Marine Life & Conservation
Join Sea Shepherd Conservation Society And Supporters Worldwide At “World Love For Dolphins Day”
Demonstrations Against Taiji’s Brutal Dolphin Hunts to Take Place at Japanese Embassies and Consulates in the U.S. and Overseas
As Valentine’s Day nears, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is calling on supporters and concerned individuals around the world to join with them and their Sea Shepherd Cove Guardians as they show their love for dolphins and call for an end to the brutal capture and slaughter of cetaceans in Taiji’s infamous cove.
On Friday, February 13th, Sea Shepherd will show Japan just how much the world reveres dolphins with peaceful “World Love for Dolphins Day” demonstrations across the U.S. and other parts of the world. Sea Shepherd USA chapters will host demos at the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C. and Japanese consulates in cities across the nation, in solidarity with Sea Shepherd’s volunteer Cove Guardians currently on the ground in Taiji.
** Please note that because Valentine’s Day falls on a Saturday this year, when embassies and consulates will be closed, the “World Love for Dolphins Day” demonstrations are being held on Friday, February 13th. Make sure you check the correct location and time of the event nearest you. **
“Each year, entire families of cetaceans are driven into the cove and brutally separated, as pod members are either kidnapped and sold for captivity or ruthlessly killed. The Cove Guardians have seen firsthand the depth of the relentless greed and brutality in Taiji, but the love of dolphins, deeply felt by people around the world, is stronger than the killers’ desire for profit could ever be,” said Sea Shepherd Senior Cove Guardian Campaign Leader, Melissa Sehgal. “Please join Sea Shepherd as we ask Japan to heed the international community’s call for compassion and a forever peaceful, blue cove.”
How can you participate in “World Love for Dolphins Day” demonstrations?
1. Demonstrate at Japanese Embassies and Consulates
Sea Shepherd will be demonstrating outside the following Japanese consulates and the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C. Join Sea Shepherd and Sea Shepherd’s Cove Guardians at these locations to remind the Japanese government that the Taiji dolphin drive hunts bring dishonor to the entire nation of Japan, and that the world is calling on Japan to end the bloodshed. Download & print a poster, and join Sea Shepherd.
Poster 1
Poster 2
Poster 3
Poster 4
Poster 5
Dolphins of Taiji Leaflet (English)
Dolphins of Taiji Leaflet (Japanese)
More cities to be announced by Sea Shepherd soon.
US Demonstrations
Demonstrations begin outside the following locations at 12:00pm ET/PT and ends at 1:00pm ET/PT unless otherwise noted below. Make sure you check the times for your demo location:
Portland
Wells Fargo Center, Suite 2700
1300 S.W. 5th Ave
Portland, OR 97201
Seattle
601 Union Street, Suite 500
Seattle WA 98101-4015
Los Angeles
350 South Grand Ave, Suite 1700
Los Angeles CA 90071-3459
Denver
1225 17th Street, Suite 3000
Denver CO 80202-5505
Houston
2 Houston Center Building
909 Fannin Street
Suite 3000
Houston TX 77010
Washington DC (12pm-2pm ET)
Meeting at DuPont Circle Metro station 12pm and marching to Embassy of Japan DuPont Circle Metro
1525 20th St. NW
Washington, DC 20008
New York
Consulate-General of Japan in New York
299 Park Ave, 19th Floor
New York NY 10171-0025
San Francisco (10am-2pm PT)
275 Battery Street, Suite 2100
San Francisco, CA 94111
Boston (12pm-2pm ET)
Federal Reserve Plaza, 22nd Floor
600 Atlantic Avenue
Boston, MA 02210
Atlanta
Phipps Tower, Suite 850
3438 Peachtree Road
Atlanta, GA 30326
Honolulu
1742 Nuuanu Avenue
Honolulu, HI 96817-3201
Indianapolis
11 South Meridian Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Chicago
737 North Michigan Avenue #1100
Chicago, IL 60611
Miami
Consulate General of Japan
80 Southwest 8th Street #3200
Miami, FL 33130
Dallas (11am-2pm CST)
Dealy Plaza
Dallas, TX
Worldwide Demonstrations
Demonstrations will be held outside the following locations. Make sure you check the times for your demo location:
Toronto (11:30am-1:30pm ET)
77 King Street West
Suite 3300, TD North Tower
Toronto, ON M5K 1A1
Vancouver
900-1177 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC, V6E 2K9
Santiago (Feb 14. 4pm CLST)
Av. Ricardo Lyon 520
Providencia, Santiago, Chile
Melbourne (12pm-2pm AEDT)
GPO Steps
Cnr Bourke Street Mall & Elizabeth Sts
Melbourne, Australia
Copenhagen (3pm CET)
From City Hall Square to the Japanese Embassy
Copenhagen, Denmark
Chañaral de Aceituno (4pm CLST)
4th. Region
Chañaral’s harbor, Chile
Ottawa
255 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, ON K1N 9E6, Canada
The Hague (2pm-4pm CET)
Tobias Asserlaan 2
2517KC Den Haag
The Netherlands
Barcelona (11am-1pm CET)
Av. Diagonal, 640, 2ª planta D
08017 Barcelona, Spain
Madrid (11am-1pm CET)
Calle Serrano, 109
28006 Madrid, Spain
Rio de Janeiro (Feb 12. 15pm-17pm BRST)
Praia do Flamengo, 200
Rio de Janeiro
Because Feb 13 is carnival in Rio and the Japanese Consulate will be closed, this event is on Feb 12
Perth (12pm-2pm AWST)
U22 / Level 2,
111 Colin Street,
West Perth, WA 6005
Mexico City (11am-12pm CST)
Paseo de la Reforma, 395
06500 Mexico City, Mexico
Wellington (12pm-2pm NZDT)
The Embassy of Japan
The Majestic Centre
100 Willis Street
Wellington, New Zealand
Auckland (12pm-2pm NZDT)
Consulate General of Japan
AIG Building
41 Shortland Street
Auckland, New Zealand
Budapest (2pm-3pm CET)
H-1125 Budapest, Zalai út 7
Budapest, Hungary
Dublin
Nutley Building
Merrion Centre
Nutley Lane
Dublin 4, Ireland
2. Take a “selfie” picture, either at one of the planned demonstrations or wherever you may be in the world, holding your “World Love for Dolphins” Day sign and send it to Sea Shepherd.
Sea Shepherd will post your selfies on their social media pages to proudly display your love for dolphins. Download Sea Shepherd’s “selfie” image.
Email your photos to: worldlovefordolphins@seashepherd.org. Make sure you send your photos to Sea Shepherd by February 14th, 2015 at midnight PST.
3. Send a Valentine for a Dolphin directly to the Embassy of Japan
Remind the Japanese government that dolphins are loved and revered by millions. Download & print a Valentine for a dolphin here and send it directly to:
Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae
C/O The Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C.
2520 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20008
Sea Shepherd invites their global supporters and dolphin lovers to join in World Love for Dolphins Day and bring their concern to the doorstep of the Japanese government in cities around the world on the same day. If you are interested in organizing a demonstration at a Japanese embassy or consulate near you, email worldlovefordolphins@seashepherd.org to set up your approved event.
For a list of Japanese embassies and consulates worldwide, visit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.
For a staggering six months of each year, from September 1st until March, entire families of dolphins and small whales are driven into Taiji’s killing cove. Once netted within the shallow waters of the cove, their fate is sealed and the members of these doomed pods will face either imprisonment in captivity or brutal slaughter before the eyes of their families. Killers and trainers work side-by-side to select the “prettiest” dolphins and whales for captivity (those without visible scars). The others are mercilessly stabbed with a metal spike inserted into their backs, just behind the blowhole, to sever their spine. The dolphins slowly and painfully bleed to death or drown in the blood of their family; others may die as they are dragged to the butcherhouse, where the once living and free cetaceans are processed into meat for human consumption. These inhumane killings would not be allowed in any slaughterhouse in the world. Japan refuses to sign on to many protection efforts and regulations for marine mammals, despite most of the world recognizing the need to protect these self-aware, beloved and imperiled animals.
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society first brought the cove to the world’s attention by capturing and releasing now-iconic footage and imagery of the brutal hunts and slaughters in 2003, during which the cove turned blood-red. Later the Academy Award-winning film The Cove again shone a spotlight on the hunts, bringing worldwide attention to the killings. Many individuals thought the film succeeded in bringing an end to the hunts, but that was not the case. So in 2010, Sea Shepherd established Operation Infinite Patience and our volunteer Cove Guardians took up positions alongside the cove to document, report and live stream these atrocities in the hope of capturing attention to bring pressure to bear to stop these barbaric acts. Sea Shepherd is the only organization to have a team on the ground in Taiji each day throughout the entire six-month killing season, and the only group who live streams every capture and every kill for the world to see. Sea Shepherd’s Cove Guardians will not stop shining a light on this atrocity until the slaughter ends.
For more information, visit www.seashepherd.org/cove-guardians.
The Ocean Cleanup, the global non-profit project, has removed a verified all-time total of ten million kilograms (22 million lbs.) of trash from oceans and rivers around the world – approximately the same weight as the Eiffel Tower.
To complete its mission of ridding the oceans of plastic, The Ocean Cleanup uses a dual strategy: cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) to remove the plastic already afloat in the oceans, while stopping the flow of plastic from the world’s most polluting rivers.
Through cleaning operations in the GPGP and in rivers in eight countries, the cumulative total of trash removed has now surpassed ten million kilograms. This milestone demonstrates the acceleration of The Ocean Cleanup’s impact, while underlining the astonishing scale of the plastic pollution problem and the need for continued support and action.
While encouraging for the mission, this milestone is only a staging point: millions more tons of plastic still pollute our oceans and The Ocean Cleanup intends to continue learning, improving and innovating to solve this global catastrophe.
This announcement comes as governments from around the world meet to continue negotiations to develop a new legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution at INC4 in Ottawa, Canada. Representatives of The Ocean Cleanup will be in attendance and the organization will be urging decision-makers to collaborate towards a comprehensive and ambitious global treaty which addresses plastic at all stages of its life cycle and in all marine environments worldwide, including in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
It is encouraging to see that the need for remediation is reflected in the various options for potential treaty provisions. It is essential that the final treaty contains clear targets for the remediation of legacy plastic pollution, and reduction of riverine plastic emissions.
Tackling plastic pollution requires innovative and impactful solutions. The treaty should therefore incentivize the innovation ecosystem by fostering innovations that make maximal use of data, technology and scientific knowledge – such as those designed and deployed by The Ocean Cleanup.
‘After many tough years of trial and error, it’s amazing to see our work is starting to pay off – and I am proud of the team who has brought us to this point.’ said Boyan Slat, Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup. ‘While we still have a long way to go, our recent successes fill us with renewed confidence that the oceans can be cleaned.’
The Ocean Cleanup was founded in 2013 and captured its first plastic in 2019, with the first confirmed catch in the GPGP coming soon after the deployment of Interceptor 001 in Jakarta, Indonesia. After surpassing one million kilograms of trash removed in early 2022, the non-profit project has since progressed to the third iteration of its GPGP cleaning solution, known as System 03, and a network of Interceptors currently covering rivers in eight countries, with more deployments set for 2024.
About The Ocean Cleanup
The Ocean Cleanup is an international non-profit organization that develops and scales technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. They aim to achieve this goal through a dual strategy: stemming the inflow via rivers and cleaning up the legacy plastic that has already accumulated in the ocean. For the latter, The Ocean Cleanup develops large-scale systems to efficiently concentrate the plastic for periodic removal. This plastic is tracked and traced through DNV’s chain of custody model to certify claims of origin when recycling it into new products. To curb the tide via rivers, The Ocean Cleanup has developed Interceptor™ solutions to halt and extract riverine plastic before it reaches the ocean. Founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat, The Ocean Cleanup now employs a broadly multi-disciplined team of approximately 140. The foundation is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
For more information, visit: theoceancleanup.com and follow @theoceancleanup on social media.
Marine Life & Conservation
Steve Backshall to headline Shark Trust’s flagship event: For the Love of Sharks
Join a host of amazing, shark loving, speakers including Steve Backshall and the Shark Trust team for an evening celebrating shark conservation at the Royal Geographical Society in London this November.
Date: 29th November 2024
Time: 6-10pm
Location: Royal Geographical Society, London
Tickets: https://www.sharktrust.org/Event/flos24
The event will be a celebration of all things shark. Those lucky enough to get hold of tickets will hear from engaging guest speakers with a passion for sharks.
The line-up includes (*subject to change if unforeseen circumstances arise)
Steve Backshall: One of television’s busiest presenters, BAFTA award-winning wildlife expert Steve has been passionate about the wild world ever since he was young.
Steve’s impressive TV career has taken him all around the world, investigating a wide array of species and environments. Steve has filmed over 100 hours of children’s wildlife programmes with the BAFTA award winning Deadly 60 franchise and recently, with Sky Nature, for his new series ‘Whale with Steve Backshall’. He has been a patron for the Shark Trust for 10 years.
Simon Rogerson: is a photojournalist specialising in natural history, diving and the sea.
He is editor of SCUBA magazine, the official journal of the British Sub-Aqua Club. Simon started his career as a crime reporter but gravitated towards his ‘less depressing’ interest in underwater exploration, joining the staff of DIVE magazine in 1999. In 2005 he was named ‘Editor of the Year’ in the PPA’s Independent Publishing Awards. Simon also works as a freelance writer, contributing frequently to the Sunday Times and Telegraph, in addition to BBC Wildlife, Esquire, and a host of international diving magazines. He is the author of a book, Dive Red Sea, published by Ultimate Sports. Now based in Berkshire, Simon has been a Patron of the Shark Trust for 20 years.
More speakers to be announced soon. Head to the Shark Trust website to learn more.
The evening will also allow guests the final chance to see the Oceanic 31, shark art exhibition. Some of the artwork will be auctioned/raffled at the event, while the rest will be auctioned online to raise money for the Shark Trust Oceanic Programme.
For the Love of Sharks is an evening with something for everyone who is interested and fascinated by sharks. Join the Shark Trust, their Patrons, Trustees and Staff, along with a host of supporters for this celebration of shark conservation.
For more information or to buy a ticket: https://www.sharktrust.org/Event/flos24
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