Date: April 12, 2008
Reply-To: Paul Watson Sea Shepherd
Seal
Defenders Attacked!
The
Farley Mowat Has Been Illegally Stormed and the Sea
Shepherd Crew Assaulted
April
12, 2008
At
0700 Hours (PST) and 0800 Hours Atlantic time the Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society vessel Farley Mowat was attacked by officers
from two Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers the Des
Groseilliers and
the Sir
Wifred Grenfell.
Captain
Alex Cornelissen informed the boarders that the Farley
Mowat is a
Dutch registered ship in international waters and that Canada had
no legal right to restrict the free passage of the vessel through
international waters.
The
ship was in the Gulf of St. Lawrence well beyond the Canadian
twelve mile territorial limit.
Captain
Paul Watson speaking by phone with Farley
Mowat communications
officer Shannon Mann and he heard the voices of men screaming for
the crew to fall to the floor. The men carried guns according to
Mann and could be heard by Captain Watson threatening
the Farley
Mowat’s crew.
As
Captain Watson was speaking with Shannon Mann, the Sat-phone went
dead and nothing more has been heard from the Sea Shepherd
crew.
The
Farley
Mowat was
documenting violations of the humane regulations and gathering
proof that the seals were being killed in an inhumane
manner.
The
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is assuming that the video tapes
will be seized by the Canadian authorities.
There
are 17 crewmembers onboard the Dutch registered Farley
Mowat from
the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, South Africa,
Canada and the United States.
The
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been cut off from
communication with the crew and has no information on where the
vessel will be taken. We have no information on the condition of
the crew and the Society is deeply concerned that Sea Shepherd
crew.
“This
is an act of war!” Said Captain Paul Watson. “The Canadian
government has just sent an armed boarding party onto a Dutch
registered yacht in international waters and has seized the ship.
Considering that the mission of the Farley Mowat was to document
evidence of cruelty by sealers to support a European initiative to
ban seal products, I can predict that the Europeans will not be
very pleased with this move and most likely this move by Loyola
Hearn will guarantee that this bill is passed. In other words the
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has just handed us the victory
that we were looking for.”
Captain
Paul Watson
Founder
and President of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
(1977-
Co-Founder
- The Greenpeace Foundation (1972)
Co-Founder
- Greenpeace International (1979)
Director
for Greenpeace (1972-1977)
Director
of the Sierra Club USA (2003-2006)
Director
of the Farley Mowat Institute
Working
Partner with the Ecuadorian National Environmental Police and the
Galapagos National Park
Master
of the M/Y Robert Hunter
Master
of the M/Y Steve Irwin
Master
of the M/Y Farley Mowat
"Sail
forth - steer for the deep waters only,
Reckless
O soul, exploring, I with thee and thou with me,
For
we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to
go,
And
we risk the ship, ourselves and all"
- Walt Whitman
www.Seashepherd.org
Tel:
360-370-5650
Fax:
360-370-5651
Cell:
310-701-3096
Address:
P.O. Box 2616
Friday
Harbor, Wa 98250
USA
MySpace
Address: myspace.com/captainpaulwatson