F R O M   T H E   C R O W E ’ S   N E S T

Signs, Brochures and Rants



Long before 1997 there was a Save the Whales movement. Greenpeace used the intervention of whaling ships at sea for publicity. At a few locations around Boston, MA, Richard Maxwell Strahan had demonstration style that included signs, brochures and rants. He was reported to be confrontational and verbally belligerent at times. But he was persistent as well.

For years he set up a table and handed out whale information. He was said to have been arrested 150 times, mostly for whale protest related incidents. He filed at least as many lawsuits, which in many cases would be considered nuisance lawsuits.

All Strahan’s whale actions didn’t get much traction until he sued the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries in 1996 over protections for the North Atlantic right whale. That case, with the help of lawyers (Strahan is not a lawyer) went to the United States Supreme Court in 1997 where many of the claims were decided in his favor. That win is what Environmental Non Governmental Organization lawyers are using today to pressure NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service to reduce threats to right whales. But Strahan’s win also brought the right whale issue into the courts.

In a nation of laws, there is a better chance that the decision regarding who or what is responsible for the decline in the right whale population will be decided by science, evidence and lawyers in a court of law and less by inter and intra government agency politics, corporate manipulation of Congress or individual fears over job security.

The NOAA/NMFS strategy hasn’t changed much. They are not going to go after their bosses at NOAA. They are not going to go after themselves. They are not going to go after powerful government agencies or powerful industries like shipping, oil, plastics and energy.

The Maine lobster industry has been forced into a difficult position regarding lobster gear and right whales. But having the responsibility for threats to the right whale play out in court among lawyers and judges may help level the playing field for lobstermen. The bureaucracy will have less control and there will be no signs, brochures and rants.