Bangkok, 4 October 2004: IWMC, the leading international pro-sustainable use conservation group, today condemned the Sea Shepherd environmentalist organization for offering substantial financial prizes to individuals who can provide the most sensational pictures of dolphins being caught in Japan.

Sea Shepherd has offered $10,000.00 to the person that provides it with "the most graphic and damning images" of the seasonal drive fisheries in the remote town of Taiji. The pictures will be used in Sea Shepherd's fundraising and publicity campaigns.

Eugene Lapointe, President of IWMC, said: "The traditional animal rights movement has lost the plot and is now more interested in obtaining publicity by any means than in conserving genuinely rare species." Taiji fishermen catch dolphins according to quotas calculated by Japan's Fisheries Agency. The quotas insure that overall stocks are not threatened.

By trying to incite Japanese villagers, with a one-off cash payment, into taking clandestine actions that are calculated to damage the local fishing industry, Sea Shepherd is, in reality, offering bribes.

Mr. Lapointe added: "Sea Shepherd wants local people to do its dirty work for it. It is running out of ways to publicize its activities and is offering blood money as a last resort."

Sea Shepherd is underwritten and supported by several Hollywood movie stars, including Martin Sheen, Pierce Brosnan and Sean Penn.