Sea Shepherd’s New Ship – M/V Bart Simpson (almost)

A spiffy Razzle Dazzle paint scheme is not the only thing new over at Sea Shepherd, the controversial anti-whaling organization run by maritime fugitive Paul Watson.

The organization also has a new ship, the M/V Sam Simon, named for the donor of the vessel. Simon is better known as co-creator of America’s favorite cartoon family, The Simpsons.

Details about the new ship remain classified according to Watson, but we do know it was formerly owned by the German government (possibly an icebreaker) which is ironic considering the Germans arrested Watson earlier this year.

Season 5 of Whale Wars, the hit show featuring the antics of Sea Shepherd, showed a marked increase in hostility between the Shepherds and the Japanese whalers they are targeting.

Information Dissemination, a leading blog about Navy strategy, warns against the recent militarization of environmental NGO’s. In a recent post they tell us:

These developments appear to reflect the growing militarization in language, tactics, and equipment, of maritime eco-activists. By my count — with Greenpeace, SSCS, and Earthrace — three maritime conservation organizations are now involved with direct action. In spite of their well-intentioned motivations, one of the many features these groups have in common with terrorist groups is that they adapt and often splinter-off from each other. To wit, SSCS founder Paul Watson broke off from Greenpeace as he felt they weren’t aggressive enough and now Bethune is taking Oceanrace in his own direction. The line between these conservation organizations and non-state maritime actors with more malign intentions will likely continue to blur.

The announcement follows the donation of a ship by game show host Bob Barker and a long list of celebrity endorsements of the organizations controversial tactics leading to the question: Is hollywood ending its long support of peace initiatives in support of a military buildup on the high seas?

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