Our New War Against

It has been 10 years since I have commanded the helm of a ship. That was in 2013, in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary with Operation Zero Tolerance, when we prevented the Japanese whaling fleet from killing 90% of its quota of minke whales.

It was my last high seas campaign. Not by choice but by circumstances.

At the conclusion of the campaign I was forced into exile in the South Pacific because Japan had issued an Interpol Red Notice for my arrest on the charge of conspiracy to trespass on a whaling ship.

I had never set foot on a Japanese whaling ship, but in 2011, a man named Peter Bethune boarded a harpoon vessel and was arrested for trespassing. I specifically told him not to board the vessel but he ignored me and did so anyway.

The harpoon ship immediately returned to Japan and Bethune was locked up to await a trial. What he did however was cowardly. He made a deal with the prosecutor. In return for signing a statement declaring that I had ordered him to board the vessel, he was given a suspended sentence. He was released and returned to New Zealand and I was officially charged with conspiracy to trespass.