Alain's account of Day 2, afternoon | Home | Rough weather hunting

You're Santa for the whales.
Happy Christmas to the crew.

Hi all,

Merry Christmas over there!
Keep up the good work, we'll be thinking of you over Christmas dinner.

Eric
Amsterdam

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Hi Eric,

Thanks and give my best to every one in the warehouse!

Tot volgend jaar,
Jetske

What a shame that Greenpeace are so caught up with slamming there name across the world rather than giving other hard-line groups information and working together to stop the whale slaughter. I have seen it in Australia where Greenpeace have taken all credit for Old Growth Forest blockades when all they did was hang a banner with their name on it. Now its happening at sea. What a shame that your group is only interested in big noting itself. I apologise to those who are doing the hard work on the ships if they take offence to this message, maybe you should have a word to your captain to make sure this never happens again.

NOLLAIG SHONA DHUIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go on ya good things!!
Keep it up guys!

Gary from Dublin: GPNZ

ho ho ho ...

I know I haven't spoken to all of you since CT but trust me, I have been pretty busy as well ;-)

No matter if you believe in today or not it is a time to think about the people wich are dear to us and you all are!!!

Keep up the good work down there :-)

Tom

ps: f*ck yeah

Can't everyone play nice together? Christmas is about sharing. There are others down there that are fighting for the same cause. Wouldn't it be more productive to work together?
I respect and applaud all of you who are down there fighting for the whales...it just makes sense to consolidate your efforts with other like minded groups.

what a shame it is you are so caught up in slamming Greenpeace Billy. Taking credit for saving the whales? Exactly who else is it that expressed an interest in protecting these creatures from the slaughter? Are you Japanese or something? Aside from the humor, ...the Japanese are a beautiful people, ...and though I don't work for Greenpeace, ...apparently you don't know some of the people that work there as I have personally come to know. Perhaps you cannot see the reality of the words they have spoken to me, the tears they shed, and the pride they have for their heroes out there risking it all. And what is the end result? Greenpeace has thwarted much of their efforts to kill some of these thinking, feeling, and beautiful creatures. God bless you Greenpeace, ...the ones out there giving it their all in the ocean, ...and the ones that sit at desks that make it all possible. They are one... Warriors of the Rainbow, ...all of them. Please grasp the perspective of what they have so far accomplished, and let's just focus on that. Wishing you Love and Light, ...Wes

Billy, I think you are a bit off the line there... doesn't this expedition show explicitly that Greenpeace is about so much more than just bannerhanging? I think the crew earn a lot of respect for what they are doing, and for all the clever thinking and careful preparations done to take on this challenge. Greenpeace as such is made up of a variety of people and units, and for that matter also of different and differing opinions and motivations. It is impossible and unfair to judge and simplify 'Greenpeace' as you do.
To elaborate on 'just bannerhanging':Greenpeace is a complicated organisation, and a lot of the work it does goes unnoticed, as it consists out of lobbying, doing research, informing public, businesslife and politics, and the direct actions are only a small part of the work that the organisation carries out. And yes, sometimes it seems that only a banner is hung and all the attention does go to Greenpeace, but isn't that exactly because it is such a well-known organisation that has earned this acknowledgement? Believe me, if Greenpeace is present somewhere then you can be 100% sure that a lot of work is put into that campaign which goes much further than just hanging a banner. Furthermore, I believe that banners and other forms of 'slamming Greenpeace's name around the world' as you name it is actually extremely important as it gives a voice to people and ecosystems affected by environmental crime. Don't we want as many people as possible to know about such issues? I hope Greenpeace is able to slam their name on many more places around the world as long as it is unfortunately necessary. The people of the world sadly enough need a countervoice like Greenpeace, even if they don't realise it (yet).

Nothwithstanding all this, I am glad with your post, as I, and with me many others, are interested to hear comments from someone within Greenpeace about what is being said on the Seashepherd website... please don't just completely neglect these stories in these weblogs. Most of us know the history, know that Seashepherd has arrived to take action at the spot of crime as well, and wonder if there is the slightest chance of cooperation in this situation. Or may we guess that there is communication going on, but that for the sake of image and keeping up old appearances/myths that noone dares to admit it? Rumours and stories can grow nasty and I just don't think it is worth it... although methods and opinions of both organisations might differ, the goal is the same so at least be clear...

Rests me to wish the crew a very happy Christmas, and lots of courage and best of luck in this difficult pursuit.

Merry Christmas from supporters all over the world who recognise the amzaing work you do.

A peraceful and productive New Year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Thanck you for you work and thanck you for Humanity and Thanck you for the Animals !!!

Animal Guardian ( France )

merry christmas, good people.

Hi Billy

I assume you are referring to accusations that Greenpeace has not shared information with Sea Shepherd. As you might expect, I see things a bit differently to the way you have described it. It is true that we declined to cooperate with the Sea Shepherds. The reason we gave was that Greenpeace has a different interpretation of non-violent direct action to the Sea Shepherds. That is not a criticsm, it is a fact. If they do stuff we do not want to, I do not see why we should have to support those acts. That said, in declining the offer to work with the Sea Shepherds, we wished them well in their campaign, and indicated that if we found the fleet, we would publish the coordinates on our website where anyone could find them. We did post those coordinates. We did not withold the location as you suggest. I was also very clear in an email to Captain Watson that we did not intend to criticise them in the press, and that I felt we could work alongside each other in peaceful coexistence. Greenpeace has not referred to Sea Shepherd in any of our press releases, but if you look at the Sea Shepherd site, you will see all sorts of accusations level at Greenpeace and myself.

As for Greenpeace getting all the press, all we have done is find the fleet, capture the horrible images of what is happening to the whales, and put them out in the press. They have received huge coverage because they are terrible images. I make no apologies for that - our job is to be down here and tell the world what is going on, and get on with defending the whales. That is what we will continue to do.

cheers
Shane

Kyra, thanks for saying all that, and for your support. You deserve to hear my thinking so here it is:

Keep the focus on the whaling. Really that is it. There are longstanding differences between the Sea Shepherds and Greenpeace. Some of these are very fundamental differences, especially the ones regarding acceptable tactics. I don't want these differences to become more important than the issue of commercial whaling itself. I've seen that happen too many times before. So I'm trying not to comment on the Sea Shepherds at all.

To put it another way - Here I am in a force 10 storm, struggling to hold on to the desk my laptop is strapped down on, while typing this message. Somewhere, on board the Sea Shepherd's ship, there is someone else like me trying to do the same sort of thing. Each email is a tiring battle with the ocean. What a waste of effort and energy it would be for us to focus on each other's organizations while the whaler's only wait for better weather to continue their hunt.
I hope that answers you question. And, I suspect you have already (but just in case), don't forget to tell Gorton's to help us end commercial whaling.

-- Andrew (on board the Esperanza)

Hey Adira,
It's worth pointing out that Greenpeace is partnering with the Environmental Investigation Agency and Humane Society on the consumer campaign - basically making the link between products on supermarket shelves around the world and the whaling industry. Then there are plenty of other organizations also working independently towards ending commercial whaling that Greenpeace does not happen to work with directly, even though we share much the same goals - the WWF and the WDCS to name two. There have been a few comments posted about the Sea Shepherds, so I'll address them. We do wish the Sea Shepherds success with any peaceful action to end commercial whaling. But differences about what we consider acceptable tactics prevents us from working together.

-- Andrew

While I support SSCS, I feel that Greenpeace is certainly doing important work. As a large organization, its policies have force, and its actions make news.
Might I remind some that active interference is a policy both organizations share. This is good.
Shane appears to operate with strong diplomatic skills, and Capt. Watson's confrontational language perhaps stirs up different support. People often need some outrage to begin to act, each according to their own ethic.

I just want to say that I really admire all you people out there in the middle of the ocean, fighting to save the whales. May luck be on your side! Keep up the fantastic work.
Stacey