MESSAGE FROM CAPTAIN PAUL WATSON IN RESPONSE TO SEA SHEPHERD AUSTRALIA’S FALSE AND DEFAMATORY STATEM

12/07/2022

MESSAGE FROM CAPTAIN PAUL WATSON IN RESPONSE TO SEA SHEPHERD AUSTRALIA’S FALSE AND DEFAMATORY STATEMENTS :

Sea Shepherd Australia has posted a series of false and defamatory statements about me on the Sea Shepherd Australia Facebook page and the Sea Shepherd Australia Website.

They certainly can’t be very confident about the accusations they posted because they are not allowing comments by the public and certainly not from me. I have been blocked from even viewing the post.

However, I don’t need to respond to such false and defamatory statements nor defend myself. Our supporters around the world know who I am, who we are and what we have accomplished over the last four decades.

People either support what we stand for, or they do not. We are focused on continuing the work we have been doing since I first established Sea Shepherd as an organization and a movement.

I certainly don’t need to defend myself from a Board of Directors of Sea Shepherd Australia or Sea Shepherd US primarily composed of people who have never gone to sea on a Sea Shepherd ship, who have never experienced the fury of a Southern Ocean storm, who have never risked their life or security for a whale or a dolphin or faced down the harpoons or rifles of poachers.

Along with Sea Shepherd France, Sea Shepherd United Kingdom and Sea Shepherd Brazil, my new Captain Paul Watson Foundation will continue to do what we have done so effectively since 1977.

Sea Shepherd is more than just a name, it is a commitment inspired by passion, motivated by imagination, and fired by courage and resolve, uncompromising and incorruptible in the service of the diversity and interdependence of all life in the sea.

We will rebuild our navy with a renewed resolve, continuing to do what we do so well. To that end, we have already secured our first ship and working to secure a second vessel.

Over the years, I have taken our ships and crews through the most severe storms on the planet into extremely hostile regions to engage against ecologically destructive operations illegally taking the lives of whales, dolphins, sea turtles and fish.

What we do requires courage, and it requires sacrifice. We are not everybody’s cup of tea but for those people who want to seriously confront and address real problems in the sea impacting our collective futures, we stand firm in our commitment and strong in our resolve.

Sea Shepherd does not belong to those who profit from it. Sea Shepherd belongs to our clients in the Ocean. And so our commitment is to our supporters and our friends in the Ocean.