Bureau of Sabotage
The Non-State Navy: Sea Shepherd as a Case Study for 21st Century Maritime Non-State Actors
The last decade has again reminded us that irregular warfare can be every bit as challenging and deadly as conventional wars, even in the maritime setting. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Somali pirates, and Lebanese Hezbollah have demonstrated at least some capability to challenge the primacy of modern navies at sea. Maritime non-state actors wreaking havoc on the ocean are nothing new. Pirates in particular have menaced merchants and navies around the world for hundreds of years. But the advent of transnational terror groups with IEDs or modern anti-ship missiles capable of destroying a warship is fairly recent. The evolution of these non-state actors at sea challenges the conventional definitions of a naval force.
Among maritime non-state actors (MNSAs), the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has the closest assembly of platforms resembling a fleet since the demise of the Tamil Sea Tigers. The organization was established in 1977 as a non-profit marine conservation organization, founded by Paul Watson who had been with Greenpeace. [1] Examining Sea Shepherd’s goals, strategies, platforms, and tactics is a worthwhile endeavor because it serves as a model to understand the motives, operations, and threat posed by emerging maritime non-state actors. Understanding the irregular challenges these MNSAs pose can help navies and coast guards respond to similarly-structured groups in the future.