Sea Shepherd Summary for April, 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit http://www.seashepherd.org/Log/spring02/logspring02.html "In hindsight, I have to apologize to Belize. They buckled under pressure from a super-power. The Cayman Bureau of Shipping buckled under pressure from little Denmark." "In some countries they are honest about graft and bribes. In the developed countries they call it bureaucracy." SEA SHEPHERD: CAPTAIN'S LOG - APRIL, 2002 Finally, after six months of repairs, refit, fund-raising, and bureaucratic obstacles, your ship the Farley Mowat is in Costa Rica. We departed from Lake Union Drydock in Seattle, Washington on April 1, 2002 It had been a long time laid up, but there was much to do. Our ship had been built in 1958. We had purchased her in 1996. This was our first overhaul in five years. We needed to repair damages to the engine and we needed to sandblast and paint her hull and superstructure. On top of that there were valves that needed servicing, hull repairs, rudder repairs, a prop inspection, electrical repairs, and a complete rebuild of our windlass hydraulic system. The cost was over $300,000, money we did not have when we entered the drydock. The problem is that maritime industry does not allow for credit. Therefore we had to work as hard to raise the funds as we did to do the actual repairs. Our next hurdle was to change the registry of the ship. Registry is always a problem when you're involved in unpopular activities like protecting the oceans and saving sea-life. We started in 1996 with Belize registry, but in late 1998, the U.S. Coast Guard leaned heavy on Belize due to our opposition to the Washington State whale hunt. Belize ordered us to cough up a $10,000 bribe for an exemption for a certificate that we were already exempted from because of our status as a yacht. I refused and changed the registry to the flag of the British Cayman Islands. It was my naïve opinion that the good old British ensign was above corruption and political arm-twisting. In hindsight, I have to apologize to Belize. They buckled under pressure from a super-power. The Cayman Bureau of Shipping buckled under pressure from little Denmark. Thus in the summer of 2000, thirty-nine pilot whales were slaughtered in a bay in the Faeroe Islands because under Danish pressure, the Cayman's ordered me to not leave the port of Lerwick in the Shetland Islands, and to submit to an inspection - despite the fact that our previous official inspection was only six months prior and there were no violations found. It is also highly unusual for an inspector to be flown out to inspect a yacht without notice and without a valid reason to suspect safety violations. The inspector had to be flown into the Shetlands, where he presented me with a document to sign that would have had me agree to not return to the Faeroes to oppose whaling. This had nothing to do with safety or seaworthiness of the ship. This was blatant political interference and I would have none of it. We returned to the Faeroes. In return for this inspection, requested by Denmark, we were charged $14,000. I refused to pay until we were given a break-down of the charges. The Cayman's refused to provide a break-down, and kept adding interest to the charges. In 2001, they sent another bill for a further $8,000 for an inspection that did not take place. Now I knew for certain that despite her prestigious flag, the British Cayman Islands are run by the same people who occupied her back in the 17th century. Pirates, the lot if them. Not that I should have been surprised considering the Cayman Bank's serve the same purpose as desert islands did in the past, as a repository for plunder for crooks, gangsters, junk-bond bandits, white collar pirates, and dictators. Time for another flag and this time I chose Canada. The reason is that despite my problems with Canada on conservation issues, the Canadian registered Sirenian has not experienced any hassles from Canada since her registry in 1993. The U.S. Coast Guard leaned on Canada in 1998, but Canada refused to allow the U.S. Coast Guard to board us. The only problem was that the name Ocean Warrior was taken by another vessel -- a tugboat in British Columbia. We needed another name. In 1991, I had named our patrol boat the Edward Abbey after the late American naturalist and writer. Ed had been a member of our advisory board and a longtime friend. Unfortunately, we had to change the name again in 1993 when the U.S. pressured us to drop our American registry. That's when we elected for Canadian registry and renamed the ship the Sirenian after the manatee and dugong family. In 1993, we purchased a former Canadian Coast Guard buoy tender and ice-breaker. This gave me the opportunity to honour Cleveland Amory, the founder of the Fund for Animals, and the man whose generosity made it possible for us to secure our first ship the Sea Shepherd. With the Cleveland Amory we chased the Cuban and Spanish drag trawl fleets from the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and initiated a controversy that led to Canada openly opposing over-fishing. Of course for that, I was charged with three counts of felony mischief, and after a four-week trial I was spared two life sentences by a jury that ruled that I had acted under "colour of right" in upholding the United Nations World Charter for Nature. Unfortunately, the Cleveland Amory was detained, and the trial forced me to sell the ship, after which we secured our sixth ship the Whales Forever. With the Whales Forever we were able to confront Norwegian whaling, and during this confrontation we were rammed, fired upon, and depth charged by the Norwegian Navy. After that confrontation I was forced to sell the Whales Forever in 1996 and it was a good move. It would have cost us a great deal to repair the damages caused by Norway. I was able to sell the ship for more than we paid for her, and this allowed us to purchase the ship we have today. First named the Sea Shepherd under the flag of Belize, then the Ocean Warrior under the flag of the Cayman Islands, she is now the Farley Mowat under the flag of Canada. We named her in honour of our international chairman and Canada's foremost naturalist and author Farley Mowat. But this did not end our registry problems. The Canadian Registry of Shipping said we needed a deletion certificate from the Cayman Islands, and the Cayman Islands refused to provide one until we paid them the money they were demanding. The Canadian registrar in Vancouver said that they received many complaints about the Cayman and were prepared to issue the certificate without the agreement from the Caymans. But first she said she would need approval from the government in Ottawa. Approval had been given before, and I did not think it would be a problem. Unfortunately, the name Sea Shepherd and Farley Mowat are well known in Ottawa, and the Minister of Transport intervened personally by insisting that the fees be paid to the Caymans and the deletion certificate issued prior to Canadian registry. Thus we were forced to send $22,000 to the Cayman Islands. It was plain extortion but this is the way the modern shipping business is. From pilotage authorities, to harbor masters to the government, everyone has their hands out wanting money without offering anything of use or value in return. In some countries they are honest about graft and bribes. In the developed countries they call it bureaucracy. Finally on April 19, while the ship was at sea, the Ocean Warrior officially became the Farley Mowat. But our troubles had only begun when we left Seattle. Our first stop was Monterey, CA. where, despite having a properly issued cruising permit, I was ordered to submit to a full Customs inspection. The Coast Guard, Coast Guard Intelligence, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation accompanied the Custom's officer. They searched the ship and intimidated the crew. One of my crew who had filmed the boarding was ordered to turn over her film to the Coast Guard. Federal Agents told us that we had no right to document the boarding of the ship. Meanwhile, the FBI videotaped the entire ship, every cabin and compartment. We were given a document stating that there were no violations, and allowed to proceed to Port Huneneme, CA. where we were to pick up a generator to take to Cocos Island. Although we cleared our entry in the port a week in advance and informed the port of our movements, the Coast Guard, U.S. Customs, U.S. Naval Intelligence, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the FBI boarded us the next morning. Despite the boarding of two days previous and the document stating we had no violations, the ship was searched again. The Customs officer and the Coast Guard boarded and searched the ship three times that day. The Customs officer was very concerned about the generator that we were loading. "It says on this generator that it was made in Korea. Did you pay import duty on this?" he demanded. I told him that we had purchased the generator from a Seattle Diesel Company. He demanded that we fax him the proof of this and we did. He then ordered me to open our safe and ordered a package of pain-killers (percodan) to be confiscated and destroyed. "That sir, is a narcotic and as such is illegal." I replied that I had a prescription and that it was normal for ships to have painkillers on board in the event of an accident. "Not in this country," he replied. "You have a choice – destroy the drugs or I'll have you arrested for possession of narcotics." So we destroyed the drugs and hoped we would have no accident before reaching Costa Rica. The Customs officer then ordered me to contact Immigration. I did so only to find myself on the other end of the phone from a rather rude I.N.S. officer who de-manded to know why I had not reported to I.N.S. upon arrival. I replied that I had contacted I.N.S. in Seattle and was told there was no reason to contact I.N.S. until our departure from the country. The agent then demanded to know what the status was of my crew and who had issued shore passes. I replied that those who were not U.S. citizens had all entered the country as tourists and had joined my ship, a yacht in Seattle, and thus were not required to have shore passes. "You are not a yacht." He said pointedly. "We are a yacht," I replied. "You can tell me any fairy tale you like, but your ship in not a yacht and you require proper crew credentials." "We are registered as a yacht," I insisted. Finally, he ordered me to report to his office in Long Beach with all the crew passports -- on the day we planned to leave the country. To make matters more difficult, we were suddenly told we could not receive visitors, despite the fact that we had received clearance from the Harbor Master prior to entry into Port Huneneme. They changed their minds the morning of our arrival and many Sea Shepherd members were turned away and not allowed to visit their ship. We left Port Huneneme the next morning and anchored the same evening in Long Beach. Again I was ordered to report to U.S. Customs to clear the ship into Long Beach despite having a cruising permit, which specifically absolves me from doing so. I reported in and cleared Customs. Upon completion, three U.S. Customs officers approached me and flashed their badges and requested that I accompany them to a backroom for a "discussion." Apparently, they had some concerns about some cargo we were taking. Specifically, a radar we had purchased that was meant to be given to the rangers on Cocos Island. I was told that the radar was prohibited from being taken on board because it fell under the classification of military technology. I explained that I had purchased the radar in Seattle and it was simply a ship's radar very much like the ones I presently had on board the ship. They answered that it was okay for me to purchase radar for my ship and to leave the country with it, but it was not legal for me to purchase radar and take it on my ship to another country. When I told them it was going to national park rangers in Costa Rica, they said that was okay, but how did they know that I would not stop in Mexico and sell the radar to terrorist to use in an attack on America. So I was not allowed to load the radar. Instead we had to hire an export company to ship the radar to Costa Rica where we can load it there to take to Cocos Island. It is definitely bureaucracy out of control in the Paranoid States of America. For the next three days, we had the Coast Guard checking us out continuously until, with great relief, we sailed from Long Beach, California into the less stressful waters off the Mexican coast. Our departure from the US was a peaceful and relaxing voyage - until April 23. I had set a course towards Socorro Island, where we arrived on April 18, in time to see over a dozen breaching and frolicking Humpback whales. From Socorro we plotted a course directly towards Puntarenas, Costa Rica. En route, however, we came across a Costa Rican long liner named the Varadero I out of Puntarenas. She had set about fifty miles of long line and unfortunately for her captain and crew, we found her 55 miles inside of Guatemalan territorial waters. I ordered her to retrieve her lines and release any fish and sharks caught. They began to do so, but we documented them taking sharks on board and killing them. In response, we ran over her line and cut it. I told them that I would allow them to continue to retrieve the line if they agreed to free any sharks from thereon. They agreed and we escorted them as they brought up the rest of the line. We observed them releasing fourteen sharks. In the meantime, we had contacted the Guatemalan Embassy in Washington D.C. and they put us in touch with the Guatemalan Ministry of the Interior. We were advised that we should escort the Costa Rican poacher into Jan Jose, Guatemala. With the line retrieved, we began to escort the vessel, but an hour later the Varadero I turned and fled from us. We pursued and they ignored us. We intimidated them with our water cannons, and after an hour of chasing her, we came alongside. The captain of the long-liner miscalculated and turned into us. Both our ships collided with our port to their starboard side. (Photo 11) The collision cracked open the superstructure of the Varadero I and sobered her captain and crew. They agreed to allow us to escort them to the coast of Guatemala. The morning, April 23, we were some sixty miles off the coast of Guatemala when I contacted the Port Captain for San Jose. He told me that I would be arrested upon arrival for taking control of the Varadero I by force. "This is a crime in Guatemalan waters," he said. When I responded that I had received permission to bring the poacher in, he answered, "yes, and we appreciate this, but you have broken the law by using force to apprehend the vessel, and for this you will be arrested." The Naval officer then went on to tell me that I had no right to seize the vessel because I did not have any evidence of over-fishing and a nearby ship had observed us using force." Again, I responded that we had plenty of documentation and there were no other vessels anywhere in the area that could have observed us using unreasonable force, and we in fact - did not. "You will be given a fair trial." He answered. "We are sending a gunboat out to meet you," he added and demanded my position. I gave him our position of four hours before and immediately changed course and headed towards the territorial waters of El Salvador. Four hours later the Port Captain called us again and wanted to know our position. I asked him why he wanted to know this, and he said that a navy ship was at the location we gave and were ready to escort us in. "I'm sorry," I said, "we are in El Salvador waters." "Where is the Costa Rican fishing vessel?" "Back there in your waters, I presume," I said. "We dropped him." "Why did you do that?" he demanded." "Because we asked for the advice of your government, we acted on the advice of your government, and your reward to us is to threaten to arrest us. Did you think that I was going to deliver myself to you so you can put me in one of your stinking jails and seize my ship? Let me know if you want us to send you the documentation and the evidence on the poacher but forget about us cooperating with your strange methods of justice." I said. We set course for Costa Rica via the waters of El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras. I anticipated that we would receive some flack from the owner of the Costa Rican fishing vessel when we reached Puntarenas and certainly we have made some new enemies in the Puntarenas fishing community. A type of mafia runs the fishing industry. In particular we have made a bitter enemy of a man named Chino Diego. He's a Chinese Costa Rican and the main connection with the shark fin trade to Asia. Since arriving in Costa Rica I have mounted a twenty-four hour double guard during our stay in the port. My anticipation of trouble proved to be correct. On April 29 I was charged with Attempted Murder and Destruction of Property based on a complaint filed by the owner of the Varadero I. I spent the day being interrogated. However, I had the help of our Costa Rican lawyer Milton Gonzales Vega, who was instrumental in my release. In the end, after presenting all of our documented evidence, the Prosecutor dismissed the charges against me, and we are now preparing a counter civil suit against the owner of the fishing vessel for making libelous statements about us. Within a few days, the Farley Mowat will be back in the waters around Cocos Island defending this magnificent World Heritage site from poachers. Capt. Paul Watson May 1, 2002 ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytrad-05.04.02-02:37:27-16873