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Bullet strikes Sea Shepherd captain, Paul Watson, while he and his crew tracked a Japanese whaling ship

On Friday, March 7, a bullet struck Sea Shepherd Conservation Society captain, Paul Watson, while he was onboard the Steve Irwin in the Australian Exclusive Economic zone of Antarctica. The bullet, as well as several flash grenades, came from Japanese Coast Guard officers who were on the Japanese whaling vessel, Misshin Manu. The Sea Shepherd crew had been tracking the ship for a week in efforts to discourage any illegal whaling activities in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

Luckily Captain Watson was wearing a Kevlar vest and the bullet didn’t penetrate his flesh but, according to the ship’s M.D., Dr. David Page, the shot would have been fatal had he not been wearing it. Apparently the Japanese Coast Guard was retaliating against Sea Shepherd crewmembers for tossing rotten butter onto the Misshin Manu decks. According to their representatives, they were meant to be “warning shots” and the bullet that hit the captain did so accidentally. The two ships were parallel when the shots were fired.

This past October, Karina Petroni, Dave and Hannah Rastovich — among others — had supported Sea Shepherd in their efforts to stop dolphin and pilot whale slaughtering in Taiji Japan, not only for its cruelty but also for the mercury levels in the meat that’s affecting the school children in many of the towns.