TUC Radio - Sea Shepherd Ocean Protectors – Captain Paul Watson, TUC Archives

Radio Project Front Page Podcast

This is an archival TUC Radio program from 2016. You will hear Captain Paul Watson describe his extraordinary journey saving whales and life in the oceans. Paul Watson was co-founder of Greenpeace and CEO of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. He was commander on seven different Sea Shepherd ships since 1978 and now, at age 73, leads vessels under the flag of the Captain Paul Watson Foundation. Thanks to the French Thinkerview collective for the interview. This archival program has contemporary significance: On October 23, 2024, the day this program is being placed back into distribution, Paul Watson remains in prison in the capital city of Greenland, Nuuk, threatened with extradition to Japan. They are asking for a sentence of 15 years for Paul Watson’s interference, using Sea Shepherd boats, in their slaughter of whales by Japanese vessels in international waters in the Antarctic. A practice the International Court of Justice had already ruled illegal in 2014. This year, 2024, Japan has just completed building the largest whale processing factory ship ever, the Kangei Maru. For their so-called ‘maiden hunt’ they have taken the Kangei Maru to the North West Passage past Greenland. A boat under the flag of the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, the John Paul DeJoria had begun chase when they docked in the port of Nuuk to refuel. However on the morning of Sunday, July 21st, 2024, Danish police and SWAT teams boarded the John Paul DeJoria and arrested Captain Paul Watson under a Japanese warrant. An international effort is under way to prevent his extradition to Japan, and request asylum for him in France. DATE: 2016 and 2024 CREDIT: Thinkerview and Captain Paul Watson