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Mission
Founded in 1977, Sea Shepherd is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to stop the destruction of habitat and the slaughter of wildlife in the world's oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species.
Sea Shepherd uses direct action tactics to investigate, document and take action when necessary to expose and prevent illegal activities on the high seas.
By safeguarding the delicate biodiversity of ocean ecosystems, Sea Shepherd works to ensure their survival for future generations.
Captain Paul Watson, the association's founder and current president, is a well-known and respected leader in environmental issues.
Sea Shepherd investigates and documents when laws to protect the world's oceans and marine wildlife are not enforced. We use innovative, hands-on action to document and address illegal activity in high seas marine sanctuaries and sovereign waters through cooperative agreements with law enforcement.
Direct action in the open sea
Despite our relatively small size and limited resources, Sea Shepherd’s campaigns have been effective because we use direct action to get results, rather than billboards, petitions or protest marches. Our ships, crewed mostly by passionate volunteers, have rescued over 6,000 whales from Japanese harpoon ships in treacherous Antarctic waters. We have stood firm to stop the hunters, recover miles of illegal fishing gear and relentlessly pursued one of the world’s most notorious poaching ships for 110 days until they destroyed their own defeated ship.
We work with law enforcement
Some of Sea Shepherd's most successful campaigns have been conducted in partnership with international law enforcement agencies such as INTERPOL. We also regularly assist nations that lack the resources to defend their coastal waters from illegal fishing, such as Liberia and Gabon in West Africa. We protect marine sanctuaries from poachers, such as the Galapagos.
It takes a Pirate…
Captain Paul Watson famously said, “It takes a pirate to stop a pirate,” a cry of encouragement to many Sea Shepherd supporters. It is true that we have rammed and sunk several ships in our history to stop their illegal activities, but our mission to defend, conserve and protect our oceans and marine life has never resulted in a single injury. We do not break laws, we defend them. We do not oppose nationalities, we oppose actions that harm the oceans, regardless of race, nationality, age, gender or religion.
“We are pirates of compassion who hunt and destroy the pirates of profit.” Captain Paul Watson
Ground and national campaigns
Sea Shepherd Global coordinates some of the most famous campaigns on the high seas. However, we remain a movement with many other national campaigns conducted locally by Sea Shepherd teams in Australia, New Zealand, France, the UK, Belgium, Finland and Italy. Around the world, our volunteers participate in land-based campaigns to clean up marine debris on beaches, protect coastal nesting habitats and educate the public about Sea Shepherd's mission.
Basic Resources, Global Impact
Unlike many other well-known international conservation groups, Sea Shepherd is a movement run by passionate and dedicated volunteers, not a bureaucratic organization. In fact, Sea Shepherd has only a handful of paid staff and our CEO – who started out as a volunteer cook on one of our ships – who is still answering his email. That’s why we’re able to have a global impact on marine conservation with a fraction of the budget of other groups. Our loyal supporters know that we put all our resources – time and money – into our direct action campaigns. Television may have made Sea Shepherd a household name, but we still walk the talk.
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