Commentary by Paul Watson
Founder and President of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Don't you think this silly little feud of ours has gone on long enough?
 
For years, Sea Shepherd and I have been trying to work cooperatively with Greenpeace. Yet, not once has anyone at Greenpeace agreed to sit down and talk with me about how this can happen.
 
After all, Greenpeace has an objective of promoting peace in the world, but it seems to me and perhaps I am being naive here, that good deeds should start at home. A peaceful working relationship between Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd can only serve to make things better for the oceans and not any worse.
 
No matter how strenuously and continuously that some of you may deny that I am one of your founders, the truth remains that I am. I was standing on the deck of Greenpeace boats before most people working for Greenpeace today were even born.
 
Usually the reason tossed out is that Greenpeace objects to my "violent" methods? What violent methods? Since the day I founded the Sea Shepherd Conservations Society in 1977 until the present day we have never caused a single injury nor have we sustained any serious injuries aside from the few beatings that some crewmembers and I have taken personally. Nor have we had a single felony conviction.
 
Some in Greenpeace persist in saying how I was tossed out of Greenpeace for advocating violent tactics. A little investigation will show that this is revisionism. If it were true then how is it that my campaign against the pirate whaler Sierra in 1979 was the front page feature of the Greenpeace Chronicles and how was it that I am one of the signatories to the document establishing Greenpeace International in 1979?

What I think is that there is a fear of having any of the original Greenpeace founders around. Bob Hunter was also treated quite disrespectfully by Greenpeace over the years and many Greenpeacers today are not even aware that the organization was established in Vancouver, Canada.
 
So once again, I offer the olive branch and send to you the dove of peace in hopes that you will respect the second part of your name so that we may work towards preserving the first part of your name.
 
I remain a Greenpeace member. Lifetime Member 007. Patrick Moore once ordered my lifetime membership revoked. And he, of course, is now a shining light of environmental integrity as we all know. But lifetime means lifetime, and like it or not, I am still a member.
 
Also, once again I am requesting that we team up to battle the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Oceans in December.
 
Shall we do it or do you all wish to maintain the status quo so as to demonstrate that Greenpeace is as immovable and as inflexible as the Bush Administration?
 
History will certainly demonstrate that I have repeatedly attempted to work in cooperation with Greenpeace and Greenpeace has repeatedly refused to even acknowledge my request or has refused my request on the basis of unreasonable denial.
 
Before he died, Robert Hunter told me that he fervently hoped that one day the two foundations Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd would unite in the understanding that we have a common cause. He said that if we can't do it then what hope is there for the world to live in peace and to pursue ecological harmony?
 
So, on behalf of Robert Lorne Hunter, Greenpeace co-founder, 1st Greenpeace President and spiritual leader of Greenpeace, I humbly request once again that we come to an understanding that we must work together and that we must cooperate to save the world's whales and to protect the world's oceans. 
 
Captain Paul Watson
Founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (1977)
Co-Founder of Greenpeace International (1979)
Co-Founder of the Greenpeace Foundation (1972)
National Director of the Sierra Club USA (2003-2006)
Director of the Farley Mowat Institute