Sea Shepherd campaigns are grounded in international conservation law. These are the principles, treaties and legal sources that guide our work.
Our principles
- Sea Shepherd campaigns are guided by the United Nations World Charter for Nature. Sections 21 to 24 of the Charter provide authority to individuals to act on behalf of and enforce international conservation laws.
- Sea Shepherd cooperates fully with all international law enforcement agencies, and its enforcement activities comply with standard practices of law and policing.
- Sea Shepherd adheres to non-violent principles in the course of all actions and has taken a stand against violence in the protection of the oceans.
- Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is dedicated to working towards cooperative agreements between nations to protect species and habitats.
Treaties and charters
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society respects and acts in accordance with the following international treaties, declarations, conventions and charters:
- The World Charter for Nature, U.N. Res. A/37/7 (1982)
- The International Whaling Commission (IWC)
- Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), March 3, 1973, Washington, D.C.
- United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, December 10, 1982, Montego Bay
- Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR)
- Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Convention (NAFO)
- International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT)
- Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, June 5 to 16, 1972, Stockholm, Sweden
- ASEAN Agreement on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, July 9, 1985, Kuala Lumpur
- Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species
Whaling law
Eco-terrorism and piracy on the high seas: Japanese whaling and the rights of private groups to enforce international conservation law in neutral waters
2009, Joseph Elliott Roeschke, The Villanova Environmental Law Journal, Volume XX, Issue 1, pages 99 to 136.
This Comment examines the various sources of international law on whaling, which attempt to wrestle with the convoluted area of international environmental conservation law on the high seas. Specifically, this Comment analyzes whether, and to what extent, private groups like Sea Shepherd have legal authority to protect endangered whales in neutral waters outside the jurisdiction of any nation. Section II explains the history of whaling, including a synopsis of whaling in Japanese culture and a history of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Section III outlines the relevant areas of international law that regulate whaling and environmental activism, which take place in the neutral coastal waters off of Antarctica. Section IV details the Japanese exploitation of the scientific research exception and provides a critical analysis of how the relevant regulations apply to individuals and private groups who enforce international conservation laws. Finally, Section V focuses on the effect Sea Shepherd has had on the Japanese scientific whaling program and suggests that Sea Shepherd should be allowed to continue enforcing international conservation law, but through less controversial means . . .
The IWC Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary
The IWC established the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in 1994. In Resolution 2007-1, the Commission instructed Japan to stop killing whales within the sanctuary:
- RECALLING that the Commission has repeatedly requested Contracting Parties to refrain from issuing special permits for research involving the killing of whales within the Southern Ocean Sanctuary, has expressed deep concern at continuing lethal research within the Southern Ocean Sanctuary, and has also recommended that scientific research involving the killing of cetaceans should only be permitted where critically important research needs are addressed;
- CONVINCED that the aims of JARPA II do not address critically important research needs;
- FURTHER CALLS UPON the Government of Japan to suspend indefinitely the lethal aspects of JARPA II conducted within the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
