Sea Shepherd Ship Springs Leak On Way To Protest Seal Hunt (Being Repaired)

[Guest guest]

Source > http://seashepherd.org/

 

 

 

Farley Mowat Heads to Drydock

 

Seal Campaign Still On Schedule

 

 

 

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society International

Chairman Farley Mowat received quite a bit of ribbing

yesterday. The Canadian author, whose name the Sea

Shepherd flagship bears, wrote a book ironically

titled The Boat That Wouldn't Float. After word spread

that the ship had sprung a leak and was taking on

water, Farley replied to the teasing by pointing out

that the R/V Farley Mowat was in fact still floating

and still has every intention of carrying on the

campaign to save the seals.

 

 

 

On March 7th, First Officer Alex Cornelissen donned a

drysuit to dive into the cold water and located a

small, clean hole the size of a dime on the bottom of

the ship beneath the main engine. It is an unusual

hole and was not made by contact with ice. Alex was

able to insert a temporary plug into the hole and the

flooding has been stopped. The flooding never exceeded

the ship's ability to remove the water with pumps.

 

 

 

The Farley Mowat will depart tomorrow for Liverpool,

Nova Scotia, to be put in drydock for repairs. The

repairs should only take a day and then the vessel

will be ready to return to the ice floes to make its

way to the harp seals. The hunt is not expected to

begin until March 20th, 2005. The ship has two weeks

to reach the ice before the hunt begins which allows

plenty of time for repairs.

 

 

 

Richard Dean Anderson returned to Los Angeles today.

Captain Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd Director Anderson

held a media conference in Charlottetown yesterday.

They were both on the ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence

on Sunday, March 6th, for a photo shoot with the seal

pups. Pictures have been sent to People magazine.

 

 

 

When asked about the problems with the ship, Captain

Watson told reporters that these things can be

expected and the crew is always prepared to deal with

them. He pointed out that the publicity from the

incident helped to raise awareness around the world

about the seal hunt.

 

 

 

When told that the pelts were bringing in more money,

Captain Watson replied that he was unconcerned about

the profits. " There is plenty of profit to be made

from slaughtering elephants for ivory and I don't

support that either. "

 

 

 

Richard Dean Anderson told reporters that he was

supportive of the international boycott of Canadian

fish products.

 

 

 

In reply to the question of why British Columbia

fishermen should be targeted because of the seal hunt,

Captain Watson said that the seal hunt is the

responsibility of the Canadian Department of Fisheries

and Oceans. " They need to decide on what is more

important: Supporting a subsidized slaughter of seals

or hurting the fishing industry more than they already

have because of their past incompetence and

mismanagement. "