Sea Shepherd Crew Assaulted by Sealers then Arrested

[G_j]

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
International Headquarters
PO Box 2616, Friday Harbor, WA 98250
www.seashepherd.org


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 31,
2005

03/31/2005


Attack of the Hak-a-Piks

Sea Shepherd Crew Assaulted by Sealers then Arrested by Fisheries Officers

Farley Mowat Update

March 31st, 2005

2300 Hours Atlantic Standard Time

1900 Hours Pacific Standard Time


Position:
46 Degrees 40 Minutes 28 Seconds North

61 Degrees 45 Minutes 40 Seconds West

15 Miles off Prince Edward Island



Tonight the Farley Mowat is locked into the ice. We must go where the ice takes us and it has moved us some fifty miles from the point close to the Magdalen Islands where we were when the storm moved in. The ice pressure continues to build.

Of the nearly one hundred sealing ships that were in the ice on March 29th, only about 30 vessels remain. Two have sunk, others have been abandoned and others have been damaged, their hulls being squeezed by the increasing pressure. Most have returned to port.

One Newfoundland sealer was overheard to say on the radio, "These seals ain't worth this trouble b'ye."

The radio was alive with desperate sealers calling for help from the Coast Guard.

But one Coast Guard ice-breaker was busy elsewhere. They dropped all their other activities to respond to a complaint from the Newfoundland sealer Brady Mariner that some Sea Shepherd crew were taking pictures of their activities.

At 1330 Hours, 18 crew from the Farley Mowat had crossed a mile of ice to witness and photograph sealers from the Brady Mariner. Eight sealers came towards them armed with hak-a-pics and began to shout and swear at them. Within minutes the sealers became violent and attacked the Sea Shepherd crew. 19-years old Lisa Moises, from Germany, was slapped in the face and punched in the stomach by one burly sealer. Another attacked photographer Ian Robichaud with a hak-a-pik, striking his camera and hitting him in the side of the head. Adrian Haley was struck in the face. Jonathan Batchlor was punched in the mouth. Jonny Vasic was hit in the side of the head with a club. Petite Lisa Shalom of Montreal was struck by a sealer as she took pictures of the assault on her crewmates. When another sealer swung his hak-a-pik to strike Jonny Vasic's camera, Dr. Jerry Vlasak, (a surgeon from Los Angeles), jumped in his way and took the blow across the face.

The crew radioed back to Captain Paul Watson that they had been attacked. Captain Watson called the Coast Guard Icebreaker Amundsen and requested that the Mounted Police officers on Board investigate the assault. They did not reply.

Instead, a helicopter was dispatched to arrest the Sea Shepherd crew on the ice. Of the 18 who left to document the sealers, only seven were able to return. They barely made it. The Amundsen was charging through the ice to cut off their path of retreat to the Farley Mowat. Lisa Moises and Ian Robichaud barely made it back to the Farley Mowat. They watched as the massive red hull of the Coast Guard Icebreaker Amundsen bore quickly down on them in an attempt to cut them off. They could see chunks of ice flying out from the bow of the ice breaker but they kept focused on the Farley Mowat and managed to make it across.

<snip>

[Stone_Spirits]

1. OMG! that sounds really scary

These are some brave people.
They must feel so helpless being assaulted and then arrested.

[flvegan]

2. More here:

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_050331_3.html

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_050331_2.html

These particular sealers are nothing but a bunch of little cowards.

[G_j]

3. sign the petition to the Canadian government

http://hsus.ga4.org/campaign/protectseals?source=GABADB

The 2005 Seal Hunt: We're There to Stop It

Tell Canada's Government to end the seal hunt. The largest commercial slaughter of marine mammals on the planet has begun. By the end of this year’s hunt, more than 300,000 seals will have been brutally killed—many of them babies as young as 12 days old. Some of them will have been skinned while still conscious and able to feel pain. Stand with us today and stop the seal hunt forever by joining the Canadian seafood boycott. (Don't worry, once you've signed we'll tell you how to spot Canadian seafood.) We'll deliver your pledge to Canada's government so the politicians will know you've joined our international "Protect Seals" team to end this awful hunt.

[G_j]

4. today's update

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_050401_1.html


0800 Hours Atlantic Standard Time
0400 Hours Pacific Standard Time

Report from the Farley Mowat

Position: 46 Degrees 38 Minutes 50 Seconds North
61 Degrees 45 Minutes 44 Seconds West

The storm has abated, the sun is shining, and the pressure on the ice is beginning to release. That's the bad news. The good news is that many sealing vessels were damaged, two were sunk, and most of the others continue to be locked into the ice.

Another bit of good news is that Sea Shepherd Advisory Board Member Bob Talbot arrived in one of two helicopters chartered by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), and retrieved all the photos and video we have taken since the opening of the seal slaughter on March 29th. This means that the evidence of the assault by the sealers on our crew will not be captured, confiscated, or destroyed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Even better news was the radio message intercepted from the sealer Polar Venture. Apparently that vessel has been stuck in the ice since March 26th and has not taken a single seal. They reported that they just wanted to go home.

The crew who were assaulted have requested that charges be laid against the sealers who attacked them. The Mounties are investigating the incident and Bob Talbot will be delivering video of the assault to the Mounted Police headquarters in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

The sealers who assaulted the crew were from the Brady Mariner, a Newfoundland fishing vessel built in 1988 with the official number of 0810609 and registered in St. John's, Newfoundland. The vessel was formally known as the Fundy Leader. The owner is a man named Rendell Genge (wife, Bertha) and his address is P.O. Box 65, Anchor Point, Newfoundland, Canada A0K 1A0 and telephone [phone].

The video sent to the Mounted Police vividly illustrates the hostility and aggressiveness of the sealers in their attack on the Farley Mowat crew.

<snip>

[Stone_Spirits]

9. thankfully

they got the video/pics out of there.
I wonder if they will post them?

[G_j]

10. I don't think I could watch n/t

[Minstrel Boy]

5. from the CBC:

CHARLOTTETOWN — Eleven seal hunt protesters have been arrested in the Gulf of St. Lawrence for violating the buffer zone around sealing ships, Fisheries and Oceans officials said Thursday.

Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society said members of his crew were taken into custody by the RCMP after they tried to photograph sealers in the afternoon.

The arrests happened out on the ice between the Magdalen Islands, Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island. Those arrested are being transported to Charlottetown and charged.

"All I know … is that they entered within one half mile of the sealing activity without permits," said Roger Simon of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Activists must stay at least one nautical mile away from sealing ships.

http://stjohns.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=nf-watson-arrests-050401

[CHIMO]

6. Shots fired as sealers, protesters clash

FREDERICTON - Rifle shots were fired into the air Friday during a confrontation between sealers and protesters in the Gulf of St. Lawrence off the north coast of Prince Edward Island.

The incident occurred after three helicopters carrying protesters and photographers landed near a sealing vessel, according to Canadian Press photographer Jonathan Hayward, who witnessed the clash.

Spence said the hunt protesters have been especially numerous and aggressive this year.

"I've never seen 'em so bad before," he said. "This crowd now... they're starving for publicity. They have to earn their money but it's a hard way to earn it."

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/04/01/sealers-050401.html

[G_j]

7. geez they talk about the protesters like they were pesky insects

.."especially numerous and aggressive this year,..I've never seen 'em so bad before,"

[apple_ridge]

8. Let this be a reminder to send a payment to the SSS. These are

incredibly brave people.