Before I knew that their ships were vegan (I only recently learned this!), I used to think that Sea Shepherd were a bit daft. I lumped them in the same category as Greenpeace I guess, well meaning hippies who fell through where it really matters. For example Greenpeace are often having (meaty) barbecues as fund-raisers. Say what you will about animal welfare, and your beliefs (or lack thereof) in animal rights notwithstanding, I'm pretty sure the environmental reasons for going vegan speak for themselves.
And although I love whales (as indeed I love all animals) and I have worked with them in the past, I was pretty sure that all those well meaning activists were likely to be eating meat from other animals, making their argument against the Japanese (and Norwegians) eating whale meat rather weak, and therefore their campaign somewhat hypocritical. But all that changed when I learnt that their ships are 100% vegan, in the words of captain Paul Watson: "because it is an ecological crime to eat fish; we are vegans because we are marine conservationists and not because we are animal rights activists". Swoon! And I soon learnt that Sea Shepherd are also ideologically differentiated from Greenpeace because of their tactics of direct action, and see the latter as a commodity; people give Greenpeace their money to buy feel-good points and absolve their guilt so they don't have to make real changes to their lived. I agreed wholeheartedly with this! Now that the assumed hypocrisy was out of the way, I was free to imagine myself running away and becoming a pirate, working down in the galley preparing delicious vegan food for these heroic soldiers in the war against whaling.
Then I watched Whale Wars.
I still love everything this lovely, non-hypocritical vegan organisation stands for, but I so couldn't do it. Not just because I get sea sickness. Not just because I am what the volunteer page calls "a mattress lover". Not even because I would have a problem being prepared to put myself in danger for the cause. It is because I get the unsettling feeling that they don't really know what they are doing. That isn't strictly their fault. For some reason it seems that the very least experienced members end up in the tiny little boat hurtling bottles of rancid butter acid (is that vegan?) at the Nisshin Maru while the most experienced seafarers stay in the bridge drinking hot chocolate and rolling their eyes every time a prop fouler misses it's target. Why aren't the more experienced people, who have made this their life's work, out there? I know that the senior people tell those below them what to do and that's how it works and that's just how it is. It's not the undemocratic nature of it that bothers me, I just suspect that the campaigns would be more successful if they sent out the experienced people to do what they clearly believe they are more able to do. Obviously as a volunteer organisation they can't pick and choose their crew, but I would have the newbies making the food, scrubbing the poop deck and serving the hot chocolate, and once they have earned their stripes THEN they can lower a tiny little boat into freezing water while miles from anywhere. Is there literally ZERO time for training them just a little bit before they are thrown (quite literally) in the deep end?
There are also times however where the seniors seem a little out of their league too. For example in the first two series, Peter Brown is First Mate, a position he is clearly not equipped for. The one scene where he was struggling to steer the ship through ice, and - LOL - the episode where he is rubbishing navigation equipment as "meaningless stuff on a computer screen", they just made me shake my head. I have had bosses who were that exact combination daft and cocky and I cringed imagining having to take orders from someone like that and having them responsible for my safety and well-being on board!
It doesn't seem to me that the newer, more naive members of the crew have a problem with putting themselves in danger, as long as that danger is justified, and that the action is likely to have a high chance of success. Many of the plans seem risky and not well thought out, and the crew are no good to the cause with serious injuries, hypothermia or dead.
I applaud the work of the Sea Shepherd crew as the only ones out there defending the whales, and upholding conservation law where governments fail to do so. I support their direct action and for standing up for what they believe in. I admire the crew's bravery and passion, and Paul Watson for his ability to take both affectionate ribbing and death threats in his stride. I will be buying a Sea Shepherd hoodie and baking pirate themed cupcakes at a fundraiser sometime soon. But you won't see me on the ship any time soon, cus the world needs good, unhypocritical vegans like me. :)
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