May 12, 2023

To Peter, Alex, Jeff and Geert,

It has come to my attention that some of you (Jeff and Peter for sure) have been giving false and misleading information to supporters about both myself and Lamya and the reasons you unlawfully dismissed the two of us from the Global Board.

I have not had any response from any of you since the email I received last summer dismissing me from the Board, a dismissal where there was no meeting, no discussion and no vote. 

Your strategy is simply to ignore and move on hoping that the controversy will die out and the four of you will be able to control 100% of what you believe is your right to control, what was once the Sea Shepherd movement.

Sea Shepherd Global was established to coordinate the ships and campaigns. It was never established to control all other national entities.

Now it appears that all national entities must submit to the four of you or be sued over the rights to use the name I created and the logos I designed or commissioned to design, like the classic logo in 1985 created by Steve Cepello and the first Jolly Roger logo I created in 1991, long before any of you were involved with Sea Shepherd.

Now I understand that you all have nice jobs and that you’re concerned about your personal financial security. And I understand that you are all afraid to challenge a Floridian property developer that you all claimed to have hated and vowed never to work with, yet are now partnering with to sue myself and to sue Sea Shepherd France. I also understand that some directors of some national entities also have jobs, and some are paid directly by Global and when people are faced with a threat to job security, they submit. Security first, principles second so to speak.

And I understand that you don’t wish to upset your government and corporate partners.

If you believe that you are all in the right, that your decisions are justified, then why not be transparent?

Last year, Lamya, (France) Rob, (UK) Nathalie (Brazil) and I invited you all to a meeting to discuss the situation. You all refused to attend. In fact, you consistently refuse to discuss these issues with any of us. You tell supporters that we are not being truthful, but you don’t say why? You make ridiculous statements like you dismissed me to protect my legacy, name and reputation. I have no idea what that even means. If you have accusations, you need to state what those accusations are and provide evidence, instead of circulating rumors, gossip and innuendos.

Lamya and I are challenging all four of you to participate in an online debate so that the public, and especially our supporters, can understand the situation.

People have the right to know where we stand and the real reasons for ousting the Founder and dismissing two directors. People have the right to know why you are using their donations to sue Sea Shepherd France. People have a right to know why you are no longer engaging in direct action. I mean real direct action, not expensive photo excursions to the Southern Ocean. People have right to know why you refused to answer Lamya’s questions about the African campaigns despite the millions of Euros she raised to support those campaigns. People have the right to know why Sea Shepherd Australia is partnered with the Austral Fisheries/Maruha Daichiro fishing corporations.

An open forum will allow you to explain all these things publicly with full transparency.

I suspect, looking at your lack of transparency to date, that you will also ignore this invitation for a public debate. I know that you are fearful of debating both Lamya and myself because let’s face it, what possible justification can you possibly have for your actions over the last year? But if you do have justifications then a public debate would be in your interest.

I await your answer. Will you agree to publicly debate the situation for the benefit of our supporters worldwide? Do you have the courage to defend your actions, or will you continue to cravenly ignore the reality of how you are diminishing and damaging the Sea Shepherd movement that despite what you claim, you do not own or control?

There are many people who want to know and also await your answer.

Captain Paul Watson

Founder – Sea Shepherd (1977)