Canada Busts Notorious Swordfish Killer - Linda Greenlaw from Perfect Storm by Capt Paul Watson

[Annces]

Finally, Canada has shown they are capable of enemy identification with the arrest last week of notorious swordfish killer, and now poacher, Linda Greenlaw.


Linda Greenlaw






The New England based Greenlaw is famous for being portrayed in the movie Perfect Storm by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. She is also famous for diminishing swordfish populations in the North Atlantic and for attacking conservation efforts to protect swordfish.

Greenlaw left the port of Fairhaven, Mass on September 16 with the 67-foot longliner Sea Hawk. Accompanying her was a film crew from Original Productions of Burbank, California doing a television series on swordfishing.

Canadian Department of Fisheries (DFO) spokesman Sam Whiffen said that surveillance aircraft spotted Sea Hawk on Sept. 23, engaged in actively targeting swordfish inside Canadian territorial waters. DFO officers from the Canadian Coast Guard ship Cygnus boarded the fishing boat and placed Greenlaw under arrest.

Apparently. Greenlaw could not find any swordfish in the waters she has plundered for the last two decades.

According to The Ellsworth American, on October 2nd, 2008:

The 210-foot Cygnus escorted Sea Hawk into St. John’s, Newfoundland, early on Friday. Greeted by a hoard of media, a handcuffed Greenlaw later appeared in the Provincial Court on charges of violating Canada’s Coastal Fisheries Protection Act. She was released on $10,000 (Canadian) cash bail, and ordered to return to court on October 27. The Sea Hawk and its catch of swordfish were released on $55,000 bond, and reported sailed for Fairhaven (United States)…

According to published reports, the Original Productions crew was filming for a reality series to be shown on NBC television. Original is the creator and producer of the popular television series about the Bering Sea crab fishery, “Deadliest Catch.”

“I hope that the film crew captured her poaching activities on film and that the program they are working on will illustrate the diminishment of the swordfish populations in the Northern Atlantic,” said Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Executive Director Kim McCoy.

Sea Shepherd is happy to see Canada actually pursuing poachers instead of wasting so many millions of tax-dollars trying to keep conservationists from witnessing and documenting the slaughter of Harp seals. In April, Sea Shepherd Captain Alex Cornelissen of the Netherlands and 1st Officer Peter Hammarstedt of Sweden were arrested on board the Sea Shepherd ship Farley Mowat for violating the “Seal Protection Act” by witnessing the slaughter of the seals. In Canada it is a crime to witness or document a seal being killed. The penalty is up to a year in jail and over $100,000 in fines.

It will be interesting to see how the two cases compare. Both were released under a $10,000 bond. Linda Greenlaw has already had her vessel returned to her but the Farley Mowat remains under seizure in Sydney, Nova Scotia until the trial sometime in April 2009.

Strangely, there is a Sea Shepherd connection with the Perfect Storm story. Karen Stimpson, who served as Sea Shepherd 2nd Mate in 1986, was later crewing on a yacht caught in the infamous storm and was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard, an incident portrayed in the movie and detailed in the book by Sebastian Junger.

“Linda Greenlaw is an example of the destructive mentality that views oceanic eco-systems as something to be looted and destroyed,” said Captain Paul Watson. “She is a swordfish serial killer and an environmental terrorist whose greed and ecological ignorance has been legendary.”

When Boston’s top chefs voluntarily decided to not serve endangered swordfish, it was Greenlaw, using her celebrity status, who attacked them and told them to mind their own business. Of course the chefs were indeed minding their own business, but Greenlaw is more inclined to attack and appears to be arrogantly unconcerned for the future of the swordfish species.

“She wallows in her macho reputation as a tough fishing woman who loves to slaughter these magnificent aquatic predators,” said Captain Watson. “Let’s hope that the Canadian courts will teach her a lesson. She may be a celebrity poacher but she is still a poacher nonetheless.”

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_081006_1.html


(Too bad she has no sense of ecology, a plunderer).

[WhiteTara]

1. what a disgusting piece of work

rot in jail Linda.

[One_Life_To_Give]

2. Would Billy Tyne be much different?

Aside from fishing inside the Canadian Economic zone. I don't see anything here that paints her as different from any other commercial fisher. Wouldn't a coal miner have similar statements regarding switching to alternatives.

Swordfish Serial Killer sounds over the top IMHO.

[Annces]

3. Over the top is actually the rational response

People concerned solely about profit need to be treated as the threats to ecosystems that they are.

[ignignokterr]

4. oh my!

I agree the actions by Linda Greenlaw are shocking....
Almost as shocking as Al Gore serving Chilean Sea Bass
at his daughter's wedding.

[jpak]

5. Well that post was served with a generous helping of RW horseshit

Al Gore's fish dinner turns out green

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/07/19/eagore119.xml

<snip>

But the fish enjoyed by the Gores were not endangered or illegally caught.

Rather, the restaurant later confirmed, they had come from one of the world's few well-managed, sustainable populations of toothfish, and caught and documented in compliance with Marine Stewardship Council regulations. The Gores' spokesman, Kalee Kreider, admitted that the fish has been on the menu, but said: "The Gores absolutely agree with this humane society and the rest of the environmental community about illegally caught Chilean sea bass.

"The problem is huge. This is unfortunate, we have been in touch with the society today. The really important thing is that people become more aware of this issue."

<more>

nice try though

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Would you be shocked to know that we serve a lot of pizza here at DU?

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Dayum. I had no idea. Shame on you Linda!

[XemaSab]

8. After watching Paul Watson last night on "Whale Wars"

I'm not such a fan.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jpak]

10. Welcome to DU!

:evilgrin:

[mattyparsons]

11. lets try this again.

after my first post being curiously deleted, i feel as though i should try this again.

let me once again start by saying that the north atlantic swordfish stocks are classified as FULLY REBUILT with NO OVERFISHING OCCURING. this is very important to this conversation. i work in fisheries management so i know first hand.

when people (those who posted in this thread, boston chefs, etc.) state that "swordfish stocks are depleted." they do not know what they are talking about. it really is a shame because this data is readily available. it seems that ignoring that data to fulfill an anti-fishing agenda is more important to frighteningly many individuals.

to call linda greenlaw a "swordfish serial killer" is absurd. to say she should rot in prison is equally absurd and inflamatory, because something tells me you feel the same way regardless of the poaching charge. she should be punished for fishing in canadian EEZ.

the hatred that so many individuals seem to have toward fishermen is irrational and frightening. that you would rather tell someone that they are no longer allowed to work and feed their families just so you can go to bed at night knowing that no harm will come to these precious swordfish is ethically reprehensible. swordfish stocks, like all other fish stocks, can withstand a level of human harvest. Each year, there are more swordfish born than the ecosystem can handle. HOWS THAT FOR A SENSE OF ECOLOGY? things don't happen in a vacuum. if all swordfishing were to cease, you would have a glut of top predators. glut of top predators would lead to either starvation of those same swordfish you hold so dear, or the herring and other forage fish to become depleted. and something tells me that you wouldn't pick up the "save the herring from the swordfish" mantra.

and that's where the current "environmentalist" movement falters. you people focus so heavily on the pain and suffering of wild animals, and you blatantly disregard the pain and suffering of your fellow human beings. and that's why you are in the fringe minority.

thankfully as well. for if opinions like yours were in the majority, then i do believe the human race would have gone extinct long ago.

and now if this post gets deleted, i will know that its not because of my tone, but because of blatant censorship and groupthink

[Citizen Number 9]

12. Another fine performance by Sea Shepherd

Their credibility is heading towards the depths.

Linda's arrest would appear to be a civil matter as opposed to an ecological issue.

[LeftyMom]

13. Populations in an ecosystem are naturally self-regulating.

There are too many born of pretty much everything. Many of them die prior to adulthood for one reason or another. That's actually vital to the health and continued genetic diversity of a species.

Christ, the stupid shit people post on this board sometimes. :eyes:

[mattyparsons]

14. hmm

i certainly hope your reference of "stupid shit" was not to my post.

[Nihil]

15. I don't think there was any doubt whatsoever about that ...

... but you can take that whichever way you choose ...
:evilgrin: