[IMC-UK-Features] Feature proposal: Canadian Coast Guard Storms Conservation Vessel for Documenting Seal Hunt

[wietse]

Eh up,

guidoreports wrote:

> Would it not perhaps be easier to update the feature that is already
> there? And then move it up the column a bit having combined the info from
> this and the reports of the Steve Irwin being attacked?
>   

I can see your point. However this feature and all the newswire articles 
it links to are from whats been happening at the annual seal hunt, off 
the coast of Canada. The attack on the Steve Irwin was at the Japanese 
whale hunt, off the coast of Antartica.

With both the ramming of the Farley Mowat on 30th March and the attack 
by seal hunters on the ship on 5th April and seeing all this in greater 
context with the proposed ban on seal products across the EU this 
summer, and the ongoing Canadian lobby to say the hunt has become 
'humane', I'd say it justifies a new feature.

What do others think? I was hoping to publish it before the Oaxaca 
feature goes up, so that can sit at the top for longer.

Btw, excellent reporting from over there G...

Cheers, Wietse

---------------->

>> Hiya,
>>
>> I would like to propose the following feature:
>>
>> Canadian Coast Guard Storms Conservation Vessel for Documenting Seal Hunt
>> https://docs.indymedia.org/view/Local/UkSeaShepherdSeals2008
>>
>> Cheers, Wietse
>>
>> ------------------->
>>
>> Title: Canadian Coast Guard Storms Conservation Vessel for Documenting
>> Seal Hunt
>>
>> Image: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/images/2008/04/396373.jpg
>>
>> Abstract:
>>
>> <p>
>> On 12th April the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel Farley Mowat
>> was <a href="/en/2008/04/396372.html">attacked</a> by armed officers
>> from the Canadian Coast Guard. The 1st officer and the captain of the
>> ship have been arrested and will be brought before a court in Canada <a
>> href="/en/2008/04/395746.html">charged with offences</a> related to
>> coming too close to the seal hunt. One woman allegedly sustained a head
>> injury when was roughed up and received a blow to the head by an
>> officer.</p>
>> <p>
>> The Sea Shepherd has been <a
>> href="/en/2008/03/395068.html">documenting</a> the Canadian seal hunt
>> since the middle of March. On the 30th March, the Coast Guard <a
>> href="/en/2008/03/395080.html">rammed</a> the Sea Shepherd ship twice,
>> in an attempt to keep it away from the seal hunt. On 5th April, the ship
>> was <a href="/en/2008/04/395703.html">attacked by a mob</a> of 30-40
>> angry seal hunters while anchored in the French island of St. Pierre.
>> The crew of the Farley Mowat has been documenting violations of the
>> humane regulations and gathering proof that seals are still being killed
>> in an inhumane manner. The EU Parliament will be voting on an <a
>> href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/eu-to-call-for-ban-on-canadian-seal-imports-800603.html">import
>> ban on seal products</a> later this year. The Canadian goverment has
>> been actively <a
>> href="http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=412485">lobbying</a>
>> to show that the hunt has become <em>'humane and sustainable'</em>.</p>
>> <p>
>> <strong>On the newswire:</strong> <a
>> href="/en/2008/04/396372.html">Armed Canadian Coast Guard Storms Sea
>> Shepherd Ship and Arrests Crew</a> | <a
>> href="/en/2008/04/395746.html">Canada To Charge Sea Shepherd Crew For
>> Documenting Seal Hunt</a> | <a href="/en/2008/04/395703.html">Sea
>> Shepherd Crew Attacked By Mob Of Seal Hunters</a> | <a
>> href="/en/2008/04/395481.html">Interview With Captain Onboard Sea
>> Shepherd Ship On Current Seal Hunt</a> | <a
>> href="/en/2008/03/395080.html">Canadian Coast Guard Rams Sea Shepherd
>> Ship (twice)</a> | <a href="/en/2008/03/395068.html">Sea Shepherd Moves
>> In On Canadian Seal Slaughter</a></p>
>> <p>
>> <strong>Previous features:</strong> <a
>> href="/en/2008/03/394930.html">Nottingham Activist Returns From Whale
>> Saving Mission In Antartica</a> | <a
>> href="/en/2008/03/393165.html">Injured Among Sea Shepherd Crew As
>> Japanese Military Open Fire</a> | <a
>> href="/en/2008/01/389842.html">Activists Held Hostage By Japanese
>> Whalers In Southern Ocean</a></p>
>> <p>
>> <strong>Links:</strong> <a href="http://seashepherd.org">Sea Shepherd
>> Conservation Society</a> | <a
>> href="http://www.canadiansealhunt.com/">Canadian Seal Hunt</a> | <a
>> href="http://www.harpseals.org/">Harpseals.org</a> | <a
>> href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_hunting">Wikipedia on Seal
>> Hunt</a></p>
>>
>> Article body:
>>
>> <p>
>> According to Sea Shepherd, just before the boarding, 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. It is repotrted that the Sea Shepherd ship was in the Gulf of
>> St. Lawrence at the time of the boarding, which is well beyond the
>> Canadian twelve mile territorial limit.</p>
>> <p>
>> According to Canada's Federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn, the
>> <em>"safety and security"</em> of the sealers is the government's main
>> focus and the seizing of the Sea Shepherd vessel will ensure a <em>"safe
>> and orderly"</em> seal hunt. Last week, the same Mr. Hearn announced
>> that Canada would lay charges against the captain and first officer of
>> the anti-sealing vessel for coming too close to the seal hunt.</p>
>> <p>
>> According to Captain Paul Watson, (president of the Sea Shepherd) he was
>> on the phone with the Farley Mowat when he heard the voices of men
>> screaming for the crew to fall to the floor. The men carried guns
>> according to the communications officer he was talking to. According to
>> Watson, the satellite phone then went dead and nothing more has been
>> heard from the Sea Shepherd crew.  The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
>> is assuming that the video tapes will be seized by the Canadian
>> authorities. There were 17 crewmembers onboard the Dutch registered
>> Farley Mowat from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Sweden,
>> South Africa, Canada and the United States.</p>
>> <p>
>> The Sea Shepherd has a <a
>> href="http://www.seashepherd.org/seals/seals_sscs_history.html">long
>> history</a> opposing the canadian seal hunt, going out in 1976 for the
>> first time. Due to the activities by Sea Shepherd the gray seal hunt in
>> the Scottish Orkney Islands was shut down. The Canadian considers the
>> organisation the most aggressive threat to Canadian sealers.</p>
>>
>>
>> --
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>>
>>     
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