MESSAGE TO CREWS OF ALL SSG SHIPS

09/03/2022

Message to the Crews of All Sea Shepherd Global Ships

Some of you may be aware of the turmoil within the leadership of Sea Shepherd and aware of my resignation in July from Sea Shepherd USA and my dismissal from the Sea Shepherd Global Board yesterday.

Please don’t let the politics of Sea Shepherd dissuade you or distract you from the incredible work you are doing on the high seas.

Your efforts are extremely important. Sea Shepherd ships and the crew that serve on these ships have always been the backbone of the Sea Shepherd movement.

Sea Shepherd Global has done an amazing job coordinating campaigns and ship operations and the list of successes in African waters and in the Mediterranean has been impressive, has made a huge difference and I have been very proud of all that has been accomplished and continues to be accomplished.

Sea Shepherd USA has scrapped three ships, sold one and intends to sell another. They bought a luxury dive vessel to provide a platform for researchers. They decided to turn their back on confrontation and controversy and condemned me for being too controversial and too confrontational.

The US Board then threatened the Global Board with legal action over trademarks and demanded my dismissal from the Global Board and without a meeting or a vote and without a warning I was informed by Alex Cornelissen that I was dismissed from the Global Board.

I have extremely serious issues with the Sea Shepherd US Board. I could not participate or support the radical change in the direction of Sea Shepherd USA to abandon our tactics, our strategies and our vegan polices.

I do not have any such issues with Sea Shepherd Global, with Sea Shepherd Global ships or Global crew.

I have established my own organization the Captain Paul Watson Foundation and I will continue to do what I have been doing since 1977. I will rebuild and I will carry on.

I would also like to work with Sea Shepherd Global and if that is not possible, I can certainly make it clear that the work the officers and crew on Sea Shepherd Global ships are doing is seriously important work and that I support all your efforts in defending life on the sea.

Although Sea Shepherd USA compromised The Global Board in securing my dismissal from the Global Board, I do trust that the Sea Shepherd Global Board will not compromise ship operations and campaigns.

I am confident that Sea Shepherd values will continue to guide all Sea Shepherd Global operations.

I have always said that an individual can be taken down, an organization can be taken down, but a movement survives, and it survives because of the strength, the passion, the courage, the persistence, the dedication and the imagination of each and every person involved, with every net pulled, with every poacher intercepted, with every life saved, with every piece of plastic removed and with every vegan meal served.

Never forget that it is action that defines what Sea Shepherd is and it is the crew on the ships and volunteers on the beaches that transform action into lives saved and habitats protected.

Bon Voyage to each and every one of you.