Sea Shepard is Part of the Same Team

Let's face it, Sea Shepard is a conservation organization that makes some conservationists uncomfortable. Yet, they are effective.

Maybe an American football metaphor works here. The linebacker wants to take the opponent's head off at the neck to win while the kicker wants to use precision and tactical skills to get the win. Plus, no one on the team is happy if in his zeal to win, the aggressive linebacker hurts the whole team with costly penalties. Enough metaphor stretching.

I've read posts and heard conservation-minded people distance themselves from support of what Sea Shepard is doing. There is a risk that many other conservationists will be marginalized as radical along with Sea Shepard as opposed to rational or collaborative.

Sea Shepard's methods may also be reinforcing the stereotype that probably still lingers, if not loudly persists in some places, among fishers that conservationists are simply against them, out to ruin their livelihoods. It might close off dialogue or at least hamper those who want to work with fishers toward sustainability.

BUT as noted in a refreshing post from treehugger, Sea Shepard gets attention and they get results -- everyone knows their name and whale hunts are down.

Read the whole post here from treehugger.