My sincere apologies but I won't be able to attend the
Sierra Club Board meeting.
I arrived in Halifax today. I did some television
interviews prior to giving a lecture at Dalhousie University. It was a
good crowd but I noticed a number of police officers and Department of
Fisheries and Oceans officers in the audience.
I was warned that they intended to arrest me after the
lecture.
I left by a rear exit. A police officer spotted me and
said, "Mr. Watson...."
He made a mistake in not identifying himself as a police
officer so I was under no obligation to stop.
That's all I heard. I ducked down a stairwell of the
Student Union Building. He followed. I ran down three flights of stairs
and I could hear feet pounding the stairs above me. I had no idea where
the stairs were leading but they brought me to the ground floor. I was
outside and ran up a short flight of steps, around a corner and ducked
into a pub. I went to an upper level of the pub where there was an
unoccupied beverage room and watched as police surrounded the Student
Union Building. They proceeded to stake out the building for three hours.
I waited them out then went to my rental car and left.
I had no idea why they were intent upon arresting me. I've
since discovered that the warrant is for conspiracy to disrupt the
Canadian seal hunt. This stems from my taking my ship Farley Mowat into
the Gulf of St. Lawrence in March and off the coast of Labrador in April.
The police know that you are expecting me at the Sierra
Club Board meeting. So regrettably I cannot attend. If I do they will
arrest me, transport me to Charlottetown for a bail hearing, and I will
miss the meeting anyway.
Thus I am returning to the U.S.A. I'm sorry Elizabeth but
the smell of bananas here in Canada is strong. I have hurt no one. I've
damaged no property. I simply documented an atrocity. My crew were
violently assaulted and we video taped the assaults yet not a single
charge is being laid against the sealers, yet they are putting eleven of
my crew on trial for approaching a seal hunt and now they are seeking to
arrest me for conspiracy to document the slaughter of seals.
It is for this reason that we are advocating a boycott of
Canadian seafood products and remember there are NO sustainable oceanic
species. The cod fishery has collapsed and I predicted 20 years ago that
it would. I am now predicting that the snow crab fishery will collapse
within two years. The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans is
overseeing the complete destruction of the oceanic eco-systems of the
Northwestern Atlantic ocean.
So for those of you who wish to feast on lobster,
scallops, snow crabs, or fish during this meeting, remember these species
are no different than the bush meat that we condemn in Africa. We are
systematically hunting down and exterminating entire species of marine
life - just so people can have the luxury of dining on exotic flesh.
Anyone who partakes of the flesh of these species cannot
call themselves conservationists.
So I'll see you in September if I am successful in
avoiding the gendarmes here in the Great White North.
On the lam in Nova Scotia.
Captain Paul Watson
Founder and President - Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
Director - Sierra Club USA
Director - The Farley Mowat Institute
President - Oceanic Research and Conservation Action Force
P.O. Box 2616
Friday Harbor, Wa 98250
Tel: 360-370-5650 Cell: 310-701-3096
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.Seashepherd.org
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