Unpacking The Arrest Of Anti-Whaling Icon Paul Watson In Greenland

A new page was added to the ongoing saga of international whaling on July 21 when a long-time agent provocateur of the international whaling industry was arrested in Greenland. Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF), was taken into custody by Interpol, acting on an arrest warrant issued in Japan. The warrant stems from an encounter between a Sea Shepherd ship and a Japanese whale research vessel, during which the anti-whaling campaigner allegedly ordered his captain to obstruct the other ship and lob explosives at it.

Hard To Port protests whaling, by Hard To Port

The local response

With Paul being held in Nuuk and Japan requesting his extradition to stand trial, it’s safe to say Iceland won’t be seeing any action from the 73-year-old activist this year. That’s despite Minister of Food and Agriculture Bjarkey Olsen Gunnarsdóttir issuing a permit for the 2024 whaling was allowed for the 2024 season. That permit, issued June 11, granted Hvalur hf — Iceland’s one and only whaling company — permission to kill up to 128 fin whales.

Both supporters and opponents of whaling suggested that the delayed response was equivalent to a ban on whaling, with Hvalur CEO Kristján Loftsson saying the permit was issued too late in the season to act on. An actual ban can only be legislated by parliament, but there appears to be little political interest in fighting that battle — even as recent polling by Maskína for the Icelandic Nature Conservancy indicates that two-thirds of Icelanders believe whaling is harmful to the country’s reputation.

“The fact that Watson got hung up in Greenland tells us that he had no errands to make in Iceland,” said Árni Finnsson, chairperson of Nátturverndarsamtök Íslands and long-time anti-whaling activist. “Whaling has practically ended.”

The CPWF issued an open letter to Iceland in late May warning that, “If a permit is issued the [CPWF’s ship] will intercept and block any whaling ship that intends to kill an endangered Fin whale. This will be a potentially controversial confrontation that will not benefit Iceland’s image because it will be highlighting Iceland’s continued contempt for the International Whaling Commission and international public opinion.”

No big fan of Paul, Árni authored a letter to the notorious activist in 2007 discouraging Sea Shepherd from “taking actions against whaling activities in Icelandic waters…as it will, at best, be meaningless. At worst, such actions will but strengthen Iceland’s resolve to carry on its whaling activities in order to maintain a dying industry.” The letter pointed to the resolve to continue whaling after Sea Shepherd sunk two of Hvalur’s ships in Reykjavík harbour in November 1986 and sabotaged the company’s whaling station in Hvalfjörður.

The international reaction

Public figures including French President Emmanuel Macron, biologist Jane Goodall and actress Brigitte Bardot have been vocal in their opposition of Paul’s extradition to Japan, where he could spend up to 15 years in jail. Several online petitions — each having amassed hundreds of thousands of signatures — are also calling for his release.

The Japan Coast Guard stated that the charges include being an accomplice to assault and ship trespass relating to members of Sea Shepherd boarding the Japanese whaling ship Shonan Maru 2 in the Southern Ocean in February 2010. Japan has recently finished building the ¥7.5 billion (6.9 billion ISK) Kangei Maru, a new state of the art whaling vessel that officials say will only target whales around Japan. The ship harpooned Japan’s first fin whale in 50 years on August 2.

At the time of his arrest, Paul was on his way to intercept the Kangei Maru in the North Pacific, according to the CPWF. The foundation has also said the Interpol warrant had disappeared months ago, though the Japan Coast Guard disputes this claim.

Paul will be held in Nuuk until Aug. 15 while the Greenlandic Ministry of Justice considers his potential extradition to Japan, according to the foundation.

What does this have to do with Iceland?

Japan, Iceland, Norway and the Faroe Islands are the only nations in the world that allow whaling. While Japan claims to engage solely in research whaling, Iceland’s commercial whaling operations supply a miniscule international market for whale meat.

Despite Paul’s controversial past, Finnsson said that he doesn’t think “young people care much for [him], one way or another.” Even so, Paul has his supporters in Iceland, as evidenced by Sjávarhirðir (previously known as Sea Shepherd Iceland) holding a protest outside the Danish embassy in Reykjavik on July 26 to call for his release.

Stella Anton, an anti-whaling activist who attended the protest, felt that there was a “striking contrast between the criminal justice system’s behaviour towards Paul now as opposed to four decades ago” after Sea Shepherd sank two whaling vessels. “Then, 35-year-old Paul claimed responsibility, came to Iceland and surrendered to the authorities, wishing to go on trial, to legally challenge Iceland’s violation of the moratorium (on whaling). The cops then just took him back to the airport and he was banned from ever entering Iceland again.”

It remains to be seen if Paul will be released, but Árni believes that it is unlikely he will be extradited. “Watson has been living in Paris for some time. The headquarters of Interpol is in Lyon. Yet, he had not been arrested.”