Paul Watson, the captain of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, was recently interviewed and I found his comments on what he does very interesting.

As a little bit of background, Watson is a Canadian, was co-founder of Greenpeace, and has been captain of the Sea Shepherd and its ships for 30 years, putting himself and his fleet between whaling ships, mainly the Japanese, for that time.

When he was asked about why he does what he does, and how killing a whale is any different than killing a pig or cow, he replied:

‘How can anybody compare the killing of a pig to the killing of a whale? First of all, our ships are vegan. Forty percent of the fish caught from the oceans is fed to livestock – pigs and chickens are becoming major aquatic predators.

You cannot compare the killing of animals in a domestic slaughterhouse to the killing of a whale. What goes on with those whales and dolphins would never be tolerated in a slaughterhouse. Those slaughterhouses would be shut down. It takes from 10 to 45 minutes to kill a whale and they die in horrific agony. That would be completely intolerable and illegal in any slaughterhouse in the world.

Also they’re an endangered and protected species – pigs and cows are not. They’re part of a natural ecosystem, which [the] pigs and cows [we eat] are not. ‘

If we are to support his work to stop Japanese whaling and generally the slaughter or sea life, he said we should:

‘Stop eating the ocean– there is no such thing as a sustainable fishery. When you eat meat, make sure it’s organic and isn’t contributing to the destruction of the ocean because 40 percent of all the fish that’s caught out of the ocean is fed to livestock – chickens on factory farms are fed fish meal. And be cognizant of the fact that if the oceans die, we die. Therefore our ultimate responsibility is to protect biodiversity in our world’s oceans.’

It sounds to me like an ESS class, but he does bring up valid points that we depend on the ocean and we ought to be more protective of the oceans and their biodiversity. Definitely an eco-centric guy with some extreme views and a set of morals on him; he ‘does it all for the whales and creatures of the sea’. If I lived his experiences, I probably would too.

It’s really too much for me to write all here. See the link below for the stories of how he made eye contact with a whale as it bled to death, how a whale almost crushed his ship, and some captivating thoughts on the whale hunt and, of course, more.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/21/sea-shepherd-paul-watson-whales