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

[guidoreports at riseup.net]

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?

G.


> 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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