC along with Richard Branson and Philippe Petit.
May: Scott West, former EPA investigator who was a whistleblower during the BP oil pipeline leak in Alaska’s North Slope and now lead investigator for Sea Shepherd, speaks to the media about how the Gulf Oil Spill could have been avoided.
June: The Steve Irwin patrols the waters of Malta looking for any illegal bluefin tuna poachers and continues to patrol the surrounding areas for the next month.
June: Animal Planet airs Whale Wars Season 3 in the United States on June 4th and in Canada on June 9th.
June:Sea Shepherd Galapagos launches an educational campaign to create awareness among local children and youth on the importance of sharks in the Galapagos Marine Reserve.
June: Operation Blue Rage, Sea Shepherd’s first campaign to defend endangered Bluefin tuna, takes place in the Mediterranean.
June: Sea Shepherd frees 800 illegally caught Bluefin tuna from floating cages below Libya’s infamous line of death.
July: Operation Gulf Rescue begins in the Gulf of Mexico after the horrific BP oil spill
July: Whale Wars nominated for two Emmy Awards
July: Sea Shepherd sends an undercover operative to the Faeroe Islands to document the cruel Pilot whale slaughter known as the Grind.
September: Scott West along with his daughter Elora arrive in Taiji, Japan to stand as the first Cove Guardians and begin the first season of Operation Infinite Patience.
September: Sea Shepherd calls for the creation of a specialized judiciary on rights of nature in Galapagos
November: Sea Shepherd Challenges Pro-whaling nations to debate.
November: Sea Shepherd welcomes fast interceptor vessel, Gojira to the fleet. The Mayor of Fremantle, Brad Pettitt, christens the vessel.
December: Sea Shepherd ships depart for Operation No Compromise, the seventh Antarctic whale defense campaign.
December: Sea Shepherd Germany website launched.
December: The Bob Barker confiscates illegal poaching gear from the Southern Ocean’s Waters. Pulling up hundreds of feet of long lines.
December: Sea Shepherd intercepts the illegal Japanese whaling fleet before a single whale is killed.
