HOW SEA SHEPHERD WORKSBy Cristen Conger, HowStuffWorks.com
 Visit Sea Shepherd
Visit the Sea Shepherds' official website, SeaShepherd.org, to find out more about the organization and how you can help them save whales and all ocean wildlife.
When Paul Watson says that he and other members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society risk their lives to save whales, he isn't joking. Every winter, the Sea Shepherd staff and crew set sail to the treacherous Southern Ocean to stop Japanese whalers from catching and killing nature's largest mammals. At that extreme latitude, the winds blow harder and faster than anywhere else on the planet. The icy waters surrounding Antarctica can send a person into hypothermic shock in a matter of minutes. Furthermore, if something goes wrong in that remote expanse of sea and glacier, help is a far cry away.
Paul Watson, co-founder of Greenpeace, started the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in 1981. It evolved from Watson's former conservation group, Earthforce Environmental Society, which he founded in 1977 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Since then, Watson has led Sea Shepherd on more than 200 voyages to protect whales, seals, dolphins, sharks and other marine life.
Documented in the Animal Planet series "Whale Wars," Sea Shepherd has been both lauded for its impressive accomplishments and criticized for its direct-action tactics. Hurling stink bombs onto Japanese whaling ships, covertly filming seal hunters in Canada and cutting illegal fishing lines in the Galapagos Islands are just a few of the aggressive approaches Sea Shepherd has taken. Despite any controversy their actions raise, Watson and crew know how to get results. For instance, Sea Shepherd has reportedly rescued more than 1,400 whales from slaughter over the past four hunting seasons.
During Sea Shepherd's extensive history, Watson has molded the organization into a global venture with a star-studded list of donors. Though best known for its anti-whaling efforts, Sea Shepherd conducts a robust range of conservation campaigns across the world. At the center of it all, Paul Watson serves as the Sea Shepherd captain as well as the public face and voice of the group. The depth and intensity of his personal passion for marine preservation fuel Sea Shepherd's agenda and inspire others to join its cause.
NEXT: The Captain's Journey
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