The well-known environmentalist and whaling opponent Paul Watson has been arrested by the police in Greenland. The Canadian-American citizen was apprehended in the capital Nuuk, according to the Greenlandic police, after he docked in the local harbor with the ship “John Paul DeJoria.”
Arrest at the Request of Japan
The reason for the arrest is an international arrest warrant issued by the Japanese authorities against the 73-year-old. It is still unclear whether he will be extradited to Japan.
According to Watson’s current organization, the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, the ship was stopping in Nuuk for refueling. As part of an operation against a new Japanese whaling vessel in the North Pacific, it was en route to the Northwest Passage, which connects the Atlantic to the Pacific via the Arctic.
The organization urged Denmark to release Watson and not to comply with the “politically motivated” arrest request. Greenland is largely autonomous but officially belongs to the Danish Kingdom. The decision on whether there are grounds for a potential extradition of Watson to Japan thus lies with the Danish Ministry of Justice.
Controversial Pioneer of Marine Animal Protection
Watson, the protagonist of the television documentary “Whale Wars – The War Against Whalers!”, is regarded as one of the pioneers of the fight for marine animals. However, he is also controversial among environmentalists due to his confrontational methods.