The Kitchings
Foundation

Dear Kitchings Foundation, thank you for your continued support of Sea Shepherd's work. Your partnership helps sustain a presence across several of our most critical campaigns, from the Upper Gulf of California and the remote reef systems of Alacranes in Mexico, where illegal fishing threatens endangered wildlife, to the waters of the Faroe Islands, where pilot whales and dolphins are killed in the hunts known as the grind.

In the Upper Gulf, our Operation Milagro crews maintain year-round patrols inside the Zero Tolerance Area, the core refuge of the vaquita, the most endangered marine mammal on Earth. The same illegal gillnets set for totoaba indiscriminately drown vaquita, sea lions, dolphins, and other marine life. You can see our efforts in the recap video above. This past season produced measurable results: the removal of a 1,500 meter drifting net, the longest the campaign has ever pulled, with 146 sharks and rays freed alive from the mesh, and a panga caught actively hauling a freshly deployed net inside the protected zone, escorted to port by the Navy for seizure. In June, the crew sighted a pair of vaquitas near the ship, a rare firsthand confirmation that the species is still here.

Further east, at Alacranes (Scorpion) Reef, our crews sustain a continuous patrol presence alongside Mexican authorities, protecting reef systems that serve as breeding and nursery grounds for commercially valuable fish and nesting sites for sea turtles. In February, a coordinated enforcement action detained a vessel carrying 725 kilos of illegally caught snapper, drawing a fine of up to one million pesos and detention of the boat. Additional interdictions followed, including conch poachers detained inside the national park during the closed season. You can read more about that work here.

Your support also extends to our campaign in the Faroe Islands, where pilot whales and dolphins are killed in the hunts known as the grind. These drives are not scheduled events. They can be called at any moment a pod is spotted near shore, and a single grind can kill hundreds or even thousands of animals. Sea Shepherd documents these events, maintains a presence on the ground, and drives international pressure for an end to the practice. You can learn more about that work here. Please be aware that the footage below and this campaign's imagery document the hunt directly, and some of it is graphic in nature.

In 2026, your support will continue to power vessel operations, fuel, surveillance technology, and the joint patrols required to maintain enforcement pressure across these waters. Sustained presence is what deters illegal operators, protects breeding populations, and gives endangered species like the vaquita a fighting chance at recovery.

We are deeply grateful for your support and the stability it provides across these campaigns. Because of your partnership, Sea Shepherd remains on the water, working directly with authorities to protect marine wildlife where enforcement would otherwise be limited. We look forward to building on this momentum together in the year ahead.