Captain Paul Watson Responds to Greenpeace Quotes in International Herald Tribune
Japanese whaler and ecologists set sail for annual confrontation
By Mark McDonald
Friday, November 21, 2008
(With editorial comments by Captain Paul Watson)
HONG KONG: Quietly, without the usual bon voyage fanfare and Buddhist blessings, a Japanese whaling ship set sail this week on its yearly hunt for the great whales of the Southern Ocean. If the hunting is good, the Nisshin Maru will haul in more than 1,000 whales.
Meanwhile, at the Rivergate Marina in Brisbane, Australia, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is preparing its own ship, the Steve Irwin, for its annual oceangoing battle with the Japanese whaler.
Past confrontations have been dramatic, dangerous, even violent. There have been collisions and rammings, forced boardings, the fouling of propellers, the firing of stink bombs and stun grenades, even allegations of gunplay.
Sea Shepherd, with a crew that includes the American actress Daryl Hannah, promises big surprises and new tactics for the Japanese fleet. But the group whose members have been labeled eco-terrorists won't have any backup this year: For the first time in four years, Greenpeace is not sending a ship to help harass the whalers.
That infuriates Paul Watson, the Sea Shepherd founder and the captain of the Steve Irwin. In a telephone interview Friday from Brisbane, he called Greenpeace "the Avon ladies of the environmental movement."
"I've offered to work with them over and over," said Watson, one of the original founders of Greenpeace in the early 1970s who then parted ways with the group in 1978. "I call them 'the other whaling industry.' They've raised millions of dollars off the whales for this campaign - and now they're not sending a boat. They should be ashamed."
Greenpeace has decided to concentrate on a court case in Japan involving two of its activists along with a campaign to turn Japanese opinion against whaling. The leadership also rejects Sea Shepherd's confrontational tactics.
"Their brand of militancy has generated a huge backlash in Japan," Steve Shallhorn, chief executive officer of Greenpeace Australia-Pacific, said Friday from Sydney. "Japan is a society where confrontation is avoided and property damage is considered violence."
Captain's note: Huge is the word for it. In other words, our actions did not escape notice and for the first time ever the issue of illegal whaling by Japan in the Southern Ocean made headlines in Japan. We got their attention.
Shallhorn acknowledges that Greenpeace has been "out-messaged by the Japanese Fisheries Agency."
"They've been very skillful, using the message that Westerners can't tell Japanese what they can and can't eat."
Captain's note: We are not telling the Japanese what they can and cannot eat. We are telling them that we will not tolerate their illegal slaughter of the whales. This is not about cuisine, it's about upholding conservation law.
But Watson argues that, with its resources, Greenpeace could easily afford to fight its court battle and mount a public relations campaign - and still harass whalers at sea.
"Look, we don't have time to 'turn public opinion,"' said the bushy-bearded Watson, 57, who was born in Toronto. "Greenpeace is utopian. It's just not gonna happen."
Watson, who flies a skull-and-crossbones flag on his boat, claims he was shot in the chest last year by a Japanese sailor who was on board the whaling ship. Only a bulletproof vest saved his life, he said.
