The Board of Directors of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society met on May 25th, 2005, and welcomed two new board members bringing the Sea Shepherd Board to five.

Current Board members Richard Dean Anderson, Dr. Ben Zuckerman, and Captain Paul Watson are now joined by diver/activist, photographer and long-time Sea Shepherd volunteer Kurt Lieber and renowned filmmaker/photographer Bob Talbot.

Kurt Lieber has worked with Sea Shepherd since 1992 in many different capacities beginning with managing our photo archives (which he did for 7 years) and volunteering in the office. Throughout the years he has also regularly given Sea Shepherd presentations to dive clubs, volunteered at information tables at a myriad of festivals and events, and he has worked as a crewmember on Sea Shepherd vessels both at sea and in port. In 2002, Kurt established the Ocean Defenders Alliancewith the objective of making California's coastal waters safer for ocean wildlife by removing dangerous man-made objects from the sea floor, especially abandoned commercial fishing gear that poses a threat to marine mammals, fish, invertebrates and reef systems.

Bob Talbot has been a member of the Sea Shepherd Advisory Board since 1995 and will continue to contribute greatly to Sea Shepherd's efforts to document our high seas campaigns to protect marine wildlife. Bob has joined the Sea Shepherds on the ice floes of Canada several times, most recently this spring, when he filmed devastating footage of sealers brutally killing seals. For over twenty years Bob Talbot's whale and dolphin photographs have inspired wonder in people around the world.  He has made it his life's work to foster a respect for animals and to fight to protect their habitat.  Talbot's photographs have been published in magazines such as Audubon, Time, Natural History, American Photographer, National Wildlife, Outdoor Photographer, BBC Wildlife and National Geographic, as well as numerous other publications. A filmmaker as well, Talbot filmed the wildlife sequences for the Warner Bros. series of FREE WILLY feature films and Universal Pictures' FLIPPER.  He directed and photographed the IMAX® RidefilmTM motion simulation system film, DOLPHINS - THE RIDE and acted as director and cinematographer for sequences in the Academy Award nominated MacGillivray Freeman IMAX® film, DOLPHINS.

The new Board has many exciting opportunities and challenges for 2005 and 2006. Sea Shepherd will mount an ambitious campaign to challenge the escalation of whaling by the Japanese and will carry on with existing conservation campaigns on the Grand Banks, Malpelo Island, and the Galapagos, as well as continuing the fight for the protection of the dolphins in Japan and opposing the Canadian seal slaughter.