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 was sold, the John Paul DeJoria, the Sharpie, the White Holly, the Farley Mowat and the Bob Barker were scrapped’ Since then, not a single direct-action campaign has taken place.

The organization and the movement that I am not allowed to mention without being banned from Facebook is for all intents and purposes – dead! Apparently, my mentioning the name is a trademark violation. It is so dead, and the name is now so tainted and shamed that I do not wish to have it returned to me. I don’t need the name I created or the logos I designed to do what we need to do.

With the exception of SS France, SS Brazil, SS Hungary and SS UK, all the other SS groups, (Australia, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand etc) have all chosen to take the new course dictated by SSCS and SS Global – a course towards compromise and collaboration with governments and corporations.

Comfortable jobs, fear of being sued and hubris have seen these groups capitulate to the demands of the Mutineers.

Proof that SS supporters are not happy with this change, of course is the incredible support that the Captain Paul Watson Foundation is receiving from former SS supporters. Thousands of supporters and hundreds of former crewmembers and veterans of numerous campaigns. People who left or were dismissed by SSCS and SS Global before my ousting and many more since my ousting.

A year later and not a single explanation or response from the group that seized control. No explanation as to why SS Australia partnered with Austral Fisheries and Maruha Daichiro fishing companies. No answers to legitimate questions about what is happening with government partnerships. No explanation for the scrapping of so many ships.

Instead of an explanation, SS France President Lamya Essemlali was also unlawfully dismissed from the Global Board without any reason given. Rather than answer her questions, they simply removed her.

People who ask for an explanation are being routinely blocked from SS social network pages.

Instead of seeking to mediate and to work together, SSCS initiated a lawsuit over trademark infringement against SS Origins and the CPWF and myself. SS Global also initiated a trademark civil suit against SS France. Both SS Global and SSCS are using donor monies to fund these law-suits.

When I was dismissed, those who initiated this hostile takeover thought I would quietly disappear, and that people would simply forget what they have done. As Alex Cornelissen told Lamya Essemlali last year, “People have forgotten Paul Watson. Peter (Hammarstedt) and I are the new face of SS.”

We will not allow them to cancel us, to erase our legacy and to block our continued efforts to exercise our strategy of aggressive non-violence against those who are destroying life in the sea.

Over the last year, the Captain Paul Watson Foundation has been established in the USA, Australia. Italy and Spain and soon to be in Germany, New Zealand, and Chile.

Incredible progress in just one year, and the reason for this are the thousands of supporters who are rejecting the course change and are not happy with the lack of transparency. 

One former director told one of our supporters that I would get myself and my crew arrested, injured, or killed. This is what our detractors have been saying for the last fifty years and no one has ever been killed and no one has been convicted of a felony crime.

But it has been the fact that our willingness to take risks, to give our all, to go where others feared to go and to do what others feared to do – that is what made the SS movement successful, that is what built the name to become the most aggressive and effective marine conservation movement on the planet.

Sadly, it is no longer the reality. What was once courageous is now timid and cautious. Fear has entered their minds and eroded their commitment. Complacency has weakened their resolve as they retreated into a safety zone of comfort and security.

That was never our identity and it will not be mine or our crew and supporters. We are here to rock the boat and make waves and to risk all in defense of life, diversity and interdependence in the sea.

And if we should fail, if we should be arrested or threatened or stopped it will be in the course of action, doing what we are meant to do, and we will be remembered for having the courage to intervene to defend and protect the lives of the citizens of the sea.

As our ship prepares to sail what, is first and foremost in my mind are the lives of endangered Fin whales that will be in the sights of Icelandic harpoons.

It is time to demonstrate what real commitment is all about.

We will shut down the killing of endangered Fin whales no matter the risks, the controversy or the criticism.

Step One: Preparation. We did it

Step Two: Confrontation. We are prepared