14 DAY TRIAL // Members and supporters of Sea Shepherd Australia are pleased to announce that the organization has recently added a brand-new vessel to its fleet.
The boat in question is named Bruce, and the environmentalists say that, for the time being, it will serve to keep a close eye on Western Australia’s ongoing shark cull.
Thus, Bruce is expected to soon join other vessels that have been deployed to monitor the cull, and the crew aboard it will have one mission: ensure the transparency of Western Australia’s shark killing campaign.
“Sea Shepherd Australia is pleased to announce that another boat will be added to the fleet of observers following the Department of Fisheries undertaking the shark bait and kill initiative in Western Australia,” the organization writes on its website.
The boat is said to sport a 150 horsepower engine, thanks to which it is capable of reaching a speed of up to 40 knots (roughly 46 miles per hour / 74 kilometers per hour).
According to Sea Shepherd Australia, Bruce is big enough to accommodate for a crew of up to six people at a time, maybe even more if the people aboard it do not value comfort all that much.
Information shared with the public says that the organization ended up adding Bruce to its fleet thanks to Liza, Mike, and Georgie Dicks, three greenheads who have been involved with the organization for about six years now.
Thus, the boat represents a donation that Liza, Mike, and Georgie hope will help Sea Shepherd carry on with its work to protect the world's remaining marine biodiversity.
“Governments and corporations look at our seas as a resource to be used for financial gain and benefit, whereas we believe that every animal has a right to peaceful coexistence,” Mike Dicks said in a statement.
“The shark cull is a ludicrous policy with no scientific basis, nor widespread community support and anything we can do to help in monitoring the process is time and money well spent,” added Lisa Dicks.
As previously reported, Western Australia’s ongoing shark cull is allegedly intended to make local waters safer by reducing the number of sharks inhabiting them.
In order to catch such marine creatures and then shoot them dead, drum lines have been installed along Western Australia’s beaches.
According to the people behind this initiative, the cull targets sharks measuring more than 3 meters (9.8 feet) in length that are ill inspired enough to venture at a distance of 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) or less from the shoreline.