Interviewed by Libération French newspaper after the COP21, Paul Watson remains skeptical about the effectiveness of international summits to protect the planet and the oceans which mention has been added in the preamble of the second week … “The oceans are the COP poor relations. They are yet in worrying condition, suffocated by plastic, and we have already done away with 90% of the fish. We have to leave the ocean quiet, to leave it repair itself »
“We are not breaking the law, we make respect”
Considered as a “pirate of the seas” – the NGO has cast including half the Icelandic whaling fleet in 1986 and is on the red list of the Japanese authorities for his fight against whaling – Paul Watson applies to uphold the oceans Act. “You should know that 40% of the fishing is done illegally. The rules and laws against poaching exist, but there is a lack of political and economic will to enforce them. We are not breaking the law, we make it comply. Our nine ships roam the oceans in pursuit of poachers, we cooperate with Interpol, the Mexican Navy, police Galapagos… We have the means, they have the power we just pursue a poacher for 110 days, he has been arrested in Sao Tome and sentenced to two years in prison.”
We are the only ones to act
Recently, a Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) ship left for Antarctica in the footsteps of an armed boat for the Japanese whaling to stop them because “we are the ones to act. No country comes up. The Japanese are set even a 300 catch quota; the International Whaling Commission condemn these acts and Australia has also condemned Japan to practice illegal fishing in its waters. “Also present in French Polynesia, the NGO just point fingers to the captive dolphin shows of the Moorea Dolphin Center, and the seizure of dietary supplements made from shark cartilage, arrived legally in the territory or the jewelry sale designed with teeth tiger sharks… The NGO attracts passionate volunteers who want to act primarily to effectively protect their ocean area without waiting for empty promises from endless international negotiations.
