To the editor:

My name is Jonathan. I am with Troop 2, Barrington. I am writing to you to express my opinion about the Sea Shepard Conservation Society. 

Contrary to popular belief, the Sea Shepards are not crazy environmental pirates. They do amazing work protecting wildlife around the world, sometimes in partnership with East African governments that just don't have the resources to enforce their fishing laws. 

The Sea Shepards have done some dangerous things: some borderline illegal, and that will not change. Although they have done some wrongs, the international organization has done boatloads of good. Their goal is not to destroy illegal fishing boats, but to document illegal fishing and enforce fishing laws put in place by the UN World Charter for Nature. 

Although their goal is to document from a distance, at times they have taken action to defend ocean life. One of the more famous was when the Sea Shepard vessel Bob Barker, which is 171 feet long, was intentionally put between a Japanese whaling mothership and the 346-foot long Sun Laurel oil tanker to prevent a refueling. 

Despite some action, most of the best work done by them has been enforcing fishing laws in the Indian Ocean. These are mostly making sure fishermen are using legal means to catch fish. They have also worked with the Mexican Navy to stop the by-catching of vaquita, one of the most endangered marine animals. There are less than 100 left in the wild.

So the point of this is that the Sea Shepard Conservation Society needs our support financially as well as morally.

Jonathan Brady

Barrington