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Captain Paul Watson is a controversial environmental activist and unlikely reality television star. He's been in trouble with governments on at least three continents and is the star of Animal Planet’s “Whale Wars.”

The show chronicles Watson’s group, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and their fight to stop whaling. Commercial whaling is banned by international agreements, but the Japanese and a few others are still launching harpoons.

When the Japanese obtained an international arrest warrant for Watson, he was forced to live on the world’s oceans for 15 months. Watson told the “CBS This Morning” co-hosts that the warrant was issued for trespassing and he thinks “that it’s all very political” because he believes no one gets extradition orders for trespassing.

“Japan has taken $30 million from the tsunami relief fund to use, just to try and shut down Sea Shepherd’s activities and so they sent an army of lawyers after us. We’ve been charged with contempt in the U.S. courts, but they haven’t been able to stop Sea Shepherd,” said Watson. “Three ships with 100 crew from 24 nations leave in a week to go down there.”

Comment by truth on December 14, 2013 at 4:02pm: Not Their Whale War Anymore: How Animal Planet Was Forced to Step Down

Why is Whale Wars's sixth season, premiering on Friday, not a full season but a two-hour special? The answer lies in an injunction handed down against Sea Shepherd, the nonprofit, anti-whaling organization at the center of the show, and its founder, Paul Watson.

http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2013/12/not-their-whale-war-an...

Comment by truth on January 11, 2014 at 2:16pm: Graphic Footage: Animal Planet’s ‘Whale Wars’ Stars Says It Busted Japanese Ship Poaching Whales, Four Dead

http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2014/01/whale-poach-japanese-mink...

Comment by truth on January 30, 2014 at 8:21pm: Abby Martin speaks with Captain Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society about the slaughter of marine mammals in places like Taiji, Japan, and what his foundation is doing to counter this rampant poaching.