Pete Bethune is another "Whale Warrior" from New Zealand. Pete is best known for skippering his boat, Ady Gil, in 2010 on a Sea Shepherd campaign. Pete built the Ady Gil, originally named Earthrace, to prove that it could run solely on biofuel. Earthrace won the world record for fastest trip around the world in Earthrace using only bio-diesel from sustainable sources. The trip took him 60 days, 23 hours and 49 minutes.
The boat was sold and renamed by the buyer, Ady Gil, on October 17, 2009. Ady chose Pete to skipper the boat on the Sea Shepherd campaign where the boat was involved in a collision on January 6, 2010 with the Japanese whaling vessel the Shonan Maru 2.
On February 15, 2010, Pete decided to take the law into his own hands and board the Shonan Maru 2. He was charged with trespassing, assault, illegal possession of a knife, destruction of property and obstruction of business. Pete went to trial on May 27 and was deported back to New Zealand in July 2010.
Upon his return, Pete wanted a new outlet for his beliefs in ocean conservatism after his relationship with Sea Shepherd ended, and he founded Earthrace Conservation.
Earthrace Conservation's missions include:
Captivity
Education
Habitat
Hunting
Illegal, Unregulated, Unreported Fishing
Earthrace Conservation is a global organization covering Australia, Europe, Africa, Australia and Latin America.
Shame the boat sunk.
ReplyDeleteThat is..er, was...one cool-looking vehicle! And don't you think Pete looks exactly like who you would cast to play such a cool guy?
ReplyDeleteA beautiful whale recently got washed up on the coast not far from us. It was injured and sick which is why I think it ended up so far adrift. So sad.
ReplyDeleteI have left you a tag to the 'Be Inspired' meme over at my place. Feel free to collect it anytime if it is of interest to you.
Ocean conservation is very important. Nice to meet you on Alex's blog yesterday.
ReplyDeleteearthrace conservation sounds like a dynamic organisation. Good luck to Pete & followers
ReplyDeleteHi Heather,
ReplyDeletePete Bethune's dedication and following his ideals, is to be admired. Much respect for that and thank you for posting this.
Have a peaceful weekend.
Gary