Paul Watson Quotes & Sayings

I feel that people should have a license to have children, that they have proper education how to raise children. And that nobody should be allowed to be a parent unless they can prove that they are competent enough to be a parent. — Paul Watson

In Ecuador, if I go after an Ecuadoran, I'm in trouble; if I go after a Costa Rican, I'm a hero. — Paul Watson

Every fish in the ocean is in danger. — Paul Watson

Spermaceti oil is valued for its high resistance to heat, and thus it is used in machinery where there is excessive heat. — Paul Watson

Does Greenpeace think it can stop whaling in Antarctica by publicly eating whale meat and declaring it delicious? What are these people thinking? — Paul Watson

Unlike aboriginal hunters, commercial seal hunters leave the carcasses on the ice to rot. — Paul Watson

There are many who condemn my crew and I for taking the law into our own hands and for taking on the barons of corporate profit. — Paul Watson

No species is more important than others. — Paul Watson

If you do not intend to kill anybody, if you make every effort to not kill and injure anybody, that's all you really can do. You can't stop somebody from walking into a situation, and we really can't be too overly preoccupied with this. — Paul Watson

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society recognizes that the deaths of four sealers is a tragedy, but Sea Shepherd also recognizes that the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of seal pups is an even greater tragedy. — Paul Watson

I have an unexplainable belief that I will never cause harm or be harmed while at sea. Because of this, I feel secure at sea: I feel secure in the ice, I feel secure in the storms, and I feel secure in confrontations. — Paul Watson

We buy a bottle of water in the city, where clean water comes out in its taps. You know, back in 1965, if someone said to the average person, 'You know in thirty years you are going to buy water in plastic bottles and pay more for that water than for gasoline?' Everybody would look at you like you're completely out of your mind. — Paul Watson

Dutch prisons are probably the most civilized you're going to find anywhere in the world. — Paul Watson

There is no sustainable future for fisheries as long as human populations continue to increase. — Paul Watson

You can't love nature with a gun — Paul Watson

This is the contradiction we have in the media. We love vigilantes: Batman, Tarzan, Green Arrow - the comic books and the TV shows are filled with vigilantes. We love to promote it. Jesus Christ was a vigilante. We admire these people, but we don't want to be associated with them. — Paul Watson

I will not watch a whale die. I've not seen a whale die since I left Greenpeace in 1977. — Paul Watson

A vegan riding a hummer contributes less to greenhouse gas emissions than a meat eater riding a bicycle. — Paul Watson

I don't care if I put people off. — Paul Watson

I did not establish the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as a protest organisation. — Paul Watson

That fact is that we live in an extremely violent culture, and we all justify violence if it's for what we believe in . — Paul Watson

The sealing industry is dying. — Paul Watson

Ships are expendable; the whales are not. — Paul Watson

Any social movement throughout history has always been carried out by only 7% of population being passionately active in that. — Paul Watson

Sometimes we are separated by differences, and sometimes we are united by common ideals of respect and compassion. — Paul Watson

I'm not interested in culture; I'm interested in the law. — Paul Watson

An American citizen is not going to be extradited to Japan for saving whales. — Paul Watson

Be a voice for the future and a voice for the planet. — Paul Watson

The oceans are the last free place on the planet. — Paul Watson

Everybody is a hypocrite. You can't live on this planet without being a hypocrite. — Paul Watson

Musicians have made incredible contributions to the conservation and environmental movement and continue to do so, more than ever. — Paul Watson

I take a biocentric point of view. I look at things from the point of view of the Earth and the laws of ecology. As opposed to the anthropocentric point of view, where everything revolves around humanity. — Paul Watson

When I was born, there were three billion people on the planet. — Paul Watson

Canada I don't trust. The Canadian government hates me more than the Japanese. — Paul Watson

The Polynesians used to have a system where they proclaimed a fishing area as 'taboo.' If any fisherman was caught fishing in a taboo area, they would be killed. The Polynesians understand that the fish had to be given a chance to recover. — Paul Watson

Intelligence is the ability of a species to live in harmony with its environment. — Paul Watson

The environmental movement doesn't have many deserters and has a high level of recruitment. Eventually, there will be open war. — Paul Watson

We are literally eating the oceans alive and there are simply not enough fish to continue to feed an ever expanding population of humanity. — Paul Watson

Commercial fishermen are the greediest, stupidest people on earth. — Paul Watson

Atlantic puffins starve to death so that Danish chickens can feast on their fish. — Paul Watson

I feel that we have a responsibility to try to do everything we can to protect species, and the best way to do that is to uphold international conservation law. — Paul Watson

If we wipe out the fish, the oceans are going to die. If the oceans die, we die. We can't live on this planet with a dead ocean. — Paul Watson

We need to radically and intelligently reduce human populations to fewer than one billion. We need to eliminate nationalism and tribalism and become Earthlings. And as Earthlings, we need to recognize that all the other species that live on this planet are also fellow citizens and also Earthlings. This is a planet of incredible diversity of life-forms; it is not a planet of one species as many of us believe. — Paul Watson

Sea Shepherd is to terrorism what Groucho was to Marxism. — Paul Watson

People sometimes feel frustrated about what's going on in our oceans and environment, and 'Whale Wars' shows that ordinary people can take action and make things happen. — Paul Watson

As for myself, I do not believe in loggers, I believe in trees. I do not believe in fishermen, I believe in fish. I do not believe in miners, I believe in the rocks beneath my feet. I do not believe in pie in the sky spirituality, I believe in rainbows, rivers, mountains, and moss. I do not believe in environmentalists, I believe in the environment. I am a proud traitor to my species in alliance with my mother the Earth in opposition to those who would destroy her, those parasites who believe the Earth is here to serve human interests. — Paul Watson

Unless we stop the degradation of our oceans, marine ecological systems will begin collapsing and when enough of them fail, the oceans will die. And if the oceans die, then civilization collapses and we all die — Paul Watson

The Sea Shepherd crew is doing what governments should be doing, but refuse to do themselves, because of the threats of trade retaliation from Japan. — Paul Watson

Back in 1980, whale watching surpassed whaling as an industry. Now it's worth about four times as much. Whale watching provides far, far more jobs to people than whaling ever did. Whale watching has become an ally in the fight to end whaling. — Paul Watson

The only language that the Japanese whaling industry understands is economics. — Paul Watson

Bluefin tuna is sort of like the cheetah of the ocean. It's the fastest fish. It's a warm-blooded fish. But it's got a $100,000 price tag on its head. — Paul Watson

I want to stay in the ocean. I'm not going to be able to do that from some holding cell in Japan. — Paul Watson

Seafood is simply a socially acceptable form of bush meat. We condemn Africans for hunting monkeys and mammalian and bird species from the jungle yet the developed world thinks nothing of hauling in magnificent wild creatures like swordfish, tuna, halibut, shark, and salmon for our meals. The fact is that the global slaughter of marine wildlife is simply the largest massacre of wildlife on the planet. — Paul Watson

I wouldn't think I was successful if I didn't have just as many people hate me as support me. — Paul Watson

Documentaries make a difference. — Paul Watson

NATO isn't going to be concerned about fishing. — Paul Watson

Almost all theological thought is anthropocentric and I just cannot buy into the anthropocentric ideology. Basically we're a bunch of conceited apes. — Paul Watson

My concern is not for the judicial system, but for the reality that the shark fin mafia of Costa Rica has a price on my head, and a Costa Rican prison would provide an excellent opportunity for someone to exercise this lethal contract against me. — Paul Watson

We fired pie filling. That was the Faroes. When they tried to board us, we hit them with forty-five gallon shots of custard and banana creme. — Paul Watson

Way back in October 2007, I had urged thousands of Australians to vote for Kevin Rudd and Peter Garrett's Labor Party. Why? Because they promised to get tough on illegal Japanese whaling. — Paul Watson

In 'Deadliest Catch,' we have men in ships in rough seas catching crabs. With 'Whale Wars,' we have men and women from a dozen different nations going out to sea in rough weather to help save the whales. We also have icebergs, whales, penguins, and dramatic ship-to-ship confrontations. — Paul Watson

All revolutions are violent revolutions. — Paul Watson

Sustainable fishing is a fraud. It's a marketing term that really means 'business as usual.' — Paul Watson

I would just say that nobody could do what I do unless you had a big ego. It's the only way you can really put it. You have to be arrogant enough to challenge the arrogance of the human race. — Paul Watson

I'm thankful to have time to write. — Paul Watson

Whales are killed today to supply the limited demand for whale meat or to be used in pet foods or as fodder for fur-bearing animals used in the fur trade. — Paul Watson

Domestic house cats kill more fish than all the world's seals put together. — Paul Watson

My clients are the whales and the seals. — Paul Watson

Sea Shepherd does not condone, nor do we practise, violence. — Paul Watson

There are very few fishermen left today. — Paul Watson

Russian subs are a bargain at $60,000. Unfortunately, none of the dials or instructions are in English. — Paul Watson

Putting Zodiacs in front of whaling vessels doesn't do it anymore. Done that, been there, seen that. — Paul Watson

They [Greenpeace] forgot their original purpose and turned into a big, rich bureaucracy, more interested in fund-raising than in saving lives, so I got fed up and quit ... they're a bunch of wimps. — Paul Watson

People say I manipulate the media. Well, duh. We live in a media culture, so why on earth wouldn't I? — Paul Watson

North American cats eat more fish than all the world's seals put together, yet we lay the blame on the seals for the declining fish stocks. — Paul Watson

All confrontation is based on deception. — Paul Watson

We need to stop flying, stop driving cars and jetting around on marine recreational vehicles. — Paul Watson

My grandfather carried me around on his shoulders at 85. — Paul Watson

We should never feel like we're going too far in breaking the law, because whatever laws you break to liberate animals or to protect the environment are very insignificant compared to the laws that are broken by that parliament of whores in Washington. They are the biggest lawbreakers, the biggest destroyers, the biggest mass-murderers on this planet right now. — Paul Watson

It's funny but when young people say to me "what can I study to be a force for change, should I study law or biology or business?" My answer is music, drama, journalism, communications. — Paul Watson

If you don't know an answer, a fact, a statistic - make it up on the spot. — Paul Watson

Most people can't see the connection between their own lives and the oceans. — Paul Watson

In other words, people should be placed in parks within ecosystems instead of parks placed in human communities. We need vast areas of the planet where humans do not live at all and where other species are free to evolve without human interference. We need to radically and intelligently reduce human populations to fewer than one billion. — Paul Watson

There is a lack of economic and political motivation to defend life in the oceans. The profit is made by companies exploiting the oceans and they have the money to buy the politicians who make the laws. — Paul Watson

I've won some awards. 'Time' magazine designated me as one of the environmental heroes of the 20th century. Oh, and I've got some honorary citizenships, like from the Conch Republic of the Florida Keys. But the one thing I am proud of is I didn't get the Chevron environmental award. Never did get that one. — Paul Watson

I'm not really a fugitive. — Paul Watson

I don't eat fish because there is no such thing as sustainable fishing in the world right now. — Paul Watson

Greenpeace is the world's largest feel-good organisation now, and I can say that 'cause I am one of their co-founders. — Paul Watson

Who should have children? Those who are responsible and completely dedicated to the responsibility which is actually a very small percentage of humans. Being a parent should be a career. Whereas some people are engineers, musicians, or lawyers, others with the desire and the skills can be fathers and mothers. Schools can be eliminated if the professional parent is also the educator of the child. — Paul Watson

Costa Rica and Germany have simply been pawns in the Japanese quest to silence Sea Shepherd in an attempt to stop our annual opposition of their illegal whaling activities. — Paul Watson

The fact is I have never been convicted of a crime. — Paul Watson

In 1993, I chased Cuban and Spanish drag trawlers off the Grand Banks off of Newfoundland. And it cost them $35 million in losses. — Paul Watson

What sensitive, sane soul can stand in the presence of such insanity and do nothing? Yet to expose the slaughter of seals in Canada is to deliver oneself into the hands of a bureaucratic inquisition. To witness the killing of a seal is a crime. To film or photograph the slaughter is a felony. To oppose the massacre is to subject oneself to jail time, beatings, heavy fines, and officially sanctioned harassment. - Paul Watson — Paul Watson

Usually, environmental programs are not designed for a mainstream audience. — Paul Watson

If you want to know where you would have stood on slavery before the Civil War, don't look at where you stand on slavery today. Look at where you stand on animal rights. — Paul Watson

In December 2012, the U.S. 9th district court granted a temporary injunction to the Japanese whalers that ordered the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society U.S.A. to not approach within 500 yards of the whaling vessels. — Paul Watson

It is true that many of the Sea Shepherd crewmembers are inexperienced, but the fact is that these volunteers bring a passion to the project that cannot be found in a hired crew. — Paul Watson

It doesn't matter what is true, it only matters what people believe is true. — Paul Watson

I can assure you no whales are going to be killed today. — Paul Watson

Nobody has ever been hurt by the actions of ships I have been on. — Paul Watson