Alumni at Sea Shepherd on January 25

Sea Shepherd - Networking like pirates

On Reeder-Bischoff-Straße in Bremen-Vegesack, the strange black office is well-known by now. Unfortunately, not all interested alumni were able to fit in it, which is why we, together with Nadine Gerlach (alumna, biologist, and in charge of PR at Sea Shepherd), invited everyone to the University of Bremen. Fortunately! Because a large crowd was interested in this controversial organization. It was founded in the US as long as forty years ago and initially cooperated with Greenpeace. Over time, however, both NGOs have dissociated themselves from one another, with Sea Shepherd committed to pursuing active marine protection. And that, while most of them are volunteers – of the more than 200 activists in Germany, only one is paid. A dedicated service that is secured by work on land: information sessions in schools, fundraising, exhibitions, and fairs are held in order to finance the four large and five smaller ships of the fleet including their crew and equipment. The organization is also supported by large donors, such as the National Postcode Lottery in the Netherlands (one of the main supporters with 16.5 million Euro since 2007), who just announced their continued support until 2022. However, also smaller donors, supporters, and multipliers can advance the donation-based organization. Their main topics are illegal whaling and marine pollution from plastic waste. Under the slogan ‘Defend * Protect * Preserve’, Sea Shepherd activists in Germany particularly take care of the porpoise population at our coasts. Our alumna spoke in a gripping and captivating fashion, gave answers to all questions, and even after the presentation she was eager to network and discuss specific questions. It was an informative and vivid night – a networking topic knocking on an open gate in Bremen. Those who are interested but could not make the event can find more information at www.sea-shepherd.de – an energetic task that will save habitats in the long term.

A few days later, we were offered another highlight: On February 11, the ‘Bob Barker’, one of the Sea Shepherd ships, lay at anchor at Bremen Überseestadt. The alumni had the excellent opportunity to participate in their ‘open ship’ event.