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Watson still playing politics with lies #1023964
12/02/08 11:31 PM
12/02/08 11:31 PM
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,777
Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia
Mira Trapper Offline OP
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Mira Trapper  Offline OP
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,777
Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia
Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2008 08:41:56 -0800
Subject: CAN gov't billing Sea Shepherd for boat storage (2 items)

Canwest News Service

Anti-sealing group head dismisses federal lawsuit

Published: Saturday, November 29, 2008

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=1012947



OTTAWA - The head of the anti-sealing group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is shrugging off a statement of claim filed last week by the federal Fisheries Department against one of his vessels.



The department wants to recover $487,000 in costs to maintain the Farley Mowat since it was seized last April during the annual hunt.



Paul Watson says good luck.



"The longer they hold it the more it's going to cost (them), because they're not going to get a dime out of us. No matter what kind of statement of claim they file," Watson said Saturday from Perth, Australia where he is preparing for the group's anti-whaling campaign.



"They haven't notified our attorney, they haven't talked to us about it," Watson said.



The ship has been tied up at Sydney, N.S., since it was raided on April 12, 2008 for allegedly encroaching on seal hunters near Cape Breton 12 days earlier.



The RCMP commandeered the ship and arrested 17 crew members. In the end, only the captain and first mate were charged with violating seal hunt rules by approaching within about a kilometre of the seal hunt without a permit.



Watson maintains the ship was in international waters at the time and says his group is preparing a lawsuit of its own against the government seeking $30,000 for each month the Mowat is held.



He said the group was ready to retire the Mowat anyway, and DFO has done them a favour.



"It's extremely expensive to retire a vessel. Now, I get the Canadian government paying the expenses of retiring it for us. They can keep it."

------------------------------------------



Calgary Herald

$487,000 claim filed against seal hunt protest vessel

Marianne White, Canwest News Service

Published: Friday, November 28, 2008

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/story.html?id=1007363



QUEBEC - The federal government has filed a statement of claim of $487,000 against the seal hunt protest vessel Farley Mowat, owned by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, to recover the costs it has incurred to maintain the ship since it was seized last April during the annual hunt.



"The Government of Canada filed that statement of claim against the Farley Mowat (Thursday)," Department of Fisheries and Oceans spokesman Phil Jenkins told Canwest News Service Friday.



The ship has been in the custody of the government and tied up at Sydney, N.S., since it was raided on April 12, 2008 for allegedly encroaching on seal hunters near Cape Breton 12 days earlier.



The RCMP, transported by the coast guard, commandeered the ship and arrested 17 crew members. In the end, only the captain and first mate of the anti-sealing vessel were charged with approaching within about a kilometre of the seal hunt without a permit.



The U.S.-based society maintains the ship was in international waters observing the hunt at the time.



Sea Shepherd Society leader Paul Watson was in Australia Friday and not available to comment on the statement of claim. But in an interview earlier this week, Watson said his group is preparing a lawsuit against the government to seek $30,000 for each month its vessel remains seized.



The statement of claim filed by the Canadian government includes security, shipyard and berthing expenses, as well as marine survey costs incurred between April 12 and the end of November.



The vessel is worth about $750,000, according to its owners.



On top of the $487,000, the government also paid for air surveillance to track the Farley Mowat, travel and overtime for fishery officers and coast guard surveillance, according to documents obtained under access to information laws by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and handed over to Canwest News Service.



The costs attached to air surveillance and expenses for fishery officers were not detailed in the documents. But logs show that the icebreaker George R. Pearkes spent 283.52 hours - or nearly 12 days - between March 29 and April 14 to support the RCMP in tracking and seizing the Farley Mowat.



Government officials refused to provide the cost to operate the icebreaker Pearkes for a day, arguing it is not related to the Farley Mowat case because the icebreaker is owned by the government and the crews are on salary.



The department has said in the past it costs $40,000 per day to operate another icebreaker, the Amundsen, but it is larger than the Pearkes and contains equipment dedicated to Arctic research.



Moreover, the government will also have to pay for legal fees related to the court case against two Farley Mowat crew members. Both parties are due back in court for trial in April 2009.



Paul Steele, director general of DFO's protection and conservation branch, noted in an e-mail to the department's top managers in May that these legal costs are going to be "significant" and that they put a financial "pressure" on his branch.



Jenkins said that the overall costs borne by the government in the Farley Mowat case are simply "the cost of enforcing the law."



The animal welfare organization IFAW said the dollar figure is much higher than it anticipated.



"I think Canadians will be shocked to see how much money the government is willing to spend to prevent people from monitoring the seal hunt," said Sheryl Fink, research specialist at the IFAW.



The government asked the Sea Shepherd Society to make arrangements to get the Farley Mowat back last month, but Watson said the ship has not been properly maintained.



"We want it to be fully operational, just like it was before it was seized," said Watson.



Jenkins denied the ship is damaged and said the government is considering its legal options.


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Mac Leod Motto
Re: Watson still playing politics with lies [Re: Mira Trapper] #1023981
12/02/08 11:38 PM
12/02/08 11:38 PM
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,777
Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia
Mira Trapper Offline OP
trapper
Mira Trapper  Offline OP
trapper

Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,777
Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia
Meanwhile back in Whaledom,the Japanese don't need to hunt the critters they are coming ashore to die anyway.


http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/38746

Published November 30, 2008 09:55 AM
150 whales die in stranding off Australian coast

/wildlife/article/38746

SYDNEY (Reuters) - At least 150 whales have died in a mass stranding off Tasmania's west coast, Australian authorities said on Sunday, despite the efforts of rescuers who managed to shepherd a small number back to the ocean.

The state government said the number of long-finned pilot whales that had perished had climbed to 150 after a body count on Sunday, almost double the earlier estimate of 80.

The stranded whales were discovered on Saturday and members of the local community and government officials worked to rescue them, but the whales had been badly injured by the rocks.


Department of Primary Industries and Water spokesman Warwick Brennan was quoted in Australian media said rescuers in a boat managed to steer about 30 whales out of the bay.

Pilot whales are among the smaller whales, typically up to about 5 meters (16 ft) in length and dark with a grey underbelly.

Last week, 64 long-finned pilot whales were stranded at Anthony's Beach on Tasmania's north-west coast. Eleven of those whales were rescued and returned to sea.

Mass strandings of whales occur periodically in Australia and New Zealand for reasons that are not entirely understood. Theories include disturbance of echo-location, possibly by interference from sound produced by human activities at sea.

(Reporting by Anirban Nag; Editing by Alex Richardson)


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