January 01, 2009

Captain Watson Responds to the Australian Newspaper Editorial




Captain Watson Responds to the Australian Newspaper Editorial

The Editor,

It seems that the Australian needs a lesson on the history of piracy, judging by the conniption fit of an editorial in the Australian today.

There is a reason that we adopted the Jolly Roger in response to our critics calling us pirates. We did it to embrace the accusation in a positive manner, and well, kids love the pirate image.

If we turn back the pages of history to the 17th Century we find that when piracy was running rampant in the Caribbean, it was not the British Navy that put an end to it. There was no shortage of British politicians, merchants and military officers taking bribes to look the other way.

Piracy in the Caribbean was ended by Henry Morgan, a pirate who was knighted for his efforts. His authority to intervene came after the act and not before it.

And like Morgan we are pirates motivated by justice in pursuit of pirates motivated by greed.

Other notable pirates in history who served the public well were Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, John Paul Jones, and Jean LaFitte.

As to where we get our authority to intervene, that is a question easily answered. The United Nations World Charter for Nature allows for individuals and non-governmental organizations to uphold international conservation law. It is written in the Charter as plain as day.

We have been harassing the Japanese pirate whalers since 2002 without causing a single injury, without being charged with a single crime and without being sued. Pretty tame stuff for a bunch of bad pirates I would think. To compare us to a terrorist bombing a restaurant is absurd. Such a person would be charged with a crime for that action.

All I can say to our critics is either arrest us, sue us or shut up. Spewing opinionated drivel is hardly an indictment.

As for hunting whalers in foggy conditions all I can say is what better conditions could we have for approaching a poacher and catching them in an illegal activity.

The facts are that the Japanese whalers are targeting endangered whales in an established international whale sanctuary in violation of a global moratorium on whaling and they are doing so in contempt of an Australian Federal Court ruling specifically prohibiting whaling in the Australian Economic Exclusion Zone.

P.S. The proper spelling is whales not wales. This is not some patriotic separatist squabble this is about saving an endangered species.

Captain Paul Watson (On board the Steve Irwin off the coast of Antarctic)



The above is a response to this editorial



EDITORIAL FROM THE AUSTRALIAN (30/12/2008) There is a photo on the ABC website of anti-whaling activist Paul Watson standing resolute beneath a skull-and-crossbones flag. The piratical point is of his making, not ours, but it says a great deal about the arrogance of a man who assumes his beliefs empower him to do what he likes on the high seas. And what Mr Watson likes to do is roister around the great Southern Ocean doing everything he can, short of deadly force, to stop Japanese whalers. He likes to confront his enemies, lobbing noxious cocktails at them. He likes to send boarding parties over their sides when he can. He claims to have sunk nine unmanned whalers over the years. Last week, he hunted a whaler in foggy conditions, something a skipper not looking for trouble would do.

Mr Watson argues he is only enforcing the law, taking it on himself to try and force Japanese whalers out of waters claimed by countries, such as Australia, that have banned whale hunting. But for all his self-righteous swashbuckling he needs to answer a question pirates never like: which state has commissioned him to enforce his own interpretation of the law? The answer is Australia hasn't. Mr Watson does what he likes and points to the carcasses of unnecessarily slaughter wales (yes that was how it was spelled in the editorial) to justify his actions. They don't.

Japan's annual whaling expedition has less to do with either pursuing scientific research or a food source than it does with the economic interest of a small number fishermen and the arrogance of a handful of bureaucrats who do not want the world telling them what to do. And Australia has been singularly unsuccessful in stopping the Japanese through the international forum that exists to regulate whaling. But none of this justifies individuals deciding their own conscience has the force of law. A terrorist who bombed a restaurant serving whale meat in Tokyo could claim the same desire as Mr Watson to save cetaceans from acts that are illegal in many countries.

But instead of being abhorred as an extremist, Mr Watson is a hero in parts of the press. Perhaps it is because he understands how too much of the media works and obliges lazy journalists who like to be handed dramatic photos and strong quotes without working for the story.

Perhaps many reporters sympathise with his cause. But in promoting him they do the anti-whaling cause no good. The Japanese will never surrender in the face of his thuggery, they will reduce, and ultimately en, whaling only by the force of arguments representing world opinion. And pirates speak for nobody.



Note: Captain Paul Watson is requesting that supporters send a note to the Australian voicing their opinion about this editorial. We need to let the newspaper know that we are tired of posturing and posing and supportive of real actions with real results.

S. S.C. S.










Sea Shepherd Drives Japanese Whalers Out of Australia's Waters The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's ship Steve Irwin has driven the Japanese whaling fleet out of the Australian Economic Exclusion Zone. "We have chased the whalers for over 800 miles since last Saturday through bad weather and heavy ice conditions," said Captain Paul Watson. "They have fled eastward and they are continuing eastward and we are on their tail and we will keep on their tail." Since finding the Japanese whaling fleet on December 20th, the Steve Irwin has had close encounters with the harpoon vessel Yushin Maru #2 and the spotting vessel Kaiko Maru and has observed and tracked the Nisshin Maru from the air. The Steve Irwin has not been able to close with the main body of the fleet because they keep moving eastward. They have not been whaling since Sea Shepherd located them and they are not whaling now. They continue to flee. The good news is that they are no longer whaling in Australian waters and they only managed to hunt in the waters of the Australian Antarctic Territory for about a week before being forced to flee the Australian EEZ. They are now in the waters of the Ross Dependency and the Steve Irwin is in pursuit. "What is now good news for the whales in Australian waters is now bad news for the whales in the waters south of New Zealand," said Captain Watson. "They are still targeting endangered and protected whales in the waters of an established international whale sanctuary and thus they are still in violation of international conservation law and acting under the principles of the United Nations World Charter for Nature, we will continue to pursue, harass and intervene against their blatantly illegal lethal assaults on the whales." The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's ship Steve Irwin has fuel and provisions to chase the whalers well into the middle of January before having to return to New Zealand to refuel. If forced to return to refuel, the Steve Irwin will do so and then will immediately return to the whaling area to continue to pursue, harass and intervene against illegal Japanese whaling activities." The Steve Irwin has a crew of 40 international volunteers plus an Animal Planet film crew onboard producing the 2nd year of the series Whale Wars. Last year the Sea Shepherd crew pursued the Japanese whaling fleet from early December until mid-March. That intervention cost the whalers over $70 million in lost profits and saved almost 500 whales.

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SHARKWATER THE FILM

Photobucket For filmmaker Rob Stewart, exploring sharks began as an underwater adventure. What it turned into was a beautiful and dangerous life journey into the balance of life on earth. Driven by passion fed from a lifelong fascination with sharks, Stewart debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters and reveals the reality of sharks as pillars in the evolution of the seas. Filmed in visually stunning, high definition video, Sharkwater takes you into the most shark rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world's shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. In an effort to protect sharks, Stewart teams up with renegade conservationist Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Their unbelievable adventure together starts with a battle between the Sea Shepherd and shark poachers in Guatemala, resulting in pirate boat rammings, gunboat chases, mafia espionage, corrupt court systems and attempted murder charges, forcing them to flee for their lives. Through it all, Stewart discovers these magnificent creatures have gone from predator to prey, and how despite surviving the earth's history of mass extinctions, they could easily be wiped out within a few years due to human greed. Stewart's remarkable journey of courage and determination changes from a mission to save the world's sharks, into a fight for his life, and that of humankind.