This November marks the second month of the imprisonment of the Arctic 30 - a group of Greenpeace activists arrested by Russian forces for peacefully protesting against oil-drilling in the Antarctic. It's also the month that, according to the UN, the world has officially lost the last Western Black Rhino. Poachers with automatic weapons have successfully hunted these creatures off the face of Africa to satisfy markets based on superstition and vanity. Canadian Paul Watson has been called many names, and in the eyes of the law the jury is still out. But one thing is clear: When it comes to protecting ocean wildlife against poachers -'legal' or otherwise - he gets the job done. After breaking ties with Greenpeace, Watson founded the immensely successful Sea Shepherd which has been a thorn in the side of whaling nations, particularly the Japanese. Earlier this year, a litany of complaints of "unforgivable sabotage" by Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research (ITC) led the USA - which seems content to allow the wholesale slaughtering to continue - to brand him "a pirate". A US court imposed an injunction against Watson preventing him from coming with 450 metres of their whaling fleet. Watson agreed to abide by the ruling, stating that Operation Zero Tolerance had been an "enormously successful harassment campaign". The ITC target to kill 1000 whales in 2013 fell hopelessly short at only 103 through Sea Shepherd's intervention. His organization's website claims Japan's ITC is a poorly disguised front for illegal fishing and has nothing to do with 'research'. It's well-known that Japan's outdated whaling industry is flailing and relies heavily on government subsidies to stay afloat. In 2002 Costa Rica accused Sea Shepherd, after requesting help from the organization in apprehending illegal fishing vessels, of reckless endangerment involving the crew of a local ship. However the documentary Sharkwater seems to show clear evidence to refute these charges, and also captured footage of fairly entrenched shark fin trading by the Taiwanese mafia under the noses of the Costa Rican government. Fearing the impossibility of a fair trial the crew and film-makers fled the country. What ensued was a long and drawn out saga that ended in Watson being arrested in Germany last year. Fearing extradition to Costa Rica, he subsequently skipped bail again, and until this month had been at large and at sea for 15 months. In the meantime both Japan and Costa Rica stepped up efforts to have him apprehended and his notoriety peaked when Interpol issued a 'Red Notice' for his arrest - an alert usually reserved for terrorists or those deemed a serious threat to society.. Costa Rica has since dropped the red notice, and Watson came ashore this month to testify in a case involving Japan's ITC. With the support of Sea Shepherd's Bob Brown, former Australian Greens Party leader who took over as head of the group when Watson stepped down, they will show that Watson is no longer in charge of anti-whaling activities. The new Operation Relentless, spearheaded by Brown, promises to be as intolerant of wildlife destruction as it's forerunner. Costa Rica has appealed via diplomatic channels to have Watson re-arrested, but US authorities have yet to respond.
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