Feb 2,2024

This week’s Paris Match featured myself, my family and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation and Sea Shepherd France.

The interview took place last year onboard the John Paul DeJoria in New York City but was just published this week. 

Paris Match: Since the conflict with Sea Shepherd Global, have there been any attempts at reconciliation on their part or yours?

Paul Watson: Sea Shepherd Global removed me from the Global Board of Directors on September 2, 2022 without a meeting or vote. They did the same thing with Lamya Essemlali, the president of Sea Shepherd France. In December 2023, the Dutch courts ruled that our dismissal was illegal. Despite this, Sea Shepherd Global continues to sue Sea Shepherd France and me, claiming that they have sole ownership of the name I created and the logos I designed. A Parisian court decision will be rendered on this case on March 20, 2024.

Paris Match: It is still difficult to understand how you could have been excluded from an organization of which you were the founder.

Paul Watson: It was a long and insidious process. In 2019, the Sea Shepherd Board of Directors asked me to resign because I had a red notice from Interpol. However, this is not an international arrest warrant. Rather a notification stating that a person is wanted in a country and that the country can request their extradition in the event of arrest. However, each country reacts as it sees fit. Without any obligation. Only they claimed to have difficulty obtaining insurance for the organization. “But don’t worry, you will always participate in the decisions,” they assured me. So, I resigned. And then Mr. Pritam Singh, an influential member of the board, began placing his own people within Sea Shepherd. Imperceptibly, I was excluded, from certain campaigns in particular. And last year, leaders called a meeting explaining that they would change the direction of Sea Shepherd. It was after I was ousted from the US board that Sea Shepherd Global illegally removed me from the global board.

“We are no longer going to make controversial actions. From now on we will work with governments.” At first I thought it was a joke. I obviously could not adhere to this philosophy, unlike the Sea Shepherd that I had created. “You’re a fucking employee and you’re going to do what you’re told!” Pritam Singh then shouted. When I refused, they offered me $300,000 a year to keep quiet and… do nothing. It was not knowing me well.

Paris Match : Pritam Singh was your friend, right?

Paul Watson: He was a long-time supporter of the organization. He gave money and helped us. But he wasn’t a friend. A friend would not have done what he did. He took control of the board and demanded my head. Out of cowardice, the other members accepted.

Paris Match: That must have deeply affected you, being forced to abandon your “ship”, Sea Shepherd?

Paul Watson: I don’t let things like that get to me. There’s no point crying over your fate. Furthermore, we had to react immediately. By creating the “Captain Paul Watson Foundation,” to continue the work we have been doing for forty-five years, using the same aggressive nonviolence strategy and tactics. What Sea Shepherd no longer does. When you shake the coconut tree, challenge big companies and governments, you should expect retaliation. But that never scared me.

The Sea Shepherd movement is still worth fighting for and Lamya Essemlali and Sea Shepherd France retain the original objectives as well as the passion, courage and imagination necessary to bring back what was taken. I am confident that, alongside Sea Shepherd Brazil and Sea Shepherd UK, we will reinvigorate the true spirit of the Sea Shepherd movement.

This is why I will accept the position of co-president alongside Lamya Essemlali of Sea Shepherd France. I will represent Sea Shepherd France in France and my Foundation outside France. I believe we are building a new and more effective Sea Shepherd movement. What Lamya has accomplished with Sea Shepherd France is inspiring and thanks to her, the movement I created in 1977 will survive.

Paris Match: Being in the crosshairs of Interpol and at the risk of being arrested, that prevented you from coordinating campaigns abroad, right?

Paul Watson: I was doing this work from the United States, without problem. Because I had good relays, like Locky MacLean, who is now the captain of the “John Paul DeJoria II”, or Omar Todd.  All of these people had been previoulsy fired. Eighty percent of the crew are former Sea Shepherd members. And since November, the Japanese have dropped the Interpol red arrest warrant against me. I am now free to travel.

Paris Match: How many people have left the organization, apart from big donors?

Paul Watson: I don’t have the list. All I can say is that 15,000 people have already joined us. Since I left, we have raised $4 million and we have nearly 750,000 followers on Facebook. Fortunately, I have support. Major donors to Sea Shepherd, in particular. Like John Paul DeJoria [a former homeless man who became a billionaire, Editor’s note] for example.

I no longer had a boat and without even discussing it, John Paul told me: “Find a new boat and I’ll buy it for you.” This is what we did, and the “John Paul de Joria II” is now the flagship of the Captain Paul Watson Foundation.

And of course, we have the incredible support of Sea Shepherd France and, honestly, I don’t think we could have survived without the support of Sea Shepherd France.

Paris Match: You have started to rebuild your fleet. What is your objective ?

Paul Watson: My problem is not finding sponsors, but fast, strong, long-range boats. The “John Paul DeJoria II”, a former Scottish fisheries patrol vessel, is ideal. We need three more.

Paris Match: How do you assess risks during your campaigns?

Paul Watson: I do what works! The objective is to put ourselves between their harpoons and the whales. With the ship, with inflatable boats, tenders, Zodiacs, Jet-Ski… Sometimes the whalers call the coast guard to prevent us from acting, but I have already managed to avoid the Soviet navy, the Norwegian Navy, the Canadian Coast Guard.

Paris Match: Is it true that an American court “officially” declared you a “pirate”?

Paul Watson: In 2014, Judge Alex Kozinski made this accusation. I have no problem officially being a pirate. Quite the contrary. But I was not arrested, nor convicted, nor imprisoned. So I am indeed the only pirate in the country.

Paris Match: Despite the ban, 40,000 whales have been killed since 1986. How is this still possible?

Paul Watson: By direct and blatant violation of the law by Japan, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. In 2014, Australia and New Zealand accused Japan at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. It was recognized that what they were doing was illegal. It stopped them for a year, then they started again. Because the International Court has no way of enforcing its decisions. We were ordered to appear in a Danish court for entering the waters of the Faroe Islands. The reason ? We had no choice but to respond to the emergency situation of 77 whales being driven to a beach near Torshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands, to be murdered.

Sadly, we could not avoid the massacre. And now I would have to appear in court! What is this world where inflicting torture and death on conscious beings is considered normal behavior, but empathy, kindness and compassion are punishable by law? All the petitions, letters and protests will never stop whaling.

Some people call me an eco-terrorist, like when I sank half of the Icelandic whaling fleet in 1986. I don’t care what people think. We did it for cetaceans. Find me a whale who disagrees with that! Unfortunately, a whale represents a lot of money: $1 million. This is why countries like Iceland continue to fish for them, to send them to Japan.

Paris Match: Do you plan to run campaigns again in Japan as well?

Paul Watson: We are taking a close look at this country which has just completed the construction of a $100 million factory ship. A craft of this size can only be used to return to the Southern Ocean. And I want to be in position with two ships, to stop them when they arrive.

Paris Match: You are the black beast of Japan. Would you take the risk of being arrested and brought back to this country to be tried?

Paul Watson: I was captured in Germany and escaped. If I have to deal with Japanese authorities to save whales, so be it. One thing is certain: I will not beg them. If they want to put me in jail, so be it. I’m 72 years old, for God’s sake! I do not care.

Photo: Paul Watson, sa femme, Yana, et leurs deux enfants, Tiger (à dr.) et Murtagh (à g.), sur le « John Paul DeJoria II », ancien bâtiment de patrouille des pêches écossaises, dans la baie de New York avant un départ en mission, en juin 2023. © Bernard Sidler.