"Captain Paul Watson's Biography." Sea Shepherd's Home Page. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Web. 31 May 2013. <http://www.seashepherd.org/who-we-are/captain-watsons-biography.html>.
My name is Paul Watson and I’d like to introduce myself to you. You may only know me as the crusader against Japanese whaling but, actually, the campaigns I’ve been involved in have been quite diverse, from protesting against nuclear bomb tests to trying to protect harp seals against cruel hunters in my home country of Canada.
My worldview is biocentric, meaning that I think all creatures on this earth have equal value and should not be dominated by man. The more usual anthropocentric worldview is that man is at the pinnacle of creation and can do whatever he wants to “lower life forms.” A biocentric view helps us to see the profound interrelationships we have with all other life forms on this planet. Because of this belief, I have spent a good part of my life defending all sorts of animals who were being slaughtered needlessly. This started early in my life, when I was just nine years old. As a member of the Kindness Club, which was founded by Aida Flemming in New Brunswick, I helped to destroy leg-hold traps that were used to trap and kill beavers. I also tried to interfere with duck and deer hunters.
I eventually went on to become one of the co-founders of the Greenpeace Foundation. My first work with them involved organizing a voyage on the U.S. and Canadian border to protest against the nuclear testing at Amchitka Island by the Atomic Energy Commission. That action resulted in the delay of the test.
In 1974, I collaborated with other Greenpeace activists in the first campaign by Greenpeace to oppose whaling. In the following year, I served as First officer on a voyage to confront the Soviet Whaling fleet. [So, I clearly am not taking action against Japanese whalers these days due to prejudice against Japanese and I am not picking on them to the exclusion of others. My first actions to defend animals were in MY OWN country, in fact.]
In 1977, I returned to my own country to oppose the seal hunt off the coast of Labrador. I brought the movie star Brigitte Bardot to the hunting grounds, where harp seal pups were mercilessly slaughtered, to bring international attention on the seal slaughter.
Having some disagreements with other members of Greenpeace about tactics, I went on to form another organization, called Sea Shepherd, which used more direct action. In 1979, our ship, the Sea Shepherd, set out for the Gulf of St. Lawrence to bring more attention to the Canadian seal hunt by directly engaging with the hunters.
These direct action tactics were continued in the fight to make the Japanese stop their illegal “research whaling” in the Southern Ocean. The TV reality show, Whale Wars, on animal planet, chronicles these efforts. I have developed some enemies over the years. Some of the actions that my colleagues and I do may seem extreme to others. We have thrown objects onto the decks of whaling ships and we have used lines to tangle up their props as well. Our actions have been successful in shortening the whaling season for Japanese whalers and saved the lives of hundreds of whales.
We consider the actions of those who hunt whales in the name of “research” to be extreme. By comparison, our actions are tame. We are not eco-terrorists.
