It is 15 meters long, can accommodate up to ten people and has a battery life of three to four days. The Walrus – in honor of the Canadian environmentalist Walrus (real name David Garrick) – is the new boat presented by Sea Shepherd France for the defense of the oceans. This boat will not confront illegal factory ships – the kind of punchy actions that have established Sea Shepherd’s notoriety – but will instead serve to “expose and show what is happening” at sea, he said. to AFP Captain Thomas Le Coz.
The Walrus will be able to carry out longer, more distant missions and under improved security conditions, announced the president of Sea Shepherd France, Lamya Essemlali, at a press conference. “The first mission of this boat will be against giant trawlers” in the Channel around mid-November, followed by “the protection of whales in Iceland (…) and pilot dolphins in the Faroe Islands” in 2024, declared Captain Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd.
Regulate commercial fishing
The latter calls for a 50-year moratorium to allow oceans and marine ecosystems to recover from commercial fishing, an industry he describes as the “extinction economy”. Deemed “too controversial” by certain members of the board of directors of Sea Shepherd Global, Paul Watson was ousted in 2022 from the organization “illegally”, he claims, but he remains associated with Sea Shepherd France.
Last March, fishermen demonstrated in front of Lamya Essemlali’s home, accusing Sea Shepherd France of wanting to put an end to their activities. “The objective is not to put everyone out of work, but to find solutions, because 10,000 dolphins dying every year is not acceptable,” Lamya Essemlali told AFP.