OPERATION PAIAKAN
Noon June 10th, 2023 Numerous Sunfish sighted. These huge lazy fish seem undisturbed by the passing of ship.. Today the seas remain calm and glassy, more like a peaceful lake than the sea.
Mexico’s Lack of Effort to Save the Vaquita is a Disgrace
June 9, 2023 It is absolutely unacceptable to be dropping more concrete blocks with hooks into the waters of the Vaquita Refuge. These hooks ensnare nets and present a further threat to the survival of the Vaquita. Barbara Taylor, as a scientist, should know better. Like SSCS, she has become a mouthpiece to the Mexican government. There is only one way to prevent the extinction of the Vaquita. 100% serious enforcement in the Vaquita Refuge, penalization of illegal fishing and…
Operation Paiakan
June 9, 2023 Day One: 16 hours since departure from NYC. The sea is calm, glassy flat. Saw two whales this morning and a pod of dolphins. The air is still heavy with smoke and it looks like the smoke from the Canadian fires will stay with us offshore at least until past Nova Scotia. All systems are running smoothly. It has been wonderful to smell the sea breeze again, despite the smoke. Did the 8 to 12 watch and…
Wow, World Ocean Day
June 8, 2023 Like Earth Day in April, we have a day for the Ocean in June. One Day. I have a few journalists call me up to ask if we have a anything special planned for World Ocean Day. I am not a big advocate for either Earth Day or Ocean Day. I spend 365 days a year working to defend and protect the planet and the Ocean, so I am not doing anything special except: Heading to Iceland…
GOING FORWARD
June 7, 2023 Some people are asking me if I would ever want to return to SSCS and SS Global, and if given the chance to regain control of both, would I do so? The answer is very much a “NO.” Although I created the organization in 1977 and built it into a global movement, and although I had the classic logo designed and designed the Jolly Roger logo myself, I simply do not need the name or the logo….
Loyalty and Dedication
June 5, 2023 Last summer when Sea Shepherd France President Lamya Essemlali told Sea Shepherd Global director Alex Cornelissen that I was forming the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, Alex laughed and said, “Right, who’s going to organize that? Omar Todd? Good luck with that!!” Alex told Lamya that I was no longer the face of Sea Shepherd, that he and Peter Hammarstedt were the new face of Sea Shepherd. “When we go to events, no one knows who Paul Watson is…
ALL SYSTEMS ARE GO FOR ICELAND
June 1, 2023 The crew of the John Paul DeJoria II along with Captain Paul Watson, will depart from New York City on June 3rd, bound for the waters between Iceland and Greenland, where a modern-day Captain Ahab, an Icelander named Kristján Loftsson plans to kill between 145 and 200 endangered Fin whales. We plan to stop him. Loftsson is an 80-year-old businessman and one of the wealthiest men in Iceland. He does not need to kill whales, but he openly boasts that…
THE CAPTAIN”S CHAIR
May 31, 2023 It’s been 10 years since I last sat in the Captain’s Chair: that was in 2013 on the STEVE IRWIN in the Southern Ocean. It’s good to be back, this time on the JOHN PAUL DEJORIA preparing to depart for the North Atlantic to defend endangered Fin whales in the waters between Iceland and Greenland. This is an incredible ship. Fast, strong, and long range. The wheelhouse is spectacular with a 360 degrees view.
Memorial Day
May 29, 2023 As a poet I try to express messages that rise within me. I’m never sure where the words come from. I think of an idea, a situation or an event and I release the words. Once started I never know where a poem is heading. The words give birth to new words and sentences. The rhyming pattern navigates itself. The poem completes itself. Today being Memorial Day I revisited a poem I wrote a few years ago…
WE DID IT!
May 29, 2023 As we prepare for our departure with the JOHN PAUL DEJORIA to the waters between Iceland and Greenland, we are reflecting on the incredible progress we have made over the last year. It was in June of 2022 that I was ousted from SSCS, and it was at the end of August 2022 that I received an email dismissing me from the Global SS Board. Our ships, our support list and assets were seized. The Brigitte Bardot…