Past Events

January 20th 2012 Big Day Out - Auckland

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society were at the last Big Day Out ever! Thanks to all our supporters that came along to the stall to chat or buy something, much appreciated. And thanks to the BDO organisers, we'll miss you guys!

November 2011 Grey Lynn Park Festival - Auckland

Great day at the iconic Auckland inner city festival. Thanks to all the people who came by to show their support!!

October 2011 Eco Festival - Invercargill

Sea Shepherd New Zealand's newest chapter in Invercargill hosted a stall at the Eco Festival on Saturday 8th October 2011.

About 500 people visited the 50 stalls at the 2nd annaul Eco Festival which was held in the badminton hall. Feedback from the general public was very encouraging, with 8 people wanting regular emails from Sea Shepherd, while 6 of those 8 are interested in becoming more involved with Sea Shepherd onshore.

Our childrens Whale activty sheet was a success and some parents even left their children with us while they veiwed the other stalls. Grant Meikle gave a 15 minute power point presentation on SSCS and Whaling in The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctury.

Sea Shepherd would like to thank Roger Gibbons (ex Bob Barker Chief Cook) and Pamela Ribeiro for travelling down from Central Otago, without them it wouldn't have happened.

By Invercargill Co-ordinator and On-Shore crew volunteer Grant Meikle.

February 2011
Steve Irwin Ship Refueling Visit - Wellington

I arrived a few days earlier than what was to be their arrival date so that I could organise some promotion and food donations for the crew. I suspected that being without any fresh fruit or vegetables for over a month they would be craving some fresh fruit desperately. It was my mission to make sure that the crew had a smorgasboard of fresh fruit platters on their arrival. The looks on their faces when they saw the platters was priceless. Passing the fresh food through the holes on the gangway, the crew pounced on the fruit like starving dogs!

The Steve Irwin stayed in port for 4 nights and 5 days. During that time, we held a merchandise stall, gathered donations from various food sources and entertained the crew by visiting various bars and clubs in the Wellington CBD.

It was a very productive time in Wellington and big thanks goes out to all the Wellington volunteers, and the local community and businesses that contributed to making the trip a successful stopover on what was to become their most successful campaign to date in the Southern Ocean.

By Melbourne On-Shore Volunteer Crew Member, Bridgette Gower

December 11 - 12th, 2010
Steve Irwin Ship Visit - Wellington

En route to Antarctica for Operation No Compromise, the MV Steve Irwin docked in Wellington Harbour for four days to a welcoming crowd of locals, visitors and volunteers.

Fittingly, there was a Maori Powhiri (traditional welcome) for the Captain Paul Watson and the ship’s crew as well as a special Maori Blessing for the Steve Irwin.

The Wellington Mayor, Celia Wade-Brown, made a welcome speech as well as Green Party Member, Gareth Hughes.

As always, the free ship tours provided an interesting perspective for people as they were guided through the vessel and once again, Captain Paul Watson drew an enormous, inspired crowd at his public talk.

On Saturday evening, we danced the night away to Barnaby Weir of the Black Seeds and Sam Manzanza and the African Beat Band. A huge thanks to all the musicians for helping make this charity concert happen. And who could forget the stunning performance by the breakdance crew!

We'd also like to say a huge thanks to all the businesses who donated prizes for the charity auction and the volunteers who came from far and wide on such short notice to help with the event (the stall keepers had a huge job all weekend!). We raised an amazing amount of money to put straight towards the Operation No Compromise campaign.

See the Captain Paul Watson’s article about the visit at http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-101214-1.html.

Photos courtesy of Sarah-Jane Grant

November 5th, 2010
Anti-Whaling Day - Christchurch

Businesses such as Whale Watch Kaikoura, Black Cat Cruises, The Antarctic Centre, Lush, Quest Health Club and the Lyttleton Coffee Company were among many joining the Christchurch Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary Awareness Day today in Victoria Square. The community event allowed people to participate in the online photo petition and protest at the continuing killing of whales.The aim is to reach 5000 photos and make a photo petition book to present to the government to show them how strongly kiwis feel about this important issue.

There were great prizes such as free Whale Watch trips up for grabs, along with competitions for the children and live entertainment. While the rain spattered on and off throughout the day, the organisers were happy with the turnout.

'There were so many people that came down in the bad weather, it was really good to see people wanting to do more to help the whales', said Ryan Garland, one of the event organisers. 'We want everyone in New Zealand to join in our online petition at www.antiwhalingday.org to get our government to take a stronger stance against Japan and stop them whaling this season'.

Gareth Hughes, Green Party MP, who spoke at the event called for the government to let groups such as Sea Shepherd have a break from having to fight the whalers and let the legal experts have a go. However, unfortunately at the moment the government’s stance means that these groups are necessary as there is no one else trying to protect the whales.

'The Green Party has been campaigning against a return to commercial whaling, and for the New Zealand Government to stand with our traditional anti-whaling allies in a case to the International Court of Justice. The public response to our campaign has been overwhelming. This issue is dear to the hearts of New Zealanders and the public understand that they have the power to convince their Government to protect the whales' he said.

Please tell your friends and family to visit the website and show your support. We need as many photo signatures as we can to show the government that the public of New Zealand want whaling to end now.

A big thanks goes out to the following organisations and businesses for their generosity and support of this event:

Whale Watch Kaikoura, The International Antarctic Centre, Aumoana Surf Gear and Street Wear, Black Cat Cruises Lyttelton & Akaroa, Christchurch Vegetarian Centre, FotoCopy design and print, Hanafins Camera & Video, LUSH, Lyttelton Coffee Company, Pacific Surfari, Piko Wholefoods, Quest Health Clubs, SAFE, Surf.co.nz and Surface Watch.

October 9th, 2010
Vegetarian Expo - Christchurch

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society volunteers had a great time at New Zealand’s largest vegetarian event.

We joined other non-profit organizations to celebrate World Vegetarian Day and World Animal Day with a focus on educating thousands of people about what Sea Shepherd achieves all year round, all over the world and how they can help.

Many thanks to Anna from the Vegetarian Centre for inviting us to attend the expo and to the amazing Christchurch volunteers that could help with this event on such short notice.

July 24th - 25th, 2010
Eco Expo - Christchurch Convention Centre

Sea Shepherd had a very successful stall at the Eco Expo in Christchurch. The expo provided and excellent opportunity to learn about realistic and achievable changes you can make to your everyday life. The Sea Shepherd on-shore crew had a great time chatting with interested expo-goers, selling merchandise and recruiting new fans!

March 2010
Steve Irwin Visit - Wellington

We were lucky enough to host the Steve Irwin in Wellington for a whole weekend in March 2010 on its way back from the Antarctic campaign, operation Waltzing Matilda. We kicked off the weekend with an official Maori Powhiri (welcome) to welcome the crew and captain off the ship.

It was a great opportunity for Kiwis and visitors alike, to see the Sea Shepherd vessel and meet the crew and Captain, and the ship tours that ran throughout the weekend proved to be very popular.

As well as speaking on the steps of Parliament alongside members of parliament, Sea Shepherd founder, Captain Paul Watson drew a large audience at his very informative and entertaining public talk at a café on the wharf. This was followed by an amazing charity concert that the Captain Paul Watson and the crew attended. Tiki Tane and Rhombus were among the performers who played at our concert on Saturday evening at Sandwiches Bar.

A big thank you to the following businesses and organizations who generously donated goods and/or services during this weekend: James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor, Hire Masters, Monsoon Poon, Commonsense Organics, Wairarapa Eco Farms, TV Manoia Organic Farm, Zoe’s Organic Garden, LV Martin Electronics, LUSH and Rapid Copy.

Sea Shepherd NZ On-Shore Coordinators with Tiki Tane

October 16th, 2009
Launch of the new Ady Gil ship (Previously known as Earthrace)

The launch of the new Earthrace ‘ADY GIL’ vessel went amazing and we raised over $5000.00.  Our Wellington Co-ordinator Lisa Baines organised this event with the help of the New Zealand team and we had great turnout and lots of fun.  We wish Pete Bethune and his crew on the vessel ‘ADY GIL’ all the best on their voyage and the same to the rest of the crew heading down on the Steve Irwin. GIVE ALL YA GOT TEAM!

August 27th, 2009
The Cove movie screening - Paramount Movie Theatre, Wellington

The Wellington team hosted a special fundraiser screening of THE COVE Movie.  We had a great turnout and raised over $1000.00.  We hosted this fundraiser after THE COVE movie was shown in Wellington as part of the Film Festival as many people did not get a chance to see it at this festival.