DIVE LOG Australasia

SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN THE State of Denmark A s divers, we all have an appreciation for the ocean. We understand how important biodiversity is to the resilience of aquatic ecosystems around the world. Captain Paul Watson has made it his mission to protect biodiversity, and he is best known for his protection of whales. Whales are critical to the health of the oceanic ecosystems they call home. They transport nutrients thousands of miles to remote areas of the globe. These nutrients are used by phytoplankton which not only provide the foundation of the marine food web, but also supply oxygen to our atmosphere. Many divers have thanked Paul for his work, but now more than ever, he needs the help of the dive community. Written by CHARLIE HUMPHREY

Photo credit Mikael Vojinovic

On July 21st, Captain Paul Watson and his crew aboard the M/Y John Paul Dejoria docked in Nuuk, Greenland. What was supposed to be a refueling stop, quickly changed to an arrest operation. Captain Watson and his crew were completely taken by surprise as Danish police boarded the ship to arrest Paul. Why was Captain Watson arrested? Captain Paul Watson is the face of the anti-whaling movement. His name draws the ire of whaling nations across the globe. Captain Watson and his crews have had the courage to confront illegal whaling operations on the high seas, daring to stop whalers when nations refuse to send their own navies to do so. Paul set his sights on ending Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean. His missions to the Southern Ocean were well documented on the Animal Planet TV show Whale Wars. Paul in his own words - For thousands of nautical miles, year after year, we pursued the huge Japanese whale factory ship Nisshin Maru and the fleet of four harpoon boats, pushing them onward, blocking their operations as we skirmished with the Japanese coast guard exchanging our stink bombs for their stun grenades and blasting each other with water cannons. Each time we passed a group of whales, knowing they were safe as we kept the whale killers occupied, was a jubilant day for us.

In the end, we saved some 6,500 whales, causing tens of millions of lost profits for the whalers until they quit, making me a very unpopular man in Japan. Since the time of the “Whale Wars”, Japan has been obsessed with punishing Paul for interfering with their illegal whaling activities. In 2012, Japan leaned on the German government to arrest him, but Paul was able to slip away before he could be handed over to Japan. In the years since 2012, Paul has lived as a free man in both the United States and France. Both countries understand that Japan’s motivation to incarcerate Paul is not only about revenge, but more importantly, it is about Japan’s desire to protect their renewed ambitions to kill whales globally without opposition. Japan knows that if Captain Paul Watson is free and has a ship, he will continue to put a spotlight on their illegal whaling operations. In fact, Japan has recently built a brand-new factory ship, the Kengei Maru . This $48 million dollar ship has more range and whale processing capabilities than the old Nisshin Maru . But how would Japan get their hands on Paul? Is there a nation that would do their dirty work and arrest Paul? Japan found their accomplice in Denmark. But why Denmark? Surely the Danes are a sea loving people that wouldn’t want to capture the icon of saving whales. Denmark has a few self-governing nations that are under the external sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark. One of those being the Faroe Islands. The

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DIVE LOG Australasia #408 - October ‘24

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