Paul Watson, a Man on the Brink of Insanity.

Paul Watson has a very different way of seeing things that the average person. He uses force when most people would use politics and argument to make sure that what he believes in happens. Paul Watson believes that whale hunting is a brutal crime that should not go unpunished and feels that since it is not looked at as such a big issue he has to take matters into his own hands. The best way to do that for him is coming up with a navy that will protect whales everywhere from the whalers who kill them for food. This “fleet” he controls is called the infamous “Neptune’s Navy.”

Paul Watson is a man who uses very little to do something very big. He has two boats the Hunter and the Farley which are extremely old and the Farley is pretty much floating wreckage. Watson has zealous volunteers who help him protect these waters with items such as stink bombs, water cannons and his favorite weapon, his bow. ( bow is the front of the ship) This quote shows what the bow was used for, “Ramming is his signature tactic, and it is what he and his crew intended to do to the Japanese fleet, if they could find it.” He calls this method of ramming called “Operation Asshole.” This method has scared whalers and it down right should, it is like a modern Trireme which for all those who don’t know was an ancient Greek ship where the bow had a giant ram to sink the other ship. Even though scaring the whalers is a main part of his tactics it is not the only one.

The media, this is how Watson gets the support for his voyages from people like Sean Penn, William Shatner and Orlando Bloom. Watson takes videos of all his journeys and puts them on youtube as well as writing books and articles of his journeys and beliefs. These things have gotten him lots of support from private companies (that generally don’t have anything to do with whaling) and private investors. Just from donations he gets around 2 million dollars annually to upkeep his ships and get supplies. While he gets support from private companies, he has not gone over so well with many countries, “Officials in Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Japan, Canada, and Costa Rica have denounced him.” Even though these countries have denounced him he has never been convicted of any act of violence or piracy.

These tactics have given him split comments from a lot of different people. People have said things like what Peter Singer said, “I think he’s a hero” while Sidney Holt one of the principal architects of the whaling moratorium said, “I think his involvement in all this is an absolute disaster. Almost everything he has been doing has had a blowback for those who want to see an end to whaling.” Even though he might not be liked by everyone he is strongly believes in what he is fighting for and since he has been given a show on the discovery channel, people must think it is interesting which is just another way he uses the media to persuade the general audience towards his side of the whaling argument.

Overall Paul Watson believes very strongly that what he is doing is right. To tell you the truth, I don’t think there is one person that can talk him out of what he is doing because he thinks he is doing such a good job he said this comment, “I will not watch a whale die. I’ve not seen a whale die since I left Greenpeace, in 1977. When we show up whales don’t die.” Watson will be fighting against whaling till the day he days and even when that day comes his legacy will be there and people will take his place to make sure “Neptune’s Navy” is used as the protector of whales and the informant to the public of the world.