Paul Watson

Paul Watson (born December 2, 1950, Toronto) is a Canadian animal rights and environmental activist. He founded and is currently president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a direct action group devoted to marine conservation.

When he was 19, he joined a Sierra Club protest against nuclear testing. The group which formed as a result of that protest (the fleets were called: Greenpeace I e Greenpeace Too) is the group known today as Greenpeace. He is one of the founders and directors of this group. In the following years he took part in several campaigns with a view to fighting whaling and sealing hunting in the Eastern coast of Canada.

In 1977, Watson left Greenpeace, because the group - with an increasing bureaucratic organisation- felt his strong, "front and centre" personality and frequently voiced opposition to Greenpeace's interpretation of "nonviolence". That year, he also founded his own group, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Sea Shepherd promotes marine conservation and protection. The main activity of Sea Shepherd is the fight against the illegal hunting and all violent activities, mutilation and massacre of marine species.

From 1978 until today Paul Watson is the Captain and Commander of seven Sea Shepherd boats. He is now Captain of the flagship Steve Irwin and leads the Sea Shepherd campaigns all over the world.

Among all Sea Shepherd Campaign, it's worth to mention also those campaigns held in Canada against the seal slaughter, in the Galapagos islands to protect the sharks, in the Far Oer island (Danish Protectorate) against the pilot whales slaughter, in the Mediterranean against the illegal fishery against the red tuna, in Japan against the capture and massacre of dolphins and other cetaceans and the most demanding campaign: against the illegal whale hunting in Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary (Atlantic Ocean).

In 2000 the newspaper Time called him “one of the environmental heroes of XX century”, in 2008 he was mentioned by The Guardian as “one of the 50 people who could save the planet" because of all Sea Shepherd activities. Now he is one of the most important leaders of the environmental movement and a big supporter of the animal rights all over the world.

More information
Sea Shepherd Italy
Sea Shepherd Headquarters

Biografia estesa Paul Watson

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