SEATTLE — Some big Hollywood names are behind a push to free a captured orca whale and return it to Puget Sound.
Protesters have hounded the Miami Seaquarium for years, urging it to free its star, Lolita. The orca was just seven years old when she was captured in 1970 in the waters off of Whidbey Island, and has been performing daily shows ever since.
But now actor Raul Julia-Levy is getting Hollywood involved. He is the son of the late Raul Julia who starred in “Addams Family” films. Also involved in the effort are Ron Howard, Johnny Depp and Harrison Ford.
“I believe we’re going to get her back,” said Julia-Levy.
The Hollywood figures are asking producers and directors to boycott film shoots in Florida.
“I believe Hollywood represents three (hundred) to 400 million dollars in films. We have CSI Miami that brings a lot of money into the state,” he said.
But the Miami Seaquarium says Lolita couldn’t survive in the wild.
“She has entertained and educated millions of children. We think letting her go would be an irresponsible act on our behalf,” said Robert Rose of the Seaquarium.
Aquarium officials point to Keiko, the killer whale who was freed after he starred in “Free Willy.” He died before learning to live on his own.
But activists say Lolita is different. She was captured after she learned to fish and could be reunited with her family, the “L” pod in Puget Sound.
Orcas do not belong in tanks. They were created and belong in the sea.
Lolita is a member of L pod and her home is Puget Sound. Orcas stay with their families for life. There are only two ways they are separated from their families: death and capture.
Orcas swim 80-100 miles per day. They cannot do that in a tank. There is a comprehensive plan put together by The Center for Whale Research. They will bring her home and let her live out her life in her native waters.
Note: Since this interview was done, the numbers of orcas in the southern residents pods has changed. According to The Center for Whale Research, the number now stands at 85. Lolita needs to come home.
Hollywood producer Raul Julia-Levy’s current project involves an impressive cast ranging from Johnny Depp, Lindsay Lohan, and Harrison Ford to Elton John, 50 Cent, and Plácido Domingo. He’s attracted high-powered producers including Cameron Crowe, Ed Elbert, and Ron Howard. It’s a veritable A-list role call, and he’s still recruiting.
But the brightest star in Julia-Levy’s lineup — and no doubt the biggest, at 7,000 pounds — is Lolita, a 40-year-old killer whale living in a 20-foot-deep tank at the Miami Seaquarium.
Taken from her family while still a juvenile, Lolita has been performing for sunburnt tourists twice a day over the last 37 years. The tank she lives in is just four times her size at its widest; she’d have to circle it more than 600 times to travel the same distance her still-wild family members might in an average day. Her only companion — another killer whale from her pod, or family group — died 20-some years ago after repeatedly bashing his own head against the enclosure walls. In her native Pacific Northwest waters, whales like Lolita have lifespans similar to humans; in a tank, that life expectancy is cut in half.
Raul Julia-Levy
Courtesy Raul Julia-Levy
“The conditions that she lives in are barbaric,” Julia-Levy shouts to me over the phone, unable to contain his anger. He decided to get involved in the campaign to free Lolita last year, when he learned that it was in need of star power. But as spokesperson for the glittery troops he’s amassed, Julia-Levy — the son of Addams Family actor Raul Julia — emphasizes that he and the other Lolita-loving producers and celebrities are involved as regular citizens, not activists.
“We are people who have consciences,” he says, “and everyone in this campaign from Hollywood has a mind of their own, and we believe that what we’re doing is the right thing simply because animals should live in their normal habitat.”
Their fight is not a new one. In fact, activists have been trying for years to convince the Seaquarium to retire Lolita — at times, offering up to $1 million for her release. She made national television in 1995 when Dateline NBC played a recording of her pod’s vocalizations and viewers watched the whale cozy up to the speaker and listen. In 2003, a documentary about Lolita, Slave to Entertainment, hit film festivals across the country, garnering more attention for the cause. But only in the last few months has the campaign begun to gain momentum again, making news as more and more big names join up.
Julia-Levy’s passion for this campaign was evident just a few moments into our conversation — and his fervor shows no signs of waning. When asked what’s next, he hinted at a plan “involving a ‘big stick,’” but said he couldn’t elaborate just yet. No doubt when he does, he’ll have plenty of star power behind him.
How did you first hear about Lolita and get involved in the campaign?
I knew about Lolita for a long time, but it was probably about a year ago when I really got involved with the campaign. I was actually a little depressed because my little dog had just died — he was 9 years old. It was a very tough time for me, and I was looking at pictures of my dog on the internet and then I came across … [a video] of Lolita and the conditions of where she lives. And I got even more depressed.
Then I did a little bit of research on the situation and I contacted the Keiko Foundation, which is [under the umbrella of] the Earth Island Institute. They’re the ones that have the vast experience relocating animals to their natural habitat — like Keiko [the star of Free Willy] and Springer.
Who all is on board so far?
The latest one to join the campaign is Elton John. We have some of the most powerful producers on board: Jonathan Sanger, Ed Elbert, Richard Donner (who was behind the Keiko campaign and was extremely instrumental in the release of Keiko), David Permut, Steve Longi. We have a wide range of celebrities, too, including Johnny Depp, 50 Cent, [Hayden Panettiere, Lindsay Lohan, Plácido Domingo, Janet Jackson, Ringo Starr], Harrison Ford … the list is pretty extensive.
We really just want to send the right message. We want people to educate themselves and to learn and know that it is not possible for an animal of that magnitude, that large, that in her normal habitat is used to traveling long distances — at least 80 to 150 miles a day — to be confined in a small, little tank, day after day, night after night for the past 30-something years. That’s not normal. That animal needs to go back to her normal habitat.
What does it say about our culture that it wasn’t until these famous faces got attached to the campaign that people started to pay attention?
Unfortunately, in our society nobody listens to your next-door neighbor when he raises his voice. … When celebrities speak loud and stand up, it seems like everybody listens, it seems like everybody takes it more seriously, and I don’t understand why normal people do not do the same thing … This is work that we all have to do as citizens. We all have to raise our voices when something is not right. Why do we have to wait for celebrities to raise their voices first?
Is it the responsibility of celebrities then — because they are influencing the public this way — to research these organizations and get involved?
I think it’s everybody’s issue … every citizen in this country has the same responsibility as any celebrity in Hollywood. Everybody should be responsible for taking care of our environment, our water, our animals. This responsibility belongs to everyone.
The bed we’re gonna be sleeping in tomorrow, we’re making it today.
What do you say to the argument that Lolita shouldn’t be moved?
Lolita in nets during her capture.
Courtesy Raul Julia-Levy
Those who oppose this are extremely arrogant. Who are they to say that animals cannot be relocated? If you put a person in a cage for 30 years and you ask him to choose — “Do you want to get out of that cage or do you want to stay there?” — what do you think he’s going to say? He’s gonna say he wants to get out of that cage. Unfortunately, animals cannot speak. That’s why we need to speak for those animals who cannot speak for themselves.
For those who say, “Oh, the animal is happy here because we love him,” it’s completely erroneous. Animals need to be loved by humans — but in their normal habitat. Meaning: Respected. We need to respect their habitat; we need to respect their privacy; and we need to respect their freedom.
I don’t want to love animals in captivity; I want to let them go. And this animal surely deserves to go back to her family, to her normal habitat. This animal has paid the highest price of her life: Being confined to a cage for 37 years. I can tell you 100 percent that animal cannot wait for the day to come that she’s going to be free.
Speaking of raising voices — tell me about the benefit concert. Is that still in the works?
It’s part of our plans to put on a benefit concert — absolutely. We want to do it in Miami, a couple of blocks from the Seaquarium. We’re planning a series of events.
But right now, our team is in the process of negotiations with the Seaquarium. We will try every single diplomatic road to resolve this situation properly for both parties. This has to be a winning situation for both parties.
I think [Seaquarium owner Arthur] Hertz should really think about this because he’s got a whale that’s not going to live more than five years in that tank. And he can come out of this one looking like a hero. It’s up to him. But like I said, our team is putting together a diplomatic plan to negotiate the situation, make both parties win, and do the right thing.
So that’s the first step … and if that doesn’t work?
It’s been nearly four decades since Lolita the killer whale was snatched from her family in the waters of Puget Sound. Now activists want to bring her home.
Miami Seaquarium (left); Dr. Terry Newby (upper left); Sean Jacob
Enduring Symbol: Activists are fighting to retire Lolita from her tank in the Miami Seaquarium (left, bottom right) to her native waters in Washington’s Puget Sound. Lolita was captured in 1970–when whale roundups (top right) were more common.
For more than a decade, Howard Garrett has worked tirelessly out of his home on Whidbey Island, Wash., to return an orca whale named Lolita to her native waters. In 1995–inspired by the campaign to release Keiko, the “Free Willy” whale–he teamed with local politicians, offering the Florida aquarium where Lolita works a million dollars to reunite her with the pod of whales she grew up with, off the coast of Washington state. In 1997, he spent two years in Miami–unpaid–working to garner public attention for Lolita’s cause; after nearly four decades in captivity, she’s served her time, Garrett believes. Every year since then, his organization, the nonprofit advocacy group Orca Network, has held a beachside commemoration of the day Lolita was plucked from her family in the icy waters of Puget Sound.
But 12 years is a long time for anyone to stay committed–even in the Pacific Northwest, where the orca is treated as an icon. “There have been times I’ve wanted to give up,” Garrett says. “Everyone keeps telling us it’s hopeless, and even when there’s a surge of enthusiasm, eventually it dwindles.”
In late November, however, Garrett got a call that, in spite of his usual doubts, stirred the fight inside him. Raul Julia-Levy, the Hollywood producer and son of actor Raul Julia, wanted to sign on to help free Lolita, and with him, promised to bring every last Hollywood contact he could persuade. He immediately put Garrett on the phone with the wife of Jean Claude Van Damme, and within days, had a list that included Johnny Depp, Harrison Ford and even 50 Cent. Now Levy says he’s got a benefit concert in the works that will include R&B singer Truth Hurts, Snoop Dogg and 50 (who did not return NEWSWEEK requests for comment, though Levy says “the man loves animals like you have no idea”). Nearly a dozen local politicians have signed on, as well. “We have some of the most powerful Hollywood producers behind this campaign, and I have spoken with some of the most prominent scientists in this field,” Levy says. “This beautiful animal does not deserve to die in a stinky little tank, and we are not going to take less than a full victory.”
The problem, of course, is that not everyone feels the way Levy and his Hollywood buddies do. The debate over Lolita has at times divided the Puget Sound community, and many scientists have been hesitant to endorse Garrett’s cause. The Miami Seaquarium, where Lolita has lived for the past 37 years, has long been unwilling to consider the idea of releasing her and is calling the latest campaign a “publicity grab” by uninformed activists. The park’s general manager, Andrew Hertz (the son of the park’s owner, Arthur Hertz), contends that Lolita is healthy and happy–performing two shows a day–and quips that “you can’t make a 7,000 pound animal do what she doesn’t want to do.”
Hertz says Lolita receives daily checkups, and that–despite criticism of her living conditions in the past–she receives the “best care of any orca in the world.” He points to a 2004 inspection report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that says Lolita “appears to be healthy and well-adjusted to her environment” despite a pool that “appears small.” (The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service states that the primary enclosure for a killer whale must have a minimum horizontal dimension of no less than 48 feet in either direction. Lolita’s tank is about 35 feet on either side of its sizable middle island–which means it meets the specifications when the total space is tallied.) “Lolita is home,” says Hertz. “This is where she lives, where she’s with people who care for her and love her, and wouldn’t ever do anything to hurt her.”
That may be the case, but the story of her capture is an easy tear-jerker. On Aug. 8, 1970, at the age of about three, Lolita (then called Tokitae) and her extended family of more than 100 orcas–her pod–were gathered in Puget Sound when capture boats and aircraft began hurling explosives into the water to herd them into a small cove. The orcas had been through this before, and split into two groups: the females and their young stayed underwater and tried to escape to the north, while the rest acted as decoys and headed east. At first the distraction worked–until the first group had to come up for air. While the rest of her family watched, Lolita and six other babies were lifted onto rubber mats on flatbed trucks; they were sold to marine parks and aquariums across the country.
Whale capture was big business in the 1960s and early 1970s, especially in the Pacific Northwest. According to the National Marine Fisheries Services, about 50 orcas are known to have been killed or captured in that region between 1965 and 1973. The last whale capture in Puget Sound took place in 1976. Ralph Munro, an assistant to the governor of Washington, happened to be sailing in the region at the time. He alerted his boss, Gov. Dan Evans, who sued Sea World–the amusement park owned by Anheuser-Busch–whose contractors had used planes and small explosives to herd orcas into their nets. All of the whales from that capture were eventually released, and a Seattle district court ruled that the use of those planes and explosives had violated the company’s permit to collect the whales. While capturing orcas is still not illegal in Washington, doing so requires a permit–a political nonstarter in the whale-crazy state.
When she first arrived in Miami, Lolita had company. She was placed with a young male named Hugo, who, Garrett says, had been taken from Lolita’s family 18 months earlier. For 10 years, the two orcas performed together as the Seaquarium’s star attraction. But as Hugo matured, critics say he became too big for his tank, and he repeatedly bashed his head against the walls and windows, says Michael Royce, a former Seaquariam show master who worked with both whales. Hugo died of a brain aneurism in 1980.
Today, Lolita is the only known survivor of that captured group, and her family–all members of the Southern Resident Orca Community, found in Puget Sound–have been added to the list of endangered species. At about age 40, the 20-foot, 7,000-pound female spends her days in a tank that’s 80 feet across at its widest point and 20 feet deep. The whale would have to swim back and forth across her pool more than 6,000 times to keep up with her fellow orcas in the wild–who swim more than 100 miles on some days and can dive as deep as 500 feet. Many experts are quick to call those accommodations “cruel,” as Bob Wood, president of the Seattle-based Global Research and Rescue, puts it–and Royce actually testified to the USDA about the small size of the tank back in 1978. (The tank has not changed since then.) At the same time, both admit that turning Lolita loose has the potential to end up as hazardous as it could be liberating. “While some activists have romantic visions of [Lolita] romping happily in the ocean enjoying her new-found freedom, I see [her] experiencing total shock as she is dropped into the hostile world of nature,” says Royce. “My hope is that she can be transferred to a much larger tank.”
Orcas are highly intelligent and intensely social creatures, traveling and hunting in family units known as pods that never break up. Years of study have shown that family cohesion is the cornerstone of orca communities around the world: children stay with their mothers their entire lives. Each orca community also has its own diet, rituals, mating patters and language. (In 1995, “Dateline NBC” put that language to the test: Lolita made national television when they played a recording of her family to her. “She literally leaned over so her ear was as close as she could get it,” says Garrett.)
But after 37 years in a controlled environment, there are major obstacles to readapting to that life in the ocean. To begin with, Lolita must be free of viruses, bacteria and parasites that could transfer to other animals before a move is even considered. If she is, there’s the question of whether her body can handle the pollution of the Puget Sound region–a known PCB hotspot–after years in a tank. Scientists must then ensure she has the strength to hunt for food (she’s seen nothing but filleted fish for years)–and that, once reunited with her family, she could keep up with them.
In addition, there’s the stress of a coast-to-coast transport, the necessary approval from various government agencies, and making sure that, after nearly four decades in captivity, she won’t go up to boats hoping someone will feed her. Lolita has already outlived the normal orca lifespan in captivity, which is estimated at about 30 years for females and less for males. But in the wild, females have life spans and reproductive periods similar to that of humans. “As a vet, my guiding light is to do what’s best for the animal,” says Dr. Peter Schroeder, an orca expert who has helped develop marine-mammal programs for the Navy, and at one point had 66 dolphins under his care. “The possibility of her dying in the next 10 years, of old age, are pretty high. The stress of a transport may kill her.”
A common criticism of the fight to free Lolita is tragic story of Keiko, the orca who was released from captivity amid the “Free Willy” craze of the 1990s. Keiko starred in that movie, after years in a rundown Mexico City aquarium where he suffered ill health. But unlike the fictional character he played, Keiko didn’t have the same fairy-tale ending: five years after being released in Iceland, he died, alone, after settling in a Norwegian fjord.
The difference with Lolita, advocates say, is the family factor–crucial, say experts, to any whale’s release. There haven’t been many to study. But looking back on Keiko, many scientists believe too little was known about his family history to successfully reintegrate him with his pod. Lolita’s family, on the other hand, are some of the most studied whales in the world: a group of 43 L Pod orcas that can be found at regular intervals around the region. “The whole key to this is whether or not the animal will be accepted by its family,” says Wood of Global Research and Rescue.
For his part, Levy is aware of the obstacles, but remains confident they can be overcome. Transporting a whale across country isn’t cheap–but with Hollywood’s help, that may no longer be a problem. “Trust me, we are going to get [Lolita] out of that tank,” says Levy. “It’s inevitable.”
Earlier this week, a Japanese ship called the Nisshin Maru left port to begin hunting and killing an expected 1,000 whales. As they’ve done many years before, the Sea Shepherd Society is readying their boat — the Steve Irwin — to leave port from Australia and disrupt the Japanese efforts. It’s an annual confrontation that’s been recently documented in Animal Planet’s new television series Whale Wars.
This year, actress Daryl Hannah is joining the crew of the Sea Shepherd; headed by Captain Paul Watson. “Daryl is joining our group,” Watson was quoted as saying by Australia’s national AAP news agency. “She’ll be on board — she’s joining us at the end of the month.”
Last year, Sea Shepherd’s tactics helped halve the quota of the Japanese fleet, resulting in a $70 million dollar loss. It wasn’t easy, however, as Watson himself was shot during one of the forays. “I was wearing a bullet-proof vest, ” he told an Australian newspaper, “but the bullet hit my badge (an anti-poaching badge) so I had this bullet and I jokingly gave it to the guy who played Grissom in CSI (actor William Petersen) - he’s one of our supporters - and said ‘Hey, take a look at this because no one else will.’
Joining Hannah — and a crew of over 40 volunteers — will once more be a filming crew from Animal Planet. I guess we can look forward to season two of Whale Wars. Here’s to hoping everyone makes it back safe.
The Steve Irwin leaves port to search for the Japanese whaling fleet on December 1st.
FRIDAY HARBOR, Washington, November 8, 2008 (ENS) - The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is heading to the Southern Ocean in December for its fifth year defending whales in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary against the harpoons of the Japanese whaling fleet, Captain Paul Watson has announced.
Sea Shepherd’s flagship vessel, the Steve Irwin, is in Brisbane, Australia and is scheduled to depart for Antarctica on the first of December.
By the time the Steve Irwin departs from Brisbane, television viewers across North America will know the ship, its mission and Captain Watson from the new Animal Planet documentary series “Whale Wars” about their fight against the Japanese broadcast by the Discovery Channel.
In the first episode broadcast November 7 in the United States and November 9 in Canada, Watson’s native land, the ship and its crew travel to frozen waters at the ends of the Earth intending to frustrate the Japanese whaling fleet and meeting with some frustrations of their own.
Established in 1977, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is an international non-profit conservation organization whose mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species.
The Japanese whaling vessel Yushin Maru 2 is watched by members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in the Southern Ocean January 15, 2008. (Photo courtesy Sea Shepherd)
Sea Shepherd uses innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document, and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas.
“We intend to sink the Japanese fleet economically,” said Watson. “Our strategy is to prevent whales from being killed, to force the Japanese whalers to spend money on fuel without killing whales.”
“We have been the cause of the Japanese whaling fleet losing profits for three years in a row. We intend to make it a fourth year of red ink for the whaler’s books,” he said.
The campaign’s name Operation Musashi was chosen to reflect Sea Shepherd’s approach of aggressive, yet nonviolent, confrontation and the increasing global awareness of Japan’s ongoing illegal whaling activities. Musashi’s “Book of Five Rings” includes the approach of the Twofold Way of Pen and Sword.
“As with all Sea Shepherd campaigns, all strategies and tactics are designed to avoid any physical injury to the whalers,” Watson declared.
Watson will arrive in Australia next week to oversee the last minute preparations required for a two month journey to the Antarctic.
As Sea Shepherd’s founder and president, Watson will be speaking at several events around the country shoring up the final support needed for the campaign.
His first stop will be Steve Irwin day at Australia Zoo on November 15th. There he will join Terri Irwin, wife of the late Australian animal expert and broadcaster, in commemorating her husband’s life.
Through the last two weeks in November, Watson will be appearing in Sydney, Perth, Gold Coast, Byron Bay and in Brisbane for a big send-off benefit concert hosted by musical performers the Red Paintings on November 2 at the Arena.
“We look forward to having the camera crews from Animal Planet document our campaign once again this year,” said Captain Watson.
Captain Paul Watson (Photo courtesy Sea Shepherd)
“By watching “Whale Wars” on Animal Planet, thousands of people will be able to join us in one of the most hostile, remote and beautiful places on Earth,” Watson said. “During Operation Musashi, we will once again do everything we can to defend the magnificent whales from the deadly harpoons of the whaling fleet. We will not stand by and watch whales die. We will once again intervene with the intent to shut down the whaling fleet - for good.”
The Japanese whaling fleet is currently berthed in Shimonoseki, Japan and is due to depart shortly for the Southern Ocean on what Japan calls research whaling. Japan intends to kill more than 1,000 whales over the next four months.
Berthed with the fleet is its supply ship Oriental Bluebird, although this ship was last month de-flagged and fined by the Panamanian Registry after being found guilty of using the ship for purposes it was not licensed for - carrying whale meat rather than oil - and violating the MARPOL Convention by refueling whaling vessels in Antarctic waters.
The MARPOL Convention is a treaty designed to eliminate the deliberate, negligent or accidental release of oil and other harmful substances from ships into the marine environment.
If the Oriental Bluebird were to remain in port, the Japanese fleet would be without a supply ship to offload the thousands of tons of whale meat from the Nisshin Maru.
Watson says he anticipates that the whalers will utilize the Oriental Bluebird nonetheless under either the Japanese flag or another flag of convenience.
Reportedly, the Japanese government will be investing US$8 million to send a Japanese Coast Guard gunboat down to the Southern Oceans this year to defend its whaling activities.
“This will also be a violation of the Antarctic Treaty that prohibits armed military forces from operating in the treaty zone,” says Watson.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.
Kicking back in a comfy brown armchair and sipping from a grande soya latte at the back of a Richmond coffee shop, Steve Roest doesn’t look much like a pirate. Most people in the area simply know him as the Green Party’s parliamentary candidate for Twickenham.
The only give away as to his piratical alter-ego is a logo on the upper left hand side of his black t-shirt which features a toothy skull crossed with a trident and a shepherd’s staff.
But unlike Somalian cutthroats who are currently causing chaos in the Gulf of Aden in their search for western hostages and oil tankers, Mr Roest quarry is rather different. He is after Japan’s internationally despised whaling fleet.
This week the 42-year-old property developer will fly towards Australia to join a controversial band of eco-activists who for the past five years have played an often dangerous game of cat and mouse in the frozen waters of the Antarctic where Japan heads each summer to hunt for whales despite international condemnation.
The battle is always a David versus Goliath affair. On one side is Japan’s vast whaling fleet lead by the Nisshin Maru – an 8,000ton “research vessel” where hundreds of harpooned minke and fin whales will be butchered, packaged and frozen during the three month hunt. On the other side is the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an anti-whaling fleet comprised of just a single ship: a converted 885-ton fishing vessel called the MV Steve Irwin.
If previous years are anything to go by things will get dirty. The 32 crewmembers, which include three British citizens this year, will stop at nothing to ensure that the Japanese harpooners miss their targets. In the past activists have thrown rotten butter bombs to contaminate the decks where the whales are cut up, deployed steel cables to foul the ship propellers and have even resorted to ramming vessels using a 7-foot hydraulic steel “can opener”. The Japanese have responded with flash grenades, the odd live round and accusations that the activists of Sea Shepherd are “eco-terrorists”.
“The suggestion that we are eco-terrorists is ridiculous but I have no problem with the term pirates,” says Mr Roest. “We like to call ourselves pirates of compassion. Either that or sea cops, legally operating under the United Nations’ World Charter for Nature.”
The next three months will be a major test for anyone onboard the Steve Irwin, which was renamed in honour of the late Australian television presenter who was intending to join one of Sea Shepherd missions before he died. On 1 December the vessel will leave Brisbane harbour and motor towards the Southern Ocean to try and intercept the Japaense fleet.
“It’s a small boat and there will be a lot of us crammed together in very difficult and icy conditions,” says Mr Roest, seemingly unperturbed by the prospect of three months in the Southern Ocean where the water temperature rarely gets above -5C. “We’ll also be up against boats that are much bigger and more numerous than our own but I can’t wait to get there.”
Founded by Canadian national Paul Watson in 1977, Sea Shepherd have long been regarded as one of the more radical conservation groups working to combat ethically dubious and often illegal fishing practices in the world’s oceans. Watson was one of dozens of activists who helped found Greenpeace in the early 1970s but was later thrown out for breaking the group’s non-violent ethos during a protest against seal hunters and spent much of the past three decades adrift from the mainstream environmental movement.
But his recent operations against Japan’s whaling fleet over the past five years have earned the group renewed and increasing praise. For the past three years the Japanese whalers have been forced to return to harbour with less than half their expected catch. Although commercial whaling was halted in 1986 Japan is permitted to conduct whaling in the name of scientific research but critics say their hunt is just a front for commercial whaling.
“Since 1986 the Japanese have not released a single peer-reviewed piece of research that has come through its lethal whaling operations,” says Mr Roest. “What the Japanese are really up to is thinly disguised commercial whaling.”
This season the Japanese hope to catch 900 minke and 50 fin whales but Sea Shepherd hope to disrupt their operations so badly that they will be forced to return empty handed. This year, however, Sea Shepherd will be on their own. Greenpeace, which still has a frosty relationship with its more radical incarnation, usually sends the Esperanza, a ship that documents whaling activities but refrains from the sort of tactics employed by Watson. But this week the environmental group announced it was instead concentrating on campaigning for two Japanese activists who face jail next year for jail intercepting whale meat stolen by crew from the whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru in a trial which Amnesty International says is politically motivated.
Speaking to the Independent yesterday from the deck of the Steve Irwin, Watson was characteristically critical of the movement he once helped found.
“Obviously the more boats targeting the Japanese the better but Greenpeace have never really been that helpful to us anyway,” he said. “They’ve never shared co-ordinates of the Japanese fleet with us. With or without their help we will do everything we can to stop the whalers killing whales.”
As for Mr Roest, a qualified dive instructor who will be driving one of the fast inflatable boats used to harangue the Japanese fleet when their spotted, he believes direct action is the only way to stop this year’s whale kill.
“The more you get involved in the environmental movement the more you understand just how large the problem is,” he said. “The fact is that in thirty years no-one has been harmed on either side by Sea Shepherd. Everything you do has an element of risk, even crossing the road has its risks, but if you’re ensconced on an 8,000 ton vessel the risk is very small. But nothing compares to the risk we face of losing these beautiful sea creatures that are on the brink of extinction.”
Sea Shepherd, an anti-whaling group, says it encountered hostility entering Australia, which has allegedly been pressured by Japan to crack down on anti-whaling activists.
Paul Watson, president of the anti-whaling organization Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, says that for the first time, he has had trouble with immigration in Australia. Watson told The Age that he believed the treatment was a “passive-aggressive approach” to keep the activist organization out of Australia.
The new treatment coincides with a request from Japan at the APEC conference for Australia to tighten the reign on anti-whaling organizations. Watson, who is captain of Sea Shepherd’s anti-whaling ship, the Steve Irwin, said he was detained at the Sydney airport for questioning.
The Steve Irwin is scheduled to set sail from Brisbane at the end of November and arrive in the Antarctic in mid-December. A Sea Shepherd press release said that the organization is determined to do whatever it can on the water to cut into Japanese profits from whaling, as it believes that is the only way to discourage continued whaling.
The Japanese claim that the trips are research-based, but the research involves killing the whales. The Australian government is doing its part to investigate methods of non-lethal research the Japanese can employ when studying whales.
The Japanese whaling industry is continually confronted with opposition from environmental groups. In mid-November, Greenpeace, another environmental organization, launched a ship also intended to challenge Japanese whaling boats in the Antarctic. The Greenpeace ship successfully cut into Japanese whaling profits, pushing Japan to ask Australia to curtail the activities of the anti-whaling organizations.
In March, Sea Shepherd was able to intercept Japanese ships in Antarctica. At the time, reports predicted that the Japanese would catch about 300 fewer whales due to the activities of the Steve Irwin’s crew. Though Japan insists the trips are intended to capture whales for research, Sea Shepherd asserts that the research trips are merely a guise for a robust whaling industry.
In response to Sea Shepherd’s activities, Japan protested when Australia announced a plan to kill 400 kangaroos in order to protect grasslands, accusing the country of hypocrisy.
Only days before the cinematic release of a documentary about Luna - the killer whale that captivated the public before its death in Nootka Sound in 2006 - biologists are coming to terms with the loss of seven whales from the salmon-dependent southern resident population, including Luna’s mother and younger brother.
“It’s significant, a serious situation,” Lance Barrett-Lennard, a killer whale scientist at the Vancouver Aquarium, said in an interview Tuesday. “But I don’t think it’s the death knell. It’s a wake-up call to think about the fate of salmon stocks and the way we run our fisheries.”
A total of seven killer whales are thought to have died since last fall, reducing the population of endangered southern residents to just 83 in three pods. That’s up from 71 in 1973, but down from 100 in 1996.
Luna, an orca whale, hangs around a tug boat on the docks off Gold River.
Two of the seven were old females past their average life expectancy - K7, Lummi, estimated to be 98, and L21, Ankh, age 58.
Two others were newborn calves - L111 and J43 - thought to have a 50-per-cent chance of survival.
Most troubling for scientists is the loss of the remaining three, especially two breeding females - Luna’s mother, L67, known as Splash, age 33, and J11, Blossom, about 36.
“This is of concern,” said John Ford, a whale researcher with the federal fisheries department in Nanaimo. “Those two females were in the prime of their reproductive years. They normally have high survival.”
Luna’s younger brother, six-year-old L101, Aurora, is also thought to be dead.
Luna was an orphaned member of the southern residents who turned up in Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island and adopted boaters as his new family. After years of controversy over what should be done with Luna, the six-year-old male whale died in a collision with a tug’s propeller.
Declining runs of chinook salmon, the favourite prey of resident killer whales, are thought to be playing a role in the whales’ decline in the shared waters of the Strait of Georgia and Washington’s Puget Sound.
As the southern residents decline, they are also at increased risk from inbreeding, oil spills and contaminants such as PCBs, ship noise and collisions, and whale watchers.
Ford noted that not all the news is bad: the latest census suggests the population of threatened northern resident killer whales has increased to about 250 animals from 120 in the early 1970s.
Saving Luna is an award-winning documentary directed by Suzanne Chisholm and Michael Parfit that is scheduled to open in Vancouver Dec. 5 at the Ridge Theatre, in Victoria on Jan. 16 and Toronto on Jan. 23.
A special screening will be held this Sunday, 10 a.m., at the Park Theatre, 3440 Cambie, to conclude The Vancouver Sun Film Series, with both directors as well as Barrett-Lennard in attendance to answer audience questions.
Australian scientists are using satellite technology to track 11 whales that survived a mass stranding in the southern state of Tasmania over the weekend. The long-finned pilot whales were the only survivors of a pod of 64 found beached near the small town of Stanley. From Sydney, Phil Mercer reports.
A veterinarian from Taronga Zoo, left, prepares a syringe and sedative for the abandoned and lost baby humpback whale front, at the Pittwater in Sydney, Australia (File)
Volunteers spent the weekend tending to the stranded whales, which had beached themselves near Stanley on Tasmania’s north-west coast. Fifty-three of the large marine mammals died but rescuers did manage to save 11 others.
They were taken back into deeper water. Tracking devices the size of a matchbox were attached to the dorsal fin of five long-finned pilot whales.
The devices show the whales have been swimming freely in open seas in Bass Strait, the large body of water that separates Tasmania from the Australian mainland.
Scientist Rosemary Gales hopes the global positioning technology will last.
“That is a little bit of an unknown because we haven’t done this before. It partly depends on how often the fin, the dorsal fin is out of the water because it can only transmit out of the water and then that in turn has an effect on its battery life. But we are hoping several weeks at this point,” said Gales.
Volunteers spent hours in the cold sea water helping the whales before the survivors were transported by road to another beach and released.
The rescue was co-ordinated by national park ranger Chris Arthur, who says it was a fantastic effort by people who were eager to help.
“They gave up a weekend. People got sunburnt. People got engaged with these animals and it is new technology and it is a new experience to actually know that the effort that people have put in is successful and we will just monitor it and see where we go,” said Arthur.
Tasmania is a notorious whale trap. Eighty percent of Australia’s whale strandings happen there. Researchers are baffled as to why the whales swim ashore.
Scientists believe the latest case near the town of Stanley was simply an accident and that the whales were caught unexpectedly in shallow water and were pushed towards the shore by the tide.
Pilot whales are among the smaller whales, growing up to about five meters in length.
Early examinations of the dead animals have shown no sign of disease. Further tests will be carried out and the whales will be buried on Tuesday at the beach where they washed ashore.
How did you first hear about Lolita and get involved in the campaign?
I knew about Lolita for a long time, but it was probably about a year ago when I really got involved with the campaign. I was actually a little depressed because my little dog had just died — he was 9 years old. It was a very tough time for me, and I was looking at pictures of my dog on the internet and then I came across … [a video] of Lolita and the conditions of where she lives. And I got even more depressed.
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