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A Saskatchewan activist is adjusting to life on land after being detained on an anti-whaling protest boat off the coast of Iceland.
Shannon Mann was stuck on the vessel for close to a week in early August, not knowing when she and her fellow crew members would be able to leave.
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Mann is now back in Saskatoon, after she was deported by the Icelandic government along with the rest of the crew. And despite the stress she went through after their ship was boarded by Icelandic authorities, she feels nostalgic for the weeks she spent at sea.
“Every night … I just dream that I’m back on the ship and I’m quite happy, quite content,” she said with a smile.
Mann was a deckhand on the anti-whaling protest vessel Bandero, which was boarded on July 30 by Icelandic security forces wearing body armour and carrying guns.
The Icelandic Coast Guard said they boarded it after the crew of whaling ship Hvalur 9 requested assistance because they believed their safety was under threat by the vessel.
It said the Bandero ignored coast guards’ instructions to leave Icelandic waters, and later an order to stop its engines.
Twenty-one crew members were detained, according to the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, which operates the ship. Most have now been deported.
Two crew members are expected to leave Iceland on Wednesday, leaving only the chief engineer on board from the original crew, the foundation confirmed on Tuesday.
The crew is facing a ban on returning to Iceland and many European countries, though they intend to contest it.
Both Mann and Canadian anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson say the dramatic boarding of the ship has made their mission a success.
“The intent of this was to focus international attention on Iceland’s continued illegal whaling operations,” Watson, 75, told The Canadian Press via video call from Boston.
“And that was very successful.”
He said the crew’s original intention was to interrupt whaling activities off Iceland’s coasts by blocking harpoons and documenting the process for a TV show.
When the Icelandic Coast Guard boarded the Bandero, the cameras were still running.
“The Coast Guard and the police were actually very helpful in that because when they boarded the ship it was a full SWAT attack. They were wearing body armour and guns and masks and helmets,” Watson said.
“We said, ‘That’s great images for the TV show.’”
Mann said their mission got support from people living in Iceland.
“I think the crew should be proud. It was stressful at times, but that’s nothing compared to what the fin whales endure on an almost daily basis (during whaling season),” she said.
The Bandero’s mission was the latest action associated with Watson, a marine conservation activist known for using controversial direct-action tactics, such as ramming and scuttling vessels.
Iceland is one of the only countries still practising commercial whaling, along with Norway and Japan.
The hunt is increasingly contentious in Iceland, where whale meat is now rarely eaten.
The Iceland prime minister’s office, the Office of the National Commissioner of Icelandic Police and the country’s industries ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
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