Vigilantes at Sea

"Established in 1977, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization. Our mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world's oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species," (seashepherd.org)

Vigilantism is not often something smiled upon by law enforcement, the government or the populace in general - at least not thought to be smiled upon. But there is a group of individuals out there roaming the seas that has garnered support from the aforementioned populace in particular (at least in some part) and they are known as the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
 
Due to their unorthodox tactics and firm ideology, the SSCS has, most often, not been embraced wholeheartedly by law enforcement and the government, although SSCS has, in the past, organized with several governmental organizations. Those, though, have fallen through due to the overzealous nature and hotheadedness of many of SSCS's members.

And their tactics don't aide in the their cause - they have been subject to registration restrictions as well as protests and attacks on their own vessels by frustrated fishermen and ideological dissenters alike. As indicated through the Society's mission statement:"Sea Shepherd uses innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document, and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas. By safeguarding the biodiversity of our delicately-balanced ocean ecosystems, Sea Shepherd works to ensure their survival for future generations."

These innovative and direct-action tactics are nothing more than ancient and widely used pirating techniques - SSCS ships have a notorious reputation for ramming, boarding, scuttling and disabling moored ships, and throwing bottles of butyric acid on ship decks. 


All of these tactics are viewed, in most circles, as unnecessary and overtly dangerous not only for those on the receiving end, but for the SSCS crews themselves. Yet international waters are not regulated to an extent that would allow for regulation of the SSCS's tactics.

The only truly agreeable tactic the SSCS employs is that of destroying drift-nets, nets that catch anything and everything in their paths regardless of the intended catch.

But do two wrongs make a right? Is the SSCS justified in taking (or making) law into their own hands, essentially becoming a good-man's pirate? I think it's a touchy subject. I believe in preserving the ocean for not only future generations, but our own and in sustaining vital ecosystems. Yet I also believe in a man's right to provide for himself, make a living, provide for his family and defend his possessions.

OK. So, many of the fishermen gone after by the SSCS are interacting in suspicious or down-right criminal activity. I support that. But I support it in close proximity to some kind of governmental enforcement agency. Vigilantism is a last resort - if everyone took the law into their own hands or acted violently for a cause they believed in deeply, chaos would reign supreme.

My concern is unregulated vigilantism. Just like unregulated fishing and everything these watchdogs fight for, unregulated sea-vigilantism could, and I stress could, burgeon into an international bane if left to continue its current course.