As the captains and crew of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society prepare for another voyage to Antarctica to defend the whales, the organization has also added a few familiar faces to their International Board of Advisors.

Sea Shepherd announced yesterday that Sean Connery, pro-surfing champion Stephanie Gilmore, and The Simpsons writer, producer, director and co-creator Sam Simon are now onboard as advisors. With the addition of another ’007′, Captain Paul Watson said, “We are fortunate to have Pierce Brosnan, Christian Bale, Richard Dean Anderson, Martin Sheen, William Shatner, and Marina Sirtis among Sea Shepherd’s devoted members and supporters. Today we gained a new Advisory Board member-Sean Connery. How can we lose? We have two James Bonds, Batman, MacGyver, a former ‘President of the United States,’ Captain Kirk, and Counselor Troi on our side.”

Gilmore, a four-time Women’s World Surfing Champion, joins fellow surfers Dave “Rasta” Rastovich and Kelly Slater as a Sea Shepherd advisor. Watson regards surfers as an important part of the organization. “Having Stephanie on our team with Kelly and Rasta places Sea Shepherd in very high regard in the surfing world. Surfers are the greatest human ambassadors for the sea and these three world-class athletes are each a very powerful voice for ocean conservation.  Together they represent a huge wave of support in our efforts to defend biodiversity and life in our seas.”

Simon, who has won Emmys and a Peabody award for his work, is also a long-time supporter of Sea Shepherd, and recently hosted a fundraising event for the upcoming Antarctic campaign, Operation Divine Wind. He said, “I’m proud to be a member of Sea Shepherd’s International Board of Advisors and look forward to the day direct action brings an end to whaling and other outdated horrors.”

The Sea Shepherds will be heading out soon. The organization posted a photo to their Facebook and Twitter pages yesterday of the Nisshin Maru, factory ship of the whaling fleet, leaving port and wrote, “The Nisshin Maru heading South in the Inland Sea of Japan. The Cetacean Death Star with a small army of private security storm troopers and Japanese Coast Guard officers begins it’s mission to invade the waters of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to terrorize endangered and protected whales. Sea Shepherd will be waiting for them to arrive.”

(Source: www.ecorazzi.com )