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The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is a non-profit, marine conservation organization based in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, Washington, in the United States. Sea Shepherd uses direct action tactics to protect marine life. The organization was founded in 1977 under the name Earth Force Society by Paul Watson, a former member of Greenpeace, after a dispute with that organization over what Watson saw as its lack of more aggressive intervention. The group has a strong focus on public relations to spread its message via the media. In 2008, Animal Planet began filming the weekly series ''Whale Wars'' based on the group's encounters with the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean, a development which brought the group much publicity. Sea Shepherd currently operates the vessels , the , the (donated and named after Sam Simon, co-founder of ''The Simpsons'') and the . Operations have included scuttling and disabling whaling vessels at harbor, intervening in Canadian and Namibian seal hunts, shining laser light into the eyes of whalers, throwing bottles of foul-smelling butyric acid onto vessels at sea,〔 boarding of whaling vessels while at sea, and seizure and destruction of drift nets at sea. Sea Shepherd claims that their aggressive actions are necessary, as the international community has shown itself unwilling or unable to stop species-endangering whaling and fishing practices. Sea Shepherd has received support for its tactics against fishing, whaling, and seal hunting from many celebrities, such as musicians and TV personalities. The tactics of Sea Shepherd have been opposed, even by those who denounce whaling, such as Greenpeace〔 and the governments of Australia and New Zealand. An FBI section chief, the Premier of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador,〔 and the Japanese government have called them eco-terrorists. Paul Watson and American members of Sea Shepherd are currently prohibited by US courts from approaching or harassing Japanese whalers.〔http://www.afp.com/en/news/topstories/group-defiant-over-us-ban-tackling-japan-whalers〕 ==History== (詳細はPaul Watson was ousted from the board of Greenpeace for disagreements over his direct action activism which clashed with their pacifist ethos. Watson soon left Greenpeace. Initially without funding and with only a small group of supporters, in 1978 Watson managed to convince Cleveland Amory, head of the Fund for Animals to fund Watson's first vessel, the ''Sea Shepherd''.〔 The first direct action undertaken by Sea Shepherd was against Canadian seal hunting in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in March 1979. Also in 1979, the group made headlines when, for the first time, they rammed a whaling vessel,〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=51sQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zpIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5728,1161703&dq=sea-shepherd+sierra )〕 the notorious pirate whaling vessel ''Sierra''.〔 Such acts continued with Sea Shepherd claiming responsibility for damaging or sinking multiple whaling ships, through sabotage or ramming. The group has attempted to intervene against Russian, Spanish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Makah, Faroese, and Japanese whalers in multiple campaigns around the globe.〔〔 Setting a pattern that the group would keep up in later years, the group managed to scuttle a Portuguese whaling vessel, though the first ''Sea Shepherd'' was impounded, and lost. Watson states he used the money gained from selling the story rights to fund his next vessel.〔 After having spent the 1980s undertaking a variety of controversial and dangerous operations in support of various marine conservation aims, in the 1990s the group has been described as having undertaken a shift in their public attitude.〔 Having previously argued primarily from an ethical viewpoint, from the 1990s, Watson's group now also started ascribing themselves law enforcement powers, using its interpretation of maritime and conservation law, to describe themselves as an anti-poaching agency.〔 In some cases in the 2000s, they cooperated with official government efforts against maritime poaching, such as in Costa Rican waters, though the agreements often did not last long before conflict ensued. Starting in September 2010, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has positioned a crew in Taiji, Japan to monitor and report their annual dolphin drive hunt. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sea Shepherd Conservation Society」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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