Paul Watson, the Canadian-American environmentalist known for his anti-whaling activism, was recently arrested on a Sunday in Greenland. The arrest was executed under an international warrant from Japan, as Watson and his crew arrived in Nuuk aboard the John Paul DeJoria. Greenland police have indicated that Watson will be presented before a district court to determine whether he will be extradited to Japan.

“We were immediately boarded by a SWAT team and Danish police, who wasted no time in cuffing Paul Watson, our founder, and arresting him on a decades-old red notice at the request of Japan,” Locky MacLean, the boat’s captain, said in a video on the Captain Paul Watson Foundation’s official X page. A red notice is an international alert for arrest issued by Interpol.

In 2022, Paul Watson left Sea Shepherd and co-founded the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF) to continue his efforts in marine conservation. CPWF disclosed on X that Watson’s recent arrest might be linked to a previously issued Red Notice related to his anti-whaling actions in the Antarctic. “This development comes as a surprise since the Foundation’s lawyers had reported that the Red Notice had been withdrawn,” CPWF stated. They now suspect that the Red Notice was kept confidential to strategically facilitate an arrest during Watson’s travels.

Regarding legal proceedings, a Red Notice allows any country to request global law enforcement to locate and provisionally detain an individual pending extradition. In 2012, Interpol issued such a notice for Paul Watson, following a warrant by the Japanese Coast Guard in 2010.

According to his foundation, Watson was en route to intercept Japan’s newly-built factory ship, the Kangei Maru, in the North Pacific when he was arrested.

The Kangei Maru, launched in May, is equipped for extensive voyages and is raising concerns about Japan’s whaling practices. Designed to process and store large quantities of whale meat, this vessel can haul 70-ton fin whales and store up to 600 tons of meat, enabling it to remain at sea for extended periods. Its considerable range of 13,000km stokes fears that Japan, despite shifting from “scientific” to commercial whaling along its coastline, may plan to resume expansive whaling operations far from its shores. This development comes five years after Japan ceased its controversial whaling in the Southern Ocean.

Activists aggressively pursued the Kangei Maru’s predecessor, the Nisshin Maru, when, prior to 2019, Japan hunted whales in the Antarctic and North Pacific for “scientific” purposes.

Mr. Watson could face up to 15 years in jail if he is convicted.

Paul Watson’s foundation reports that he will be held in Nuuk until August 15 as authorities consider his extradition to Japan on unspecified charges. A judge has denied Watson bail, labeling him a flight risk due to a past incident in Germany in 2012 involving shark finning, where he had escaped from house arrest.

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