Whaling was, in the words of one scholar, “early capitalism unleashed on the high seas.” How did the U.S. come to dominate the whale market? Why did whale hunting die out here — and continue to grow elsewhere? And is that whale vomit in your perfume? (Part 1 of “Everything You Never Knew About Whaling.”)
What drives you to do what you do, Paul?
I don't want to live in a world without whales.
Paul Watson is an environmental activist.
You may remember him from a tv show called Whale wars, where he and his crew confronted japanese whale hunting ships in Antarctica.
Warning, warning, warning.
Quit poaching whales and go back to Japan.
Himself an eco warrior.
Other people have different names for him.
A judge on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals called him a pirate.
I'm actually quite proud of the fact that I'm officially a pirate.
Others call him an eco terrorist.
In 1985, I went to Reykjavik with my ship and I said, look, the law is going to come into effect here in 86 and I'm warning you, if you continue to kill whales, then we're going to come here and we're going to sink your ship.
So they continued to kill whales and then on November of 86, we sank half the fleet in Reykjavik harbor.
How did you do that?
Went into the engine room in the middle of the night and opened up the saltwater cooling systems, flooded the engine rooms and they sank dockside.
There was nobody on board.
Not everyone approves of Watson's tactics, not even all his fellow environmentalists.
Well, in 1971, I was a co founder of Greenpeace.
I left Greenpeace in 77 and established the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
Greenpeace, by the way, disputes that Watson was a founder.