Captain Paul Watson profile picture

Captain Paul Watson

All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only w

About Me

SEA SHEPHERD TIME CAPSULE
I will be placing a sealed Time Capsule on Scott Island in the remote Ross Sea near Antarctica in December. Send me a postcard, a photo or a business card saying save the whales or saying what whales mean to you. This is a message to the future from people who care for the whales and our oceans. Send along donation of any amount to help cover our fuel for our voyage to intercept and shut down illegal Japanese whaling activities. Send to Sea Shepherd Time Capsule P.O. Box 2616, Friday Harbor, Washington, USA 98250. In Canada send to P.O. Box 48446, Vancouver, B.C. V7X 1A2, Canada. In Australia our address is Suite 7, 288 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, Victoria 3065. In the the U.K. send to BCM-Bass, 27 Old Gloucester Street, London, U.K. WCIN 3XX. Your concern for the whales and our ocean will be preserved in this unique Time Capsule for centuries to come. Send ASAp, we depart for Antarctica at the end of November 2007.
LUSH and Sea Shepherd with Alice Newstead as she makes a courageous protest to save sharks.
Al Jazeera Interview August 13th, 2008 Part I
Al Jazeera Interview - Part II
Create your own visitor map!
Captain Paul Watson
Founder of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (1977)
Founding Director, Greenpeace Foundation (1972)Founding Member of Greenpeace International (1979)

I am currently the President of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a position I have held since 1977

I established the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as an organization to directly intervene to uphold international conservation law. It is not a protest organization. We intervene against illegal activities in accordance with the guidelines of the United Nations World Charter for Nature.

Today I command two ships. The 1,000 ton, 62 meter fast patrol boat "Steve Irwin" and the long range 50 meter, 655 ton trawler ice strengthened "Farley Mowat". Both ships operate internationally to intervene against illegal activities that exploit marine wildlife and habitats. We have also supplied a 3rd ship the "Sirenian" as a full time patrol boat for the Galapagos Island Marine Reserve. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society works in partnership with the Galapagos National Park to intercept poachers in the marine reserve
My nautical training came from service with the Canadian Coast Guard and from working on Norwegian and Swedish merchant marine vessels. I was the 1st Officer on the original Greenpeace whale campaign voyages in 1975 and 1976. I have extensive experience on all the world's oceans including ice navigation and weathering severe weather conditions. I have commanded over 250 voyages as Master and I've never had a crewmember injured, a record I am most proud of.
I was one of the founding members and directors of the Greenpeace Foundation. My Greenpeace lifetime membership number is 007. I am also a founding member of Greenpeace International in 1979

My academic background involved majoring in communications and linguistics at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. I have lectured extensively at universities around the world, and I was a professor of Deep Ecology at Pasadena College of Design from 1990 through to 1994. I was also an instructor in UCLA's Honors Program for 1998 and 1999. Currently, I am a registered speaker with the Jodi Solomon Speakers Bureau of Boston, and I regularly give presentations at colleges and universities in the United States, Australia and Europe and at special events throughout world.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is currently involved in opposing illegal whaling activities in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary by the Japanese whaling fleet and illegal whaling by Iceland, Norway and the Faeroe Islands in the North Atlantic.
Sea Shepherd has been involved since 200 in a partnership program with the Galapagos National Park to patrol and intervene against poachers, especially shark poachers. We are partnered with the Ecuadorian National Police to investigate poaching operations. We are also opposing the dolphin death drives in Japan and the seal slaughter off the coast of Eastern Canada.
The full outline of Sea Shepherd activities can be found on the Sea Shepherd website at www.Seashepherd.org including a place to download applications to volunteer for crew on campaigns.
There is nothing more satisfying than a sunken whaler. The latest whaler to be sent to the bottom is the killing machine Willassen Senior that sank "under mysterious circumstances on August 30th 2007 in the Norwegian Lofoten Islands. This is the fifth whaler sunk in Norway since 1992. Pictures below
Achievements for 2007 include the Sea Shepherd raids in partnership with the Ecuadorian National Environmental Police that resulted in the confiscation of 45,000 shark fins and 96,000 sea cucumbers. We arrested over a dozen members and exposed the Ecuadorian shark fin mafia. In July the Vice-President of Ecuador presented me with the Amazon Peace Prize. We were also presented with the flag of the Five Nation of Iroquis Confederacy and registration of our ships as the only two ocean going ships flying the Iroquis flag
In January 2008, my crew and I onboard the Steve Irwin shut down illegal Japanese whaling activities in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary for three weeks. We are returning to harass the Japanese whaling fleet in February and March. We have already costs the Japanese fleet millions of dollars in losses.
Create your own visitor map!
Bailing Out My Crew in Nova Scotia with Doubloons.
..
Captain Paul Watson wants you to check out a photo on MySpace in the My Photos album
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...

My Interests

"Sail forth - steer for the deep waters only, Reckless O soul, exploring, I with thee and thou with me, For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go, And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all." - Walt Whitman************************
Frozen Tears

I placate myself With the taste of infinity A friend's death brings

I have all voices, I am silent, He has no voice, He sings

Icebergs are the frozen tears of harpooned whales.

Frostigita larmo
Mi trankviligas min Per la senlimo-gusto Kiun la morto de amiko kauzas

Mi havas ciujn vocojn, Mi silentas, Gi ne havas vocon Gi kantas

Glacimontoj estas

La frostigital larmoj, De harpunitaj balenoj

- Lucien Zell

“First you will come to the Sirens, who bewitch everyone who comes near them. If any man draws near in his innocence and listens to their voice, he never sees home again, never again will wife and little children run to greet him with joy; but the Sirens bewitch him with their melodious song.” (The Odyssey) Every voyager encounters a Siren on the path to discovery and I encountered mine. It required all of my strength to resist and survive but in the end I did and my strength and determination have been revitalized.

My primary interest is in defending and protecting marine life in our oceans. It is my deepest passion and it is a fight that I have been involved in all of my life, a fight that I shall never retire from and will continue until the day I die.

I am Master Mariner and Educator, Author and Lecturer, Fund-raiser and Film-maker, and most of all a Marine Conservationist.

I am Master of the 657 ton ship Farley Mowat and the 1017 ton vessel Steve Irwin. The Steve Irwin has just completed a long campaign in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary against illegal Japanese whaling. The Farley Mowat is presently under seizure by Canadian authorities for documenting the slaughter of baby harp seals and it is a case we intend to win. The Sirenian is on permanent patrol in the Galapagos Natural Park Marine Reserve.

I am closely connected to the Scuba-Diving, Surfing and Vegetarian communities.

My recreational interests are poetry and writing, scuba diving, squash and fencing.

On the day that I was knighted by the divine gale, I knew that in my battles I could not fail, Nor could I, or my crew, be hurt or fall. Magic yes, that was the call, A truth felt in the deep depths of my soul, True, only if I keep true to my role.

The power was once so much stronger, Will it hold true for very much longer? Findings paths where trails don’t exist Engaging foes in the storms and the mist, Draped in a cloak of flowing mystery, Allowing me to weave myth with history.

Shepherd avenger on the storm tossed wave, So many species, so many lives to save, A madness of directed obsession, Into the wind I scream my confession. They know not what they do the fools, I know I can stop them, if given the tools.

A fair ship and a brave crew, Although good crew are so relatively few The obstacles increasingly grow Yet the power continues to flow, And as it does, I must act at will, Or all that I love they will surely kill

Within the dark confines of my inner being It is from there that I perfected the art of seeing, Seeing is treason to humanity For what is revealed is mass insanity Thus all rules are broken in this quest, No more must I regret or confess.

I'd like to meet:


HTML content to post goes here (e.g. text, images, objects, etc.)" / Share on MySpace!

Music:


The 2007 Sea Shepherd Rock the Boat Award was presented in October 2007 to long time Sea Shepherd supporters The Red Hot Chile Peppers. They first did a benefit for us way back in 1986 and have been supporters ever since.

Xavier Rudd has been incredible with his support for Sea Shepherd.

Zoli and Ignite have also been great supporters of Sea Shepherd over the years and this year helped us to raise over $50K for the whales

Trash McSweeney and the Red Paintings will be doing a major fund raising benefit for Sea Shepherd in Australia this year. This is one of the most unique musical groups that I have ever seen and they will be big soon on the world stage.

Movies:


The film The Edge of the World about the Sea Shepherd 2006/2007 Antarctic campaign will be released this year as a documentary. Sharkwater is is now on DVD and is opening in Europe and Australia to great reviews

Television:

The first season of Whale Wars featuring our 2007/2008 campaign to protect whales in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary will begin airing on Animal Planet on Friday night, November 7th. It will be a 7 part series running weekly at 9:00 P.M. P.M.

Books:

My books include:Shepherds of the Sea (1980) Sea Shepherd: My Fight for Whales and Seals (1982) Cry Wolf! (1985) Earthforce! An Earth Warrior's Guide to Strategy (1993) Ocean Warrior: My Battle to End Illegal Slaughter on the High Seas. (1994) Ocean Warrior. Mein Kreuzzug gegen das sinnlose Schlachten der Wale (German edition of Ocean Warrior) (1995) Au nom des mers (French edition of Ocean Warrior (1996) Ocean Warrior. Mijn gevecht tegen de plunderaare van de zee. (Dutch edition of Ocean Warrior) 2001 Seal Wars. Twenty-five years on the front lines with the harp seals. (2002)I am presently completing two books. The first is a book on our campaigns to oppose the Makah whale hunt to be entitled Bury My Myth at Makah Bay. The 2nd is an epic poem called Planet of the Whales.

Heroes:

My hero of heroes is Mocha Dick who from 1824 through 1859 killed 30 whalers in the South Pacific. When he died they found 19 rusty harpoons in his body - the greatest whale warrior of them all. My other great hero is Captain James I. Waddell the Captain of the Confederate raider Shenandoah who sank 35 whaling ships and saved the Bowhead and the Grey from Extinction.

My Blog

Sea Shepherd Calls for 20 Year Closure of the Grand Banks

Sea Shepherd Calls for a Twenty Year Closure of the Grand BanksUnless the DFO closes the Cod fishery, the species will become commercially extinct by 1995. They must stop catering to the greed of t...
Posted by Captain Paul Watson on Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:19:00 PST

Animal Planet to Air "Whale Wars" November 7th at 9:00P.M.

Animal Planet Follows Crusaders of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in 'WHALE WARS' - New Series Pursues a Chess Match at the Far End of the Globe between Hardline Non-Profit and Jap...
Posted by Captain Paul Watson on Sun, 28 Sep 2008 09:18:00 PST

In Memory of Paul Newman

In Memory of Paul NewmanWe lost a very great man today.Paul Newman was more than just an actor although he was one of the greatest actors of all time. He was 83. He is the closest thing I know of to...
Posted by Captain Paul Watson on Sun, 28 Sep 2008 09:01:00 PST

Special Delivery to Antarctica and the Future

Special Delivery to Antarctica and the Future  Send a Post Card to the Future.  My friends. In December I will be heading down to the Southern Oceans and the Ross Sea the fifth t...
Posted by Captain Paul Watson on Mon, 15 Sep 2008 03:35:00 PST

IWC Star Chamber* to Decide the Fate of the Worlds Whales

IWC Star Chamber* to Decide the Fate of the World's Whales  There is something very strange going on this week in St. Petersburg, Florida.  A secret meeting of the International Wha...
Posted by Captain Paul Watson on Mon, 15 Sep 2008 02:14:00 PST

Shin-ken shM-bu

                             Shin-ken shM-bu"Sail forth  steer for the ...
Posted by Captain Paul Watson on Sun, 14 Sep 2008 02:38:00 PST

It’s Time to Stop the Insanity of Cultural Slaughter in the Arctic

It's Time to Stop the Insanity of Cultural Slaughter in the Arctic   Commentary by Captain Paul Watson   I've had enough!   I don't care if I'm labeled a racist for daring to chall...
Posted by Captain Paul Watson on Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:48:00 PST

The Edge of the World Premiers at the Toronto Film Festival

The Edge of the World  Premiers at the Toronto Film Festival     The 2005/2006 Sea Shepherd voyage to the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary was documented by a film crew placed onboard by Ne...
Posted by Captain Paul Watson on Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:58:00 PST

Loyola, Well Miss Ya Bye

Loyola, We'll Miss Ya B'ye Commentary by Captain Paul Watson Founder and President of Sea Shepherd Conserv...
Posted by Captain Paul Watson on Sun, 07 Sep 2008 06:36:00 PST

Liberalphobia! - Why are Democrats so afraid of being called Liberals?

Liberalphobia!Why are Democrats so afraid of being called Liberals?First of all let me start by saying that I'm really not that political a person. I don't trust politicians and I think that the Ame...
Posted by Captain Paul Watson on Thu, 04 Sep 2008 03:25:00 PST