There's no rest on planetary duty - Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd, UK Telegraph article

05/06/2008


Paul Watson has devoted his life to fighting back against those who despoil the seas - but is he a prophet or a pirate? Tim Ecott meets a controversial crusader

Paul Watson doesn't stay on dry land very much. Last year the tireless eco-warrior was at sea for 50 weeks, and this year he has spent just one week at his home in Washington State. As he puts it: "There's no rest when you're on planetary duty."

Paul Watson: is he a prophet or a pirate?
Arranging an interview takes time, and I am asked not to discuss the whereabouts of his hotel with anyone in advance because, his press officer reveals, "there have been death threats". When I finally meet Captain Watson, it is in an over-heated London hotel room. He is wearing a black T-shirt decorated with the logo for Sea Shepherd, the direct-action conservation group that he heads, surmounted by a skull and crossed trident and crook.

Watson is a softly spoken Canadian with a shock of grey hair - rather more Captain Birds Eye than Long John Silver. At 58, he is a little chubby to be described as a swashbuckler. His record, however, speaks for itself. One of the original founders of Greenpeace in 1969, he left in 1977 because "the organisation got taken over by bureaucrats". Part of Watson's grievance was that Greenpeace was less inclined to use direct action against whalers. Although proud that his membership number was 007, he called Greenpeace "the Avon ladies of the environment movement".

Since forming Sea Shepherd in 1981, Watson, a former Canadian coast guard, has commanded more than 200 voyages aimed at stopping Antarctic and Arctic whaling, illegal long-line fishing in the Pacific, the killing of seals in Canada and, more recently, poaching and shark-finning in Galapagos.

Sea Shepherd has, in his words, "boarded and rammed more ships, engaged in more high seas confrontations and sunk more ships than the Canadian navy". Watson and his mostly volunteer crews brave storms and ice-packs, hostile governments and illegal fishing vessels. He has rammed seven ships and scuttled another eight, and come under fire several times. But he has never been convicted of any crime.

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