Sea Shepherd Founder and President Captain Paul Watson is attending the 59th Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) that begins on May 28th in Anchorage, Alaska.

This is the first IWC meeting that Captain Watson has attended since the 1997 IWC meeting when he and Sea Shepherd were invited to attend as a special guest by the host nation of Monaco.

Sea Shepherd has been banned from attending the IWC meetings since 1987 after Sea Shepherd enforced the IWC global moratorium on commercial whaling by sinking half the Icelandic whaling fleet in Reykjavik Harbor in November 1986.

Captain Watson will not be an official delegate, but he will be available to the media and the public to answer questions on Sea Shepherd interventions against illegal Japanese and Icelandic whaling activities.

Sea Shepherd intends to return to the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary in December 2007 to once again intervene against the poaching activities of the Japanese whaling fleet.

"This year is where we must stop Japan at all costs," said Captain Watson. "We cannot and we must not allow the outlaw Japanese whalers to kill endangered humpback and fin whales, and we must continue with our efforts to prevent the illegal slaughter of piked (Minke) whales. My crew and I are prepared to risk our ship and our lives to stop this criminal slaughter. Sea Shepherd does not break laws; we uphold the laws protecting the whales. Our intention, in December 2007, will be to uphold international conservation law to protect endangered whale species inside an established and recognized Whale Sanctuary."

Captain Watson responded to Japanese whaling industry charges that Sea Shepherd is engaged in terrorist activities by opposing their illegal whaling. "We do not intend to injure anyone and our history of actions over three decades illustrates our respect for life very clearly. We have never injured a single person and we only intervene against illegal activities. For Japan to call us terrorists for upholding the law in accordance with the principles of the United Nations World Charter for Nature is as ridiculous as a bank-robber calling the police terrorists for trying to make an arrest."

Sea Shepherd continues fighting whalers both in the North Atlantic and in the Southern Ocean as the Sea Shepherd ship Farley Mowat is presently at sea and heading towards Iceland to oppose illegal Icelandic killing of fin and piked whales.

Captain Paul Watson will be available for interviews in Anchorage From May 28th to May 30th.

The meeting takes place at:

The Hotel Captain Cook
4th at K Street
Anchorage, Alaska 99501
USA Tel: +1-907-276.6000
Fax: +1-907-343-2298
Website: www.captaincook.com