Sea Shepherd Antarctica Campaign 2008/2009 − send off benefit concert
'The Arena', Fortitude Valley, Brisbane on Friday November 21, 2008.
The Steve Irwin and its crew would love you to be a part of this monumental event!
The odds were stacked against us. One ship and a crew of 33 people up against 8 ships of the ruthless Japanese whaling fleet.
The Antarctic 2007/2008 campaign saw the Steve Irwin MY and its international crew (almost half were Australian) take on the role of upholding the Australian Federal Court Ruling. The Steve Irwin made 3 return trips from Melbourne to the Antarctic coast in 3 ½ months covering a distance just shy of circumnavigating the globe. The Japanese whalers had a self allocated quota of 935 minke, 50 fin and 50 humpback whales. Due to Sea Shepherds direct action they failed to take a single endangered humpback or fin whale. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society directly saved 484 whales reducing the Japanese quota to 53%.
This year's campaign, Sea Shepherd's fifth campaign to Antarctic waters, will be called Operation Musashi in reference to the legendary Japanese strategist, Miyamoto Musashi. "We intend to sink the Japanese fleet economically," said Captain Watson. "Our strategy is to prevent whales from being killed, to force Japan to spend money on fuel without killing whales. My crew and I will not watch whales die; we will not bear witness to the cruel slaughter of a single whale without risking our lives to prevent its unlawful and cruel murder.
Sea Shepherd is not a protest organization. It was established in 1977 as an international non-profit conservation organisation to intervene against the illegal exploitation of marine life in accordance with the principles of the United Nations World Charter for Nature. However, as with all Sea Shepherd campaigns, all strategies and tactics are designed to avoid any physical injury to the whalers. "We have never injured a single person in our 31 year history," said Captain Watson, "and we intend to keep that record unblemished."
All of our crew and ground support are unpaid volunteers, we are doctors, ex navy, engineers, lawyers, mechanics all taking time out from our lives and loved ones to stand up for what is right. We are currently working with The Red Paintings Trash McSweeney who has already committed his support to this monumental event. We have secured The Arena venue in Fortitude Valley which can hold 2500 supporters. We also have support of JJJ and a lot of interest from channel 10. With the Australian iconic Steve Irwin MY, we are also looking at getting Terry and Bindi Irwin along for the evening.
During our last campaign, Antarctica 2007/2008, we had Discovery Channel’s Animal Planet on board doing 8, 1 hour episodes titled "The Whale Wars". This will go to air this November with a potential audience of 40 million. The short for the series is already being aired in the states and looks brilliant. Animal planet have signed on once again for this seasons campaign, Operation Musashi and they will also be filming at this benefit concert on the 22nd November as a prelude to the campaign. So once again highlighting the potential of this monumental event.
Our earth and its beautiful inhabitants are constantly being attacked on all fronts and the future looks bleak for all of us. Now more so than ever, we must make a stand!
We are making this a free event, donation only, to let the people of Australia with financial difficulty know that Sea Shepherd is not all about raising revenue. Our goal is awareness, that the problems the oceans face are everyone’s and we must stand together and unite and make a noise to echo across the globe to Japan!
With pre election promises by the Rudd government broken, Australians realise that the only way to defend our oceans is with organisations like Sea Shepherd. The people of Australia are behind us, we have the Steve Irwin MY, Terri Irwin and Australia Zoo with us, we would love to also have you onboard to send us off with an all mighty launch into harms way in defence of the gentle giants in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary!
With Richard Dean Anderson on the Sea Shepherd Board of Directors, with Pierce Brosnan on the Sea Shepherd Board of Advisors and with William Shatner and Christian Bale as supporters that means that Sea Shepherd has MacGyver, James Bond, Captain Kirk and Batman fighting alongside us in our efforts to save our oceans from the forces of greed and destruction.
How can we lose?
For the Oceans
Michael Dalton
Sea Shepherd Brisbane Coordinator
seashepherdbrisbane@gmail.com
