My dear sister is of the worried sort, but there is usually not much to worry about down in the idyllic little corner of her world. Along the eastern shore of the Oslo fjord in Norway is a beautiful gem of a bay called Slevik; it is one bay down from where the former king of Norway, King Olav V, had his summer house, and one bay up from where former prime minister and former WHO president Gro Harlem Bruntland has her summer house.
When I was a child, this was also a bustling harbor where fishermen from the outer part of the fjord would take their catch every day. This ended in the late 1970s when a new facility opened closer to the city. What was left was a few fishing boats, and a whaling boat that turned shrimp boat when the ban on commercial whaling started. This boat belonged to my granduncle who kept us all supplied with steaming hot shrimp off the boat, and the most delicious whale meat, throughout my childhood.
When I was a child, whale meat was the poor man’s meat. It is no longer so at closer to $12 per half pound, but it is still yummy stuff when served cubed with onions in gravy or served as a tenderloin steak with steamed broccoli and Florentine potatoes in garlic and cream.
When commercial whaling started up again in the 1990s, there was only one boat left among the bustling whaling fleet on the eastern and southern coast of Norway. Before the ban, whaling had been a way of life, and a key part of the economy along those coasts, even though the sailors had to travel for months to get to the hunting grounds. The lone boat left was Senet, which I used to dive from during hot summer afternoons. Senet is my granduncle’s boat.
That’s where my worried sister comes in — one morning she came up to our house very startled and said that someone had bombed the harbor. This was not exactly true, someone had bombed Senet. The Guardian just listed the bomber as one of their 50 most influential environmentalists. His name is Paul Watson,* the founder of eco-terrorist group Sea Shepherd. Terrorism makes you influential for sure, but it should only get you on a most-wanted list, not a list of environmental activists.
The reason he chose my little neck of the woods is that you can get in and out of the country in less than 20 minutes from there, and out of that pesky Nordic police cooperation zone within a couple of hours. If he tried to get to one of the bigger ships up North, he would have spent two days getting out of the Nordic countries, unless he spent the 8 hours getting to Russia. Neither suited him evidently. The man is a coward for his cause, as well as a terrorist.
By the way, the harbor is very shallow, only 9 feet deep. The bomb managed to flood the bottom floors and the insurance money helped my granduncle’s son buy a second boat. This way he could keep Senet running on shrimping with one crew, while he took the bigger boat up North whaling. He could fit twice the catch on the new boat, so I guess there is a silver lining here, but Paul Watson ought to be off Guardian’s list.
*Paul Watson is who the police put a warrant out for in connection to the bombing; he was never caught and there is still a warrant for his arrest in connection with this act of eco-terrorism.
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If Watson’s so good at what he does how come he’s still picking on the same little bunch of sustainable free range food lovers after thirty years?
He has achieved nothing except for self promotion and fund raising.
We shouldn’t be surprised that the mainstream anglo-saxon media celebrate him, he is their creation and kept alive at their whim.
Whatever all the fuss is about at the end of the day, it has nothing to do with environmentalism.
Frankly, I’m mystified what the difference is between supporting Paul Watson and giving support and resources to radical anti-abortionists to harass staff and patients and crash cars into clinics.
Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd are the heroes of the marine conservation movement.
Actually there are no internationally recognised warrants for his arrest which is why he travells freely across the world.
Killing of cetaceans, seals etc… has no place in the 21st century - especially by a so-called civilised nation such as Norway.
Shame on Norway for allowing whaling to continue - lets hope Sea Shepherd, OrcaForce or whoever sink the rest of the whaling ships!
AGREED TO ROBS COMMENT…warrants for arrest? in multiple countries? HE IS A HONOURABLE MAN WHO CARES FOR THE OCEANS AND ITS NATURAL INHABITANTS…PROTECTING THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT.
Paul Watson,my friends is the ONLY person.who is out there,doing any thing about conserving the populations of whales,seals,sharks,there is more money made from the selling of these ,than what he would make in all the years he has been fighting to save them,If it wasnt for he and his brave team of dedicated pirates of compassion,there would be no whales left by now,It is all a very sad and cruel death,that these animals are killed at all in this day and age,is an atrocity,it is shameful,and as such i cannot point out to you how degrading it makes these countries look,in the 21 century!.
thank you paul watsonand your sea shepherds,my children just may have a chance to see these beautiful creatures.
Paul Watson is certainly NOT the “only” person out there engaged in ocean consveration. There are quite a number of legitimate ocean conservationists that actually DO something - Sea Shepherd happens to be one of them. Good on ‘em! At least they are standing up for themselves rather than profiting from an immoral trade. Oh, and by the way, whaling is NOT a “sustainable” lifestyle.
The word “terrorist” it thrown around so easily these days - ever thought it’s the Norwegians whalers that are the “terrorists” to the whales?
Paul Watson ignited a fire that will never be extinguished. There’s is no way Sea Shepherd can match in size the Whaling industry, except in their honor, and greatness of spirit. That is greater than any whaling ship. And yes. They will continue to sink your war crafted whalers, and yes they will keep on harassing you at high seas, and yes they will stop you from killing baby seals and polar bears. Terrorists? That just depends on whose side you are. Do you ever wonder you are so afraid of Watson and Sea shepherd? Do you ever wonder why you cant sleep at night afraid that your boat is sunk? Is it because they are terrorists or because you know deep inside that what you do is wrong and counter-nature? Keep the spotlights on him. But his work is everywhere…there will be no rest until all suffering ends. Desperate days call for desperate actions. There’s no joy in destroying property. But if that property causes great pain, then it should have never existed. Then, it is destroyed, like the loss you cause on OUR world. There is no half measures or biased agreements. There is no space for laws, only for justice. And that my friends, is the SEA SHEPHERD CONSERVATION SOCIETY.