Peter Hammarstedt
Meet Peter
NGO Leader
Los Angeles, USA
Peter Hammarstedt is the Chief Campaigns Officer for Sea Shepherd Global, an international nonprofit organization that supports law enforcement authorities to tackle illegal fishing through blue water interdictions.
Areas of activity:
NGO Leader & Activist
About:
In 2014, Peter Hammarstedt captained a ship that set the record for longest maritime pursuit in history, chasing an internationally-blacklisted vessel across three oceans and 10,000 miles before it was intentionally sunk by its captain off the coast of São Tomé and Príncipe. The dramatic chase was documented by the New York Times.
In the wake of the sinking, Peter created and piloted a “civilian offshore patrol vessel” program to support developing countries in efforts to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in their sovereign waters and sustain the health of the ocean. Joint patrols between Sea Shepherd and law enforcement agencies of eight African coastal and island states have resulted in the arrests of over 99 illegal fishing vessels over the past eight years. The program has now been expanded to the South Pacific.
Peter is the 2016 recipient of the Winsome Constance Kindness Gold Medal for Humanitarian Service and, on behalf of Sea Shepherd, he accepted the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) from the Liberian Ministry of National Defense, the highest military honor in Liberia.
Involvement:
Sea Shepherd
Sea Shepherd is a non-profit marine conservation organization committed to defending, conserving and protecting the ocean through an international fleet of ships engaged in innovative direct action campaigns. Sea Shepherd's goal is an ocean free from overfishing pressures; and a world where critical marine areas are protected from industrialized fishing and where conservation laws are upheld and enforced.