Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is appealing to the Greenpeace Foundation to join forces with Sea Shepherd to oppose illegal Japanese whaling.

"The time to intercept the Japanese is this year. We must hunt them down, intercept them, and obstruct their illegal operations. We cannot allow them to slaughter endangered humpbacks and fins, and we cannot allow them to kill double their quota on minke whales," said Captain Paul Watson, the founder and president of the international Sea Shepherd Conservation Society based in Friday Harbor, Washington.

Paul Watson is one of the original founding members of the Greenpeace Foundation, and, in October 1971, he was one of the founding members of Greenpeace International. He was active with Greenpeace from the voyage to Amchitka to oppose nuclear testing in 1971 until he left Greenpeace in June of 1977. In August of 1977, Watson founded Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Sea Shepherd differs from Greenpeace in being an organization exclusively concerned with marine wildlife conservation issues as opposed to Greenpeace which covers a broader spectrum of environmental issues.

"If Greenpeace can send a ship to the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary in December 2005 to join efforts with Sea Shepherd's ship Farley Mowat we could present a strong, united front to oppose the Japanese slaughter of whales," said Captain Watson.

The Society's flagship, the R/V Farley Mowat, (named after Sea Shepherd International chairman Canadian author Farley Mowat), will be in Melbourne, Australia, in December for final preparations to depart for the Southern Oceans to hunt down the Japanese pirate whaling fleet.

"The whales need all of our efforts - strongly united, coordinated, and in agreement on a common goal - stopping Japan from reaching its self-appointed quota," said Captain Watson.