Captain Paul Watson
the man who dedicates his life to fight for the survival of ocean life,
vital for the survival of all

Paul Watson (born December 2, 1950) is a Canadian animal rights and environmental activist, who founded and is president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a direct action group devoted to marine conservation.

The Toronto native joined a Sierra Club protest against nuclear testing in 1969. He was an early and influential member of Greenpeace, crewed and skippered for it, and later was a board member. Watson argued for a strategy of direct action that conflicted with the Greenpeace interpretation of nonviolence, was ousted from the board in 1977, and subsequently left the organization. That same year, he formed Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The group is the subject of a reality show, Whale Wars.

He also promotes veganism, voluntary human population control, and a  biocentric, rather than anthropocentric worldview.

May 12, 2012
Captain Paul Watson arrested in Germany for extradition to Costa Rica  

Sea Shepherd Statement from May 13, 2012:

Captain Paul Watson was arrested yesterday in Germany for extradition to Costa Rica. The German police have said that the warrant for Captain Watson's arrest is in response to an alleged violation of ships traffic in Costa Rica, which occurred during the filming of Sharkwater in 2002. The specific "violation of ships traffic" incident took place on the high seas in Guatemalan waters, when Sea Shepherd encountered an illegal shark finning operation, run by a Costa Rican ship called the Varadero. On order of the Guatemalan authorities, Sea Shepherd instructed the crew of the Varadero to cease their shark finning activities and head back to port to be prosecuted. While escorting the Varadero back to port, the tables were turned and a Guatemalan gunboat was dispatched to intercept the Sea Shepherd crew. The crew of the Varadero accused the Sea Shepherds of trying to kill them, while the video evidence proves this to be a fallacy. To avoid the Guatemalan gunboat, Sea Shepherd then set sail for Costa Rica, where they uncovered even more illegal shark finning activities in the form of dried shark fins by the thousands on the roofs of industrial buildings.

Conservationists around the world maintain hope that the Costa Ricans will drop the charges against Captain Watson. There is also a chance that the charges have already been dropped, but Sea Shepherd has been unable to confirm that with the Costa Rican officials. With Costa Rica's rich biodiversity, it would be a travesty for them not to stand up for sharks, which sit at the highest levels of the food chain assuring balance among ecological communities in the ocean.

While in jail, Captain Watson is being assisted by the European Parliament Vice President Daniel Cohn Bendit and the European deputy Jose Bove. Our hope is that these two honorable gentlemen can set Captain Watson free before this nonsense goes any further. The European Sea Shepherds have also mobilized to support Captain Watson. 

Sea Shepherd statement from May 17, 2012

Sea Shepherd expected news on the fate of Captain Paul Watson to be announced yesterday by the German Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt but as hours passed on, no word was received from the general public prosecutor until close of business hours.  At 1800 hrs, the general public prosecutor finally submitted his motion for a preliminary extradition arrest warrant against Captain Paul Watson.  The late filing of this motion, coupled with a German bank holiday today, has given Captain Paul Watson’s supporters and allies until this Friday to appeal to German Federal Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Guido Westerwelle’s standards for International Human Rights.

Lead legal counsel for Captain Paul Watson, Oliver Wallasch, had this to say about the general public prosecutor’s motion on Wednesday:

“Absolutely unusual – I never had this experience in all my practice in cross border cases – the fact that the public prosecutor stated, that the German Ministry of Justice and the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs have the power to stop the extradition procedure on political reasons.”

Thus the keys to Captain Paul Watson’s freedom are in the hands of the Honorable Minister of Justice and the Honorable Minister of Foreign Affairs. We therefore ask all supporters of Captain Paul Watson to immediately contact the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to ask them to end the unjust and politically-motivated extradition of Captain Paul Watson before a panel of judges decides Captain Paul Watson’s fate on Friday.

For days, Sea Shepherd supporters from Germany and around the world have expressed their concerns about the political nature of this extradition, as well as their concern for the safety of Captain Paul Watson, to Federal Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger. Given the motion made by the general public prosecutor, it is now time to also focus attention on Minster of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Guido Westerwelle. Either Minister (or both Ministers) can take the action that Interpol has already taken and acknowledge that the case against Captain Paul Watson is politically-motivated and is a violation of Captain Paul Watson’s human rights.

Should the Honorable Ministers fail to put the brakes on the persecution of Captain Paul Watson, the extradition process will proceed and Costa Rica will have a maximum of 90 days, from the time that he was arrested, to put forward their bogus case for extradition. During this time, Captain Paul Watson would remain isolated in prison, awaiting an extradition that would be tantamount to a death sentence.

The Taiwanese Shark Fin Mafia has had a $20,000 bounty on his head for years.  We know the arm of the Taiwanese Shark Finning Mafia reaches not just to the illegal fishing industry in Costa Rica, but also to the prison system there. Sea Shepherd fears that not only would Captain Paul Watson not receive a fair trial in Costa Rica, but he would likely not survive jail long enough to see the inside of a court room.

This is our final effort to ask the Honorable Ministers to intervene before the extradition process officially begins.  We only have hours to change the minds of the German officials who can make a difference and not only save the life of Captain Paul Watson, but also save the lives of whales, dolphins, seals, and fish that he has spent his life courageously defending.

While visiting Captain Paul Watson in prison, Ship Operations Officer, Peter Hammarstedt and Director of Intelligence and Investigations, Scott West were able to obtain a handwritten note from Captain Paul Watson to his supporters, which you can read at the bottom of this article.

Please call, email, and fax the following Ministers:

Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger
Federal Minister of Justice
Deutscher Bundestag

Platz der Republik 1
11011 Berlin

Telephone 030 - 227 751 62
  from outside Germany dial  +49 302 277 5162      
Fax 030 - 227 764 02
  from outside Germany dial +49 302 277 6402      
E-Mail: sabine.leutheusser-schnarrenberger@bundestag.de

Federal Ministry of Justice
Mohrenstrasse 37

10117 Berlin
Germany
Telephone: +49 (030) 18 580-0      
Telefax: +49 (030) 18 580-9525

Dr. Guido Westerwelle - Minister of Foreign Affairs
FDP-Bundestagsfraktion
Platz der Republik 1

11011 Berlin

Tel.: 030 / 22771636  from outside Germany  +49 302 277 1636      
Fax: 030 / 22776562  from outside Germany  +49 302 277 6562      
E-Mail: guido.westerwelle@bundestag.de

Sea Shepherd statement from May 18, 2012

Bogus Extradition Process to Proceed, but Captain Paul Watson Granted Bail
Higher Regional Court Defers Judgment to Ministry of Justice

In an extraordinary move by the German Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt, the court has granted the general public prosecutor’s request for Captain Paul Watson’s preliminary arrest for extradition to Costa Rica.  However, the court has also granted bail for Captain Paul Watson during the time the court considers whatever documentation Costa Rica is able to provide to substantiate their bogus allegations against Captain Paul Watson. It is expected that Captain Paul Watson will be freed on bail on Monday, May 21, 2012. Sea Shepherd’s legal team says this is an unusual, but promising move on the part of the Higher Regional Court and is further indication that the international campaigning efforts for Captain Paul Watson’s release are being heard in the chambers of justice in Germany.

In a press release, received towards the end of business hours Friday, the Higher Regional Court stated that "the question of whether or not Mr. Paul Watson will be extradited is not ultimately a decision by the Higher Regional Court but by the executive body which is the Ministry of Justice”.

Even the Higher Regional Court is stating that the Ministry of Justice in Germany can step in and prevent his extradition at any time. The international campaign to save Captain Paul Watson from a politically-motivated extradition to Costa Rica where he will not receive a fair trial, nor is it likely that he would even survive jail to see the inside of a courtroom, is having an effect. The Taiwanese shark fin mafia in Costa Rica has made threats on Captain Paul Watson’s life.

First the general public prosecutor stated in his motion to the Higher Regional Court, that the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have the power to stop the extradition process for political reasons. Now, the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt is also deferring to the Ministry of Justice.

Sea Shepherd calls on its supporters in Germany and overseas to continue writing Federal Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Guido Westerwelle and expressing their concern about a politically-motivated extradition that would be the same as a death sentence.

Sea Shepherd is planning a global day of action on Wednesday May 23, to coincide with a diplomatic visit to Germany by Costa Rican president Laura Chinchilla Miranda.

To view the current statement from the German courts (these sites are in German) click on the links below.

Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt am Main ordnet vorläufige Auslieferungshaft gegen Tierschutzaktivisten Paul Watson an und setzt Haftbefehl gegen Sicherheit außer Vollzug

Auslieferungsverfahren gegen Tierschutzaktivisten Paul Watson

More details to follow.

Brigitte Bardot offers to take Sea Shepherd founder's place in prison 

Brigitte Bardot, the actress and animal rights campaigner, has offered to take the place of the founder of the Sea Shepherd marine conservation group in prison.

Paul Watson was detained in Germany last week. On Monday, the 61-year-old was ordered by a German court to remain in custody a day after his arrest on a warrant from Costa Rica where he is accused of endangering a shark-finning ship's crew during a confrontation in 2002. 

"Being outraged by the fact that he's been put in prison, I offer to take his place because I am his accomplice," Bardot, 77, said in a statement.

"I have always supported Paul Watson, my brother in arms," said the retired French actress who had a Sea Shepherd trimaran named after her in 2011.

Watson was passing through Frankfurt with French European Parliament members Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Jose Bove on his way to France to attend conferences when he was arrested.

Bardot has over the years campaigned against whaling in Japan, bear-hunting in New Jersey, wolf-hunting in Sweden, dolphin slaughter in Denmark and other animal rights causes.

Source: The Telegraph

May 18, 2012 
Brazilian Senate has called for the release of Captain Watson
The full Senate of Brazil, today - May 18, 2012 -  made an appeal for the release of activist and defender of life in the oceans, Captain Paul Watson, commander of Sea Shepherd. 

Translation of the speech via 'the Voice for the Voiceless'

"Asked of environment sectors, more in defense of water and the seas and oceans ... I want to make a record that is actually a request for free an activist in defense of the planet who is imprisoned in Germany. Since the 14 one of the most active and important activists of the planet is in jail in Germany.

Canadian Captain Paul Watson, leader of the international NGO Conservation Society Sea Shepherd has focused on the protection of oceans and marine life around the world was arrested. He was named by Time magazine as one of the heroes of the ecology of the century, was also co-founder of the international NGO Greenpeace.

Responsable for the law, the preservation of several marine species many of them endangered. A libertarian on Earth, a libertarian natural life, an advocate of harmony between humans, animals and nature. This libertarian was arrested in Frankfurt in Germany.

The reason for his arrest is at least doubtful or curious ... the mandate for the arrest of Captain Watson was issued in Costa Rica in October 2011. This term refers to a process that had been filed and that curiously was reopened a few days after the Research Institute Cataceus initiated a civil suit against the Society for Conservation of Sea Shepherd in United States. Resuming, the term of imprisonment not longer has any legal validity because has prescribed.

According to the Costa Rican goverment, Watson played a vessel in the other direction on a vessel fishing in its waters, but the water which allegedly took place these waters belong to Guatemala and the action was authorized by the government of Guatemala, as it is to prevent a crime was committed in the estimated guatemalan environmental law.

The fact that Costa Rica asked the arrest of Captain Watson is at least strange, doubtful, suspicious, suspicious frame to imprison a person who plans the actions that cause the greatest economic losts of companies getting their profits practicing crime against marine wildlife around the world.

INTERPOL has issued a statement on its website saying that it hadn't issued a red alert for the arrest of Captain Watson because his office legal procedures are not satisfied with the request of Costa Rica and that it is not in conformity with the constitution and rules of INTERPOL. INTERPOL believes that is having prison abuse and illegal according to the report I received.

Politics plays, economic interests and pressure from countries that practice illegal fishing and the hunting of whales and dolphins. We made this complaint with the Human Rights Chairman. The fishing industry in Japan, Norway, Russia, South Korea and China, countries with strong international influence and that are fishing in a form of economic gain will certainly want to keep this activist in prison.

We can not accuse anyone here ... no country but it seems clear that Costa Rica is serving as an instrument to defend the interests of more powerful countries and that in fact violate international law in defense of planet, the environment and marine life.

More than 158,000 emails were sent to the Justice Ministry in Germany. The world is moving and I do it here in Brazil at this time for the release of Watson. Brazil can not be silent on this fact. We have one of the richest coastal marine diversity in this world, the Brazilian waters attract the interest of industrial fishing. Nothing against fishing in any way but everything against illegal fishing and destruction of marine biodiversity.

I repeat ... we can not remain silent because there are already true mafias operating in Brazilian waters mainly in the northand northeast of Brazil. Not by chance the seizure of shark fins that would be smuggled to Asia which unfortunately happened here in Brazil.

There are several questions that we should do about this issue ... one of them is that we would like to see our humble and honest fishermen respected and not swallowed up by large international fishing corporations. This man, Captain Paul Watson fights against this.

The release of the activist is interest to the world, is interest of humanity, is interest to Brazil. I remember that the Conservation Society Sea Shepherd has an arm on Brazilian soil responsible for the protection of the Brazilian coast and its marine diversity, acting against illegal fishing issues, the oil spill and damage to the environment.

Ending only by saying that ... if we allow the arrest and extradition of this man actually occur there, will be setting a precedent for that to happen also in our country.

We can't be silent ... so we ask to release Paul Watson that he continues to defend the planet.

Please sign the following petitions:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/free_Captain_Paul_Watson_of_Sea_Shephard/ 

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/663/009/291/release-paul-watson/

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/991/002/034/free-capatain-paul-watson/#13369440606782&action=fb_connect&fb_id=1544848400 

http://www.lapetition.be/en-ligne/Libere-paul-watson-11453.html

http://www.change.org/petitions/presidencia-de-la-republica-de-costa-rica-liberen-al-activista-capit%C3%A1n-paul-watson?utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=autopublish 

Thank you!

Please see the following Facebook event-page for more information

Captain Paul Watson's message:
Greetings From Germany 

May 22, 2012 - COMMENTARY BY CAPTAIN PAUL WATSON

I would like to thank everyone around the world for the incredible support over the last week that I spent in a Frankfurt prison. It is greatly appreciated. The people of Sea Shepherd Germany have been wonderful and I have been happy to see so much support from supporters in Costa Rica and around the world also.

We have an excellent worldwide legal team working hard to resolve this legal issue. I am confident that this team will do the very best they can on every front involved with this case.

Although I have no reason to believe that the Costa Rican legal system would not give me a fair trial, my concern is not for the judicial system, but for the reality that the shark fin mafia of Costa Rica has a price on my head and a Costa Rican prison would provide an excellent opportunity for someone to exercise this lethal contract against me. We have cost the shark finners a great deal of money over the last two decades and they want their revenge. I would need absolute assurance that the Costa Rican authorities would not place me in the position to jeopardize my safety when I return to Costa Rica to prove my innocence in court.

There are two very important points that I would like to make. The first is that although my arrest and detention have been a focus of this incredible support the fact is that this is not about me. It is about our oceans and the ever-escalating threat of diminishment of the diversity of life in our seas. It is about the sharks, the whales, the seals, the sea turtles and the fish.  

This is an opportunity to shine an international spotlight on what is happening to the sharks and especially to illustrate that there are elements in Costa Rica responsible for a great deal of the illegal trafficking in shark fins.

Secondly, I want to make it very clear that whatever happens to me will not affect our campaigns. I have delegated the responsibility of commanding our ships to my very capable captains and they will be defending sharks this summer in the South Pacific and the whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. The Cove Guardians will return to Taiji, Japan in September to defend the dolphins.

Fortunately, Sea Shepherd is now much bigger than myself and even more fortunately; the reality is that we now have a legion of passionate, dedicated, courageous and resourceful volunteers around the world. If I am prevented from serving on the front lines upon the high seas I will serve as a symbol of resistance to the destruction of our oceans from inside a prison cell.

Power and greed do not surrender easily and history has shown that sometimes prison is an ordeal that must be endured in order to shake the foundations of powerful special interests. There is no shame in incarceration as Mandela, Gandhi, Thoreau, Aung San Suu Kyi, and so many others have demonstrated.  

Power does not relinquish easy and the powers opposing our efforts are immense like the shark finning, bluefin tuna fishing, whaling and dolphin killing industries, and the governments that support this trade in death like Japan, Costa Rica, Norway, Iceland, Malta, Canada etc. Sometimes I’m surprised we have made any progress at all but progress we have made indeed, and we will continue to win victories for our clients in the sea, no matter what the obstacles thrown in our path because Sea Shepherd is not just me, it is now an international movement and our flag is becoming widely known and more and more respected and most importantly, our permanent and most proud legacy are the thousands of whales, tens of thousands of sharks, hundreds of thousands of seals and millions of fish that swim free in the sea now, that would otherwise have been cruelly slain if not for our intervention.

In the end it is about them and not about us.

We invest our passion and in return we reap the ever-enduring seeds of life.

Source: Sea Shepherd

Response from the International Whale Protection Organization regarding Paul Watson
published in the 'Costa Rica Star'

Posted by Guest Post on May 23, 2012 in Blog 
This is a response to the recently published editorial titled: “Paul Watson: Shining Activist Hero or Psychopathic Terrorist?.”



Don Freeman of the International Whale Protection Organization writes the following, and we thank him for his contribution to the ongoing discussions and articles here on The Costa Rica Star.

Some truly unique individuals have shaped the course of the environmental movement. Paul Watson is one of them. Controversial as he has been over the years one thing is certain: Watson’s critics often exaggerate his deeds to imply malicious intent against the public and make broad assumptions about his state of mind. In fact, one of the most common misrepresentations made by critics of environmentalists is that of emotional instability — as if there are no valid reasons for protest or direct action in the name of conservation or animal rights. Dr. Black has stumbled into a hole of factual inconsistencies and omission of important details in his assault on the character of Paul Watson.

Let’s begin with the whales and Greenpeace. In 1975, an organization known for anti-nuclear protest took a small boat out into the North Pacific in order to physically confront whalers from the Soviet Union. Most people don’t know that the Soviets had been killing thousands of whales above their allotted quotas for years without revealing the true catch totals to the International Whaling Commission. In fact, most of the world’s whale species had been decimated by commercial whaling industries due to over-exploitation and regulatory violations — many remain endangered today as a result.

In 1975, Paul Watson and Robert Hunter of the original Greenpeace Foundation out of Canada made history as the first people to use themselves as human shields by driving small boats between the harpoon gunners and the whales. The gunners fired over the heads of the activists with no regard for their lives. For a Greenpeace organization that is still best known for anti-whaling activism I’d say this makes Watson more than just an influential former member. However, the world’s whaling industries were still out of control and driving whale species to the brink of extinction.

Watson did move on to form his own more aggressive organization (Sea Shepherd Conservation Society) and he immediately targeted the Sierra. Most people don’t know that the Sierra was a notorious ‘pirate whaler’ that operated outside of IWC regulations and illegally killed whales — including undersized animals, mother and calf pairs, and endangered species. Sierra would smuggle the meat from these illegal hunts to Japan. An activist named Nick Carter received accolades from the UNEP for his tireless investigations into pirate whaling (and more).

Paul Watson directly confronted this pirate whaling ship that had changed flags of convenience and broken laws in several countries prior to the ‘ramming’. As for Sierra’s ultimate demise — unknown saboteurs finally blew a hole in her side, in port, and ended her criminal career. Nobody was hurt and despite Watson’s past claims there is no solid evidence linking him personally to the incident.

The whaling ships IBSA I and II operated with support from the Spanish government but Spain was not a member of the IWC and its ships were therefore also operating outside of international whaling regulations. Due to the pirate whaling scandals, Japan banned the import of whale meat from IWC non-members in 1979 and then Spain joined the organization. The two IBSA ships met a similar fate to Sierra when explosives damaged the hulls of both vessels. Again, nobody was hurt and Watson could not be directly linked to the incident despite any claims.

In 1986, Iceland’s whaling ships were known for killing undersized endangered Sei whales and endangered Fin whales to export meat to Japan and Iceland planned to continue killing whales through a bogus ‘research’ program despite an international moratorium on commercial whaling. Sea Shepherd activists sank two of the four whaling ships in port by simply opening valves and letting the water slowly in. Once again, nobody was hurt as the activists took care to ensure the ships were not occupied at the time.

Of course, Watson’s direct action campaigns have never been limited to whales or simply enforcing particular international conventions. He confronted illegal long lining ships. He has several times confronted the Canadian seal hunt on the grounds that the industry is inherently cruel and unnecessary. The Faroe Islands pilot whale slaughter was directly opposed on similar grounds.

However, Sea Shepherd has not always taken action at odds with law enforcement. The organization has specifically helped improve the capabilities of those charged with the protection of the Galapagos and Cocos Islands from poaching. Watson’s organization donated a ship, radio equipment, police dogs (for suspected smuggling), and even weapons to law enforcement officers to enable them to deal with illegal fishing.

The Varadero was participating in exactly the type of fishing operation Sea Shepherd seeks to end. The Costa Rican flagged ship was filmed finning sharks illegally in Guatemalan waters. When the Varadero refused to return to port, Watson turned water canons on the fishermen and was involved in a ship collision. Again, Nobody was hurt. The activists later filmed illegally gotten shark fins being dried on rooftops in Costa Rica which criminals quickly attempted to hide once they spotted the cameras. The incident can be seen in the documentary film “Sharkwater“.

The reader will benefit from having a more complete picture of these incidents than Dr. Black is willing to present in his rather one-sided assault on Paul Watson’s character. Black even reaches back to ‘tree spikes’ of all things. Well, the thing about tree spikes is that the environmentalists who used them told the logging companies that the trees were spiked. They never intended to injure loggers — merely to make it more difficult to cut down large swaths of old growth forests.

To my knowledge there is only one man who was ever injured by a tree spike and it wasn’t Watson’s doing. In fact, the FBI’s main suspect in the incident was a survivalist — not a protester — who was angry that the logging company was illegally taking trees off of his property so he spiked his own trees. He also failed a lie-detector question about whether he spiked trees outside of his property too. Of course, that didn’t stop the logging industry from parading the injured worker around the country and demonizing all environmentalists on television.

James Marshall Black has written an article of familiar deception. He selectively omits important details on Watson’s actions, as well as the effective results, while implying malicious intent to injure or murder for emotional (or pathological) reasons. He also makes factually incorrect statements by implying Sea Shepherd actions resulted in deaths (they have not).

So here is a fact that Dr. Black and the reading audience should be aware of: I can not find a single example of any environmental activist ever murdering anyone for an environmental cause. However, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of examples of non-violent activists being brutally attacked and murdered by industry thugs, criminals, and even corrupt military and police officers.

In recent years, an international celebrity by the name of Gordon Ramsay even had his life threatened by shark fin dealing criminals in Costa Rica. He was lucky to escape with his life. Many activists were not so lucky.

Jane Tipson protested against the use of live dolphins in captivity for marine entertainment parks. She was shot at close range and killed in St. Lucia.

Jenny May also protested against dolphin captivity. She was strangled to death with her own belt.

Dian Fossey disabled the traps of gorilla poachers and reported their activities to police. She was hacked to death with a machete.

Dora “Alicia” Recinos Sorto protested against a mining operation. She was shot to death when she was 8 months pregnant and carrying her two year old child who was also wounded in the attack.

Fernando Pereira was killed when the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior was sunk with explosives set by French government agents — many of the crew were on board and narrowly escaped. The act was undertaken to prevent protest of nuclear bomb testing.

These are just a few examples among hundreds that have gone ignored by critics like Dr. Black who insists that environmentalists are somehow ‘violent’ or ‘psychopathic’ in their ‘emotional’ defense of nature.

In over 30 years of activism Paul Watson has never killed anyone (and never attempted to). Unfortunately, the real and measurable violence done against activists and ordinary people remains all but forgotten. Meanwhile criminals continue to engage in destructive and illegal practices with tacit approval from Watson’s opposition.

Source: Costa Rica Star