Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Columnist Susan Snyder: Rubin seas a chance for change

Jared Rubin's upcoming sea journey from Seattle to Newfoundland started almost 30 years ago with a wildlife television show.

Rubin, 35, was 6 or 7 years old and living near Boston when he watched a wildlife segment that was prefaced by a parental guidance warning. It showed hunters clubbing baby harp seals to death and harvesting their pelts.

"It really freaked me out," he said.

It still does.

This weekend the Las Vegas trade show executive heads to Seattle, where he'll join about 35 other members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on a monthlong voyage to stop Canadian hunters from killing baby seals off the coast of Newfoundland.

"I'm not sure what animal you could list that's cuter than a baby harp seal," Rubin said. "And to club it to death is ..."

Heinous, unconscionable, barbaric -- fill in the blank.

The Canadian government stopped seal hunts in 1986 largely because of pressure and publicity from such groups as Sea Shepherd, Rubin said. The hunts resumed in 1996 with one catch -- it is now illegal to videotape or photograph them.

In the past, Canadian naval ships have been used to keep photographers at bay with tear gas or by dragging ropes through boat propellers, Rubin said.

It's a far cry from the day job. Rubin moved to Las Vegas from Boston 18 months ago to take a job with GES Exposition Services. His duties involve walking the exhibition floors of Las Vegas' biggest trade shows making sure exhibitors have what they need.

It's demanding but flexible, allowing him to work a few shows, then take off the amounts of time needed for the monthslong activism voyages.

On Sea Shepherd trips, Rubin is in charge of keeping the ship's satellite communications connected. Last year the group spent three months filming illegal hunting in a whale sanctuary off the coast of New Zealand.

Members of the organization's volunteer crew represent nine countries. Their vessel, Farley Mowat, is a 1957 Norwegian navy patrol boat salvaged eight years ago.

They will leave on or about Feb. 1, traveling first to Galapagos Islands National Park to drop donated supplies to rangers. Then they will head on through the Panama Canal and up the coast of the Americas to the Gulf of St. Lawrence near Labrador and Newfoundland.

It should take about a month.

"These 'Survivor' and reality shows are nothing compared to what's going on on our ship," Rubin said. "You've got 35 to 40 people in tight quarters, sometimes from as many as 14 countries."

Hopefully, the weather will be agreeable. The group typically has just enough money to cover the cost of fuel, meaning there isn't enough for sailing around storms. They'll just plunge through and ride them out, as usual.

Rubin recalls one voyage when seas were so rough, only eight of them were able to eat dinner. And it wasn't because the plates kept sliding.

It's a good thing he possesses a couple of highly important traits.

"I love the ocean," he said. "And I don't get seasick."

To learn more about the voyage or to donate supplies or money, log onto www.seashepherd.org.

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