Paul Watson: Anti-whaling activist arrested in Greenland faces extradition to Japan, says Greenland Wildlife Conservancy

CNN
—

Veteran environmental activist Paul Watson was arrested in Greenland on Sunday and faces possible extradition to Japan His organization said in a statement that the charges against him relate to anti-whaling activities in Antarctica years ago.

The 73-year-old dual Canadian-American national was arrested by police when his ship docked in Greenland’s capital Nuuk to refuel, the Captain Paul Watson Foundation and Greenland police said.

The John Paul DeJoria and its 25-man crew were en route from Dublin, Ireland, to the North Pacific to intercept a newly launched $48 million Japanese whaling ship. Kanji Maru, CPWF said.

“A SWAT team and…police immediately boarded the ship and wasted no time in restraining and arresting Paul Watson, our founder, under a decades-old red notice issued at the request of Japan,” ship operations manager Luke McLean said in a video message aboard the John Paul DeJoria.

The video shows police officers boarding the ship and leading Watson away in handcuffs.

In a statement, Greenland police said Watson was arrested upon his arrival in Nuuk on a Japanese arrest warrant. He will appear in a district court with a request to be held in custody while a decision is made on his possible extradition to Japan, police added.

His organization believes the arrest is “linked to a previous red notice issued due to Watson’s anti-whaling activities in Antarctica.”

“This development comes as a surprise as the foundation’s lawyers reported that the red notice had been withdrawn. However, it appears that Japan made the notice secret to facilitate Paul’s travel for the purpose of his arrest,” the statement read.

The Seafarers Protection Organization said it “believes the reactivation of the Red Notice against Captain Watson is politically motivated and coincides with the launch of the new factory ship.”

The Japan Coast Guard told CNN it was aware that Greenland police had issued a statement regarding Watson and said, “We will continue to respond appropriately in coordination and cooperation with relevant organizations.”

Interpol issued a red notice for Watson in September 2012, two years after the Coast Guard issued a warrant for his arrest. CNN has contacted Interpol for more information.

Watson was an early member of Greenpeace, and later founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an environmental group known for its Tracking, expose And Shocked sometimes Japanese whalers. He gained fame on Animal Planet’s “Whale Wars” for his attempts to disrupt Japanese whalers at sea.

His activities have also previously landed him in legal trouble. In 2012, he was detained in Germany on an international arrest warrant issued by Costa Rica, which accused him of endangering a fishing vessel off the coast of Guatemala in 2002. defaulted bail But he denied committing any wrongdoing in this case.

In 2013, the Japan Cetacean Research Institute and Japanese company Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha were awarded a contract US District Court Order Against Watson and Sea Shepherd, who prevented him and his party from approaching within 500 yards of the plaintiffs on the open sea.

As a result of the court order, Watson resigned as president and CEO of the Nature Conservation Society in the United States and as president of the society in Australia.

In June, Kyodo Senpaku launched a new whaling mothership — the Kanji Maru — a 370-foot-long, 9,300-ton vessel equipped with advanced drones capable of traveling 100 kilometers (62 miles) to allow crews to quickly locate and kill whales.

The new ship replaces Nishin Maruthe infamous whaling ship dubbed the “floating slaughterhouse” by activists and decommissioned in 2020 after more than 30 years of service, during which it was frequently put on display clash With anti-whaling activists.

Watson told CNN ahead of the launch that he believes the ship’s high-powered features — including a cruising range of 13,000 kilometers (more than 8,000 miles) and its ability to sail for up to 60 days — suggest Japan may be setting its sights on whales far from its northern waters.

“Japan has never given up on its whaling ambitions,” Watson told CNN at the time. “The sole purpose of a ship like this is to be able to travel long distances … to hunt whales.”

Japan is one of three countries, along with Norway Iceland, which continues to hunt whales, says officials the industry is an important part of its culture and history — and also provides food security.

The Kanji Maru features a ramp large enough to pull whales up to 85 feet long out of the sea that leads to an internal storage deck the size of two basketball courts.

There, workers will remove the fat layer before cutting the whale meat onto huge cutting boards, before the meat is pressure-packed and stored in 40 industrial refrigerators, ready for sale.

Takaaki Sakamoto, director of the Japan Fisheries Agency’s whaling affairs bureau, told CNN that Japan sent ships to Antarctica last year to collect numbers and skin samples, but those expeditions did not involve killing whales. He said they plan to return this year to do the same.

Hideki Tokoro, president of Kyodo Senpaku, told CNN that Kanji Maru does not plan to kill whales outside Japanese waters because it does not make economic sense.

Commercial whaling was banned by a 1986 International Whaling Commission ruling. But Japan exploited a legal loophole to continue whaling for scientific research.

In 2018, announced her withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission and resumed commercial whaling months later in defiance of international criticism.

“We are proud of whaling and we are very proud of this ship that will allow us to start whaling off the coast of the country this year,” Tokoro told reporters in June.