Paul Watson flees house arrest in Germany. Says the Japanese are out to get him.
18 replies, posted
[quote]Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson has accused Japan of hunting him down in revenge for his attacks on its whaling operations, in his first comments since he jumped bail and fled Germany.
The militant environmentalist who is in hiding, says he felt betrayed by Germany, where he was under house arrest for 70 days, because it had negotiated with Japan to extradite him to Tokyo.
"I am very disappointed with the German government. For me it is obvious that the German government conspired with Japan and Costa Rica to detain me so that I could be handed over to the Japanese," he said on Tuesday in a message to his supporters.
Mr Watson, who for years has harassed Japan's annual whale hunt off Antarctica, was arrested in Germany in May for extradition to Costa Rica on charges stemming from a high-seas confrontation over shark finning in 2002.
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He was detained for a week before being released on bail. He was ordered to appear before police twice a day. But the 61-year-old skipped bail on July 22.
Mr Watson said Costa Rica and Germany had been "pawns in the Japanese quest to silence Sea Shepherd", which has for close to a decade clashed with harpoon ships in the Southern Ocean.
"This was never really about Costa Rica. It has been about Japan all along," he said.
"We have confronted the Japanese whalers for eight seasons and we have humiliated them at sea and more importantly we have frustrated their illegal profiteering from the killing of whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
"This is not about justice; it is about revenge."
Mr Watson, a white-haired Canadian national known as "Captain" to supporters, refused to reveal his location and said that if he was extradited to Japan he would "never be released".
"I am presently in a place on this planet where I feel comfortable, a safe place far away from the scheming nations who have turned a blind eye to the exploitation of our oceans," he wrote.
But he indicated that he would continue to harass Japanese harpoonists.
"I can serve my clients better at sea than in a Japanese prison cell and I intend to do just that," he wrote, saying that Sea Shepherd would sail on its ninth campaign against Japanese whalers in December.
Australia is the launch site for Sea Shepherd boats each year as they chase the Japanese whalers.
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[url=http://www.smh.com.au/environment/whale-watch/japan-seeking-revenge-paul-watson-20120801-23f04.html]**HIPPIES**[/url]
It's not just Japan that wants to lock you away forever. I'm sure there's others who want the same simply because you're a disgrace.
I have no problems with people and organizations that oppose whaling, or any kind of activists really, as long as they pursue their goals in an intelligent and peaceful manner. However, when you intentionally play bumper cars with huge ships out in the arctic ocean, drag chains around ships hoping to damage them, and sail with a pirate flag while infiltrating and boarding other ships without permission.
Well, lets just say you deserve whatever shit comes your way.
So what happens when this dumbfuck gets caught next time?
He's fled? Hahah oh boy.
He was pretty close to getting out of it, too. He just fucked up big time. Have fun trying to get into Australia while you're on the run.
[editline]1st August 2012[/editline]
[quote]"I am presently in a place on this planet where I feel comfortable, a safe place far away from the scheming nations who have turned a blind eye to the exploitation of our oceans," he wrote.[/quote]
He's on a boat. Probably not one of their ships. I'd assume one of their members sailboat.
[QUOTE=V12US;37030970]as long as they pursue their goals in an intelligent and peaceful manner.[/QUOTE]
don't you think people have tried "intelligent and peaceful" manners for a long time?
protesting the government isn't going to stop people on the ocean.
Honestly, I doubt putting Watson behind bars and tossing the key will do anything except make him a martyr. Sea Shepherd is already too large to collapse without his leadership. It's rumored they'll be using up to 4 full sized vessels next season when they have their annual brawl with the whalers. Capturing Watson won't do a thing except give them a reason to fight even harder and more reckless.
This guy deserves whatever he gets, he doesn't seem to realise that people hunt whales for their livelihood, not for shits and giggles.
[QUOTE=The mouse;37031524]This guy deserves whatever he gets, he doesn't seem to realise that people hunt whales for their livelihood, not for shits and giggles.[/QUOTE]
They hunt them for scientific research!
[QUOTE=The mouse;37031524]This guy deserves whatever he gets, he doesn't seem to realise that people hunt whales for their livelihood, not for shits and giggles.[/QUOTE]
That's an awful excuse. They hunt because they say it's their culture. They hunt for profit (though they haven't made much, if any at all since Sea Shepherd started their campaigns).
I'm sorry, but fishing in general is a grossly overpopulated work force. Thousands if not millions of fishermen need to lose their jobs to keep the dwindling stocks sustainable. Or we could keep at the current rate, and none of them will have a job. Their kids, at least.
[editline]1st August 2012[/editline]
20 million people, actually. Or 13 million fishing boats.
[url]http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/17/saving-fish-stocks-cost-jobs[/url]
[quote]More than 20 million people employed in the fishing industry may need to be taken out of service and retrained for other work over the next 40 years if the final collapse of fish stocks in oceans around the globe is to be avoided, the UN warned today.[/quote]
I say we start with all whalers(yes even you, Norway), shark fishers, blue fin tuna fishers.
Yo ho fiddlety dee
I think the Japanese deserve activists to harass them. They fish an endangered species just for some 'exotic food' and money.
The truth is, other countries and organizations aren't going to do jack shit, and the only real option here is activism like this.
Even though I wouldn't do it personally, I support those who risk their lives and reputations to stop the hunting of these creatures.
Why didn't i know this was going on? This is great news. Ultimiate humiliation for him to get locked up in Japan.
[editline]1st August 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=blackfire88;37031744]I think the Japanese deserve activists to harass them. They fish an endangered species just for some 'exotic food' and money.
The truth is, other countries and organizations aren't going to do jack shit, and the only real option here is activism like this.
Even though I wouldn't do it personally, I support those who risk their lives and reputations to stop the hunting of these creatures.[/QUOTE]
I agree it's a thing they shouldn't do, but they are not actually catching that many of them.
The thing is, they actually are doing legimate research work, but their research requires them to autopsy some whales. Japanese law stats that once a whale is caught and killed, it has to be cut up and sold as to not waste it.
I am sure they catch more than they need for their research, but they wouldn't catch so many that they'd go extinct, because then they wouldn't have any more whale meat left to fish for.
Good. Here's hoping they catch him, as well as everyone else in his organization. What Sea Shepherd does, even if it's for a good cause, is wrong. They're terrorists. Their goal is to terrorize fishermen into not sailing. The methods they use are quite liable to kill people, not to mention wreck millions of dollars worth of equipment and use up a fair chunk of coast guard resources rescuing survivors. They need to be locked up on dry land where they can't endanger people's lives recklessly.
[QUOTE=OvB;37031586]That's an awful excuse.[/QUOTE]
Dude has a point though. Sea Shepherd is nothing more than a low-scale terrorist operation with a TV show. While their hearts are in the right place their minds have focused on possibly the worst solution to the problem.
I have zero respect for Sea Shepherd and hope every last one of them gets rounded up by coast guards and locked away for years. Preferably somewhere in a desert, because they can't be trusted with boats.
Isnt he a crazy conspiracy theorist ?
[QUOTE=Itsjustguy;37036516]Isnt he a crazy conspiracy theorist ?[/QUOTE]
Why should anyone care?
[QUOTE=sami-pso;37032300]Why didn't i know this was going on? This is great news. Ultimiate humiliation for him to get locked up in Japan.
[editline]1st August 2012[/editline]
I agree it's a thing they shouldn't do, but they are not actually catching that many of them.
The thing is, they actually are doing legimate research work, but their research requires them to autopsy some whales. Japanese law stats that once a whale is caught and killed, it has to be cut up and sold as to not waste it.
I am sure they catch more than they need for their research, but they wouldn't catch so many that they'd go extinct, because then they wouldn't have any more whale meat left to fish for.[/QUOTE]
The research that they do can mostly be done with non-lethal methods. They use research as a ploy because their quotas are way too high (which includes the endangered Fin whale) if they were about research their fleet wouldn't only catch one or two for dissecting. (Hard to dissect something when you butcher the animal on an open air deck then toss all the organs overboard.) The ship is a factory ship. 100% of its function is: whales go in, crates pre-marked for market go out. They are an insult and a stain on legitimate whale research.
Attack Japanese government and corporate whaling ships
"THEY'RE OUT TO GET ME. WHAT DID I DO?"
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