"Ocean Warrior" Asked To Stay In International Waters

July 24, 2001 - Ocean Warrior, the flagship of the Sea Shepherd Society, left Port Castries under coast guard escort Monday evening, following complaints by local fishermen that they were being harassed by its crew while fishing in Saint Lucia’s territorial waters.

The vessel arrived here July 18 and its Captain and owner, Paul Watson, announced its presence in Saint Lucia and Caribbean waters was to coincide with the holding of this year’s annual general meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in London, which began Monday. 

            With a record of ramming and sinking ships engaging in whaling in far regions of the world, Sea Shepherd and its Ocean Warrior crew boast of having chalked up a victim list of eight ships sank since the organisation was launched in 1977.

            Their website also boasted on July 19 that two inflatable dinghies from Ocean warrior had “intercepted” what it described as “one of several suspected whale killing boats” that Sea Shepherd “had under surveillance” which had returned that evening to the Castries harbour.

The incident took place in Saint Lucia’s territorial waters while the local whaling fishermen returned from a fishing expedition with their day’s catch, which included a young Pilot Whale.

The Sea Shepherd website also claimed the crew of the intercepting foreign vessel was “threatened with a knife” by the “agitated whale killers” while it filmed the catch on the local fishing boat.

            During their stay here, the Sea Shepherd’s flag\ship and crew were accused by several local fishermen of “harassing” them while fishing out at sea.

The Fisheries Department on Monday confirmed receiving such reports, which it reported to the Marine Unit of the Police Force.

            The Ministry of Agriculture, which has responsibility for Fisheries matters, condemned the reports of harassment and pointed out that the species of whales being harvested by Saint Lucian fishermen were not on the endangered species lists issued by the international conservation and wildlife protection bodies.

            Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Jimmy Fletcher, said that contrary to the claims by Watson and the Sea Shepherd’s website, Saint Lucia’s votes at the IWC meetings were not dictated by Japanese aid, but “by the scientific evidence.”

            He reiterated that the species of whales being hunted here were mainly Pilot Whales and Porpoises (better known here as “Mashwen” and “Blackfish”) and that our fishermen were not violating international laws regarding endangered species.

            Dr Fletcher pointed out that in the case of the Minke whales -- of which Japan is allowed 50 to harvest per year -- there’s an estimated 750,000 left that are being protected through gradual harvesting.

In the case of Pilot Whales, he added, the abundance was such as to allow for the limited numbers harvested in these parts.

According to Dr Fletcher, the scientific evidence indicates that “whales consume more fish than the world’s population” and that there was also need for conservation and protection of certain stocks of fish that are under threat from whales.

            Ocean Warrior’s crew denied they were harassing local fishermen, with Watson claiming they were only “filming them killing whales.” But the Marine Unit warned the Sea Shepherd’s Captain and crew to desist from using scare tactics against local fishermen in their quest to attract international attention during the IWC meeting.

            Sea Shepherd insists on resorting to extreme actions and maintains it has a right and a duty to protect whales across borders and national territorial waters. It is totally against fishing for whales and has mounted confrontational and intimidating campaigns around the world that eventually led to its expulsion from the IWC.

Watson was also expelled from Greenpeace after his extreme actions caused the organization to lose its duty free status in the USA. He has also been declared persona non grata in some countries where his actions and that of Sea Shepherd have clashed with local and international law.

            The Sea Shepherd Society insists its presence in Eastern Caribbean waters during the IWC meeting is to attract international attention to the fact that Saint Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda have traditionally voted for a resumption of commercial whaling.

Dr Fletcher and Fisheries Department officials here have always maintained, however, that Saint Lucia votes at the IWC on the basis of sustainable use of the resource through scientific monitoring and corresponding harvesting and protective actions and programmes.

Captain Watson and his crew have been vague on the question of whether they would upgrade their actions against Caribbean fishermen to ramming and sinking of their boats if they continued to fish for whales.

The Sea Shepherd’s flagship and crew however insisted they were here to “patrol the waters of the Eastern Caribbean” during the course of the IWC meeting.

            Following several reports by fishermen of being harassed in local territorial waters and a sustained propaganda offensive on its website aimed at Saint Lucia’s tourism industry, the Ocean Warrior came to the end of its stay on Monday evening and was escorted out of Port Castries by the local coast guard vessel “Defender.”

A government source said the flagship of the Saint Lucia Coast Guard was required to escort the flagship of the Sea Shepherd fleet, “to ensure they did not interfere with local fishermen while on their way out.”

The ship and crew were asked to restrict their activities to international waters.

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