Capt Watson's Resolve Remains - Stopping Japanese from Killing Whales

[Annces]

Editorial, Vancouver Sun, Canada
June 13, 2009

Watson's resolve remains
Shelley Fralic



It seems almost inconceivable that 40 years after he first set out on the path that would turn him into an international eco-warrior, decades after his work with Greenpeace and after founding his infamous Sea Shepherd Society, that Paul Watson would still be hard at it. Oh, his thick head of hair is a lot whiter now, and his girth a tad wider, but the steely planet-saving resolve has softened not a bit. That's because Watson's work is not yet done, certainly not when it comes to stopping the slaughter of whales by the three nations -- Norway, Iceland and Japan -- that continue to harvest them despite a international moratorium in 1986.


That it's a bone of contention for Watson would be an understatement -- Japan uses the "lethal research" loophole to justify its so-called scientific fishery, while Norway and Iceland have simply disregarded the moratorium and continue to hunt commercially for whale meat -- and he makes no apologies for his controversial tactics of high seas confrontation.

Watson is an advocate of direct action, and over the years has been arrested, beaten, jailed, fined, ousted, accused of piracy and offences that include disabling whaling ships. He has gone up against the fishing fleets and the governments of Newfoundland, Iceland, Costa Rica, Russia, Japan, Norway and the Netherlands, but has long defended himself by invoking international law, and the right of his vessels to enforce maritime regulations against illegal whalers.

And yet, these many years on, the whaling continues. And just in case that surprises you, that you thought whaling was an archaic tradition relegated to the past, you'll be quickly reminded of the ugly, bloody reality when the second season of Whale Wars debuts. The show documents Watson, captain of the 195-foot MV Steve Irwin and his working crew of 33, along with a dozen or so media members and their cameras, as they set out from Brisbane, Australia in December 2008 to confront the Japanese whaling fleet fishing for its quota of endangered fin and non-threatened minke whales in the Antarctic's Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

Chris Altman, the Sea Shepherd's campaign coordinator and director of aviation (the Irwin has a helicopter), is on the phone Monday from his home base in California and recalls that the four-month campaign in the Ross Sea -- with a total of 78 days at sea to produce 11 one-hour episodes for the season -- had its wild moments of drama and clashes on the open ocean, but was marked by what Watson and the society consider great success: There were no injuries, worldwide awareness was raised and the Japanese fleet was kept from taking its intended quota of about 1,000 whales (including 50 rare fins).

"To put it in our terms, they were 305 whales short," says Altman. And Toronto-born Watson, who is 58 and was named by Time magazine in 2000 as an Environmental Hero of the 20th Century, will continue to lead the charge.

To supporters, he's a high-seas saviour, standing up against not only whaling and sealing but poaching and shark-finning. To detractors, he is an adrenaline-fuelled terrorist, a lawless pirate with total disregard for convention. And where he goes, controversy follows in his wake. That Watson's tactics are considered questionable is something to debate over the barbecue. That he still has a job, is still trying to stop a few misguided countries from killing whales for no good reason, is what's really shameful.

http://www2.canada.com/windsorstar/news/editorial/story.html?id=969c9f03-fe93-404a-a909-50cffd986bb8






Whale Wars, Fridays, Animal Planet, 9 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEF8RzFbCz4

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. Given his bent for "direct action" how will react when such tactics are used against him

Live by the sword, die by the sword and all that.