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Operation Bite Back: Rod Coronado's War to Save American Wilderness by Dean Kuipers 295 pages, Bloomsbury, 2009
Rod Coronado's most spectacular act of eco-sabotagc occurred on the evening of November 8, 1986. Coronado and David Howitt, both about 20 years old and members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, sought lo do nothing less than cripple Iceland's whaling fleet and draw attention to countries flouting a global ban on the hunting of whales then in place. Camouflaged in dark rain gear and ski masks, they first destroyed the Hvalfjördur whaling station, smashing its computer control room, confiscating record books to prove that Iceland was still killing whales, and dumping expensive repair equipment inio the fjord. They then sei their sights on sinking two of Iceland's four whalers. After making sure the boats were empty,- the two men loosened the valves that regulated how much seawater was used to cool the engines, eventually filling the boats and sending them to the bottom of the harbor. The following day; after successfully fleeing to London, they read about their work in the newspaper. They caused more than S2 million worth of damage and, important to both men, harmed no one....