Activist vessel collides with krill trawler in Antarctic confrontation
MIAMI (AP) — A ship operated by a group founded by anti-whaling activist Paul Watson collided with an industrial krill trawler in Antarctica in what the ship’s Norwegian owner said was a “deliberate attack” that endangered its crew and could’ve caused a disaster in the same environmentally sensitive waters the activists claim they want to protect.
A two-minute video provided to The Associated Press by the Aker QRILL Co. shows the moment Tuesday when the M/V Bandero, operated by the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, slowly steams toward the stern of the fishing vessel, hitting its port side at a slight angle.
The collision underscores the growing battle in the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean over the future of Antarctic krill, a shrimplike crustacean central to the diet of whales and critical buffer to global warming that’s also in demand for use in health supplements, fishmeal and other products.
Aker said Wednesday that the Bandero came within centimeters of striking a diesel tank on its vessel, the Norwegian-flagged Antarctic Sea, and put at risk a habitat teeming with multiple whale species, seals and seabirds — all feeding on the Southern Ocean’s abundant but environmentally sensitive krill population.
The company said its multinational crew was shaken but unharmed and it would pursue all available legal action.
“Our crew were put at risk in some of the most remote waters on Earth, and only luck avoided potential environmental damage,” Aker CEO Webjørn Barstad said in a statement.
The Captain Paul Watson Foundation did not respond to an a request from the AP about Aker’s accusations. But in its own news release, it characterized its actions as “aggressive nonviolence.” It said the crew, led by French activist Lamya Essemlali, managed to disrupt all krill fishing during a five-hour “direct intervention” against two Aker-owned vessels. It also provided images showing the crew launching giant metal net shredding devices intended to disrupt fishing.
Watson himself was not on the ship, which departed Australia last month as part of what the Watson foundation called Operation Krill Wars.
“Throughout the encounter, the crew witnessed Antarctic wildlife in the surrounding waters, including penguins, seals, and even a whale, underscoring what was at stake as a small ship challenged a powerful industrial krill operation in a stark David-and-Goliath scenario,” the foundation said in a statement.
Watson founded the global Sea Shepherd conservation movement in the 1970s and for decades won a fearsome reputation for ramming vessels and other aggressive tactics in confrontations on the high seas that repeatedly landed him in jail. He was last detained in Greenland for five months in 2024 on a Japanese warrant that was later rejected by Denmark. Japan’s coast guard sought his arrest over an encounter in 2010 in which he was accused of ordering a captain of his ship to throw explosives at what the Japanese labeled a whaling research ship.
While the Canadian-American citizen in the past has drawn support from Hollywood celebrities, his hard-line tactics have split the movement he started, with affiliates in France and Brazil rallying behind his newly created namesake foundation while Sea Shepherd Global and 20 national affiliates focus more on watchdog patrols on the high seas, policy action and supporting law enforcement in poorer countries where illegal fishing is rampant.
Fishing in Antarctica for krill surged to a record last season, forcing an early closure of fishing activity for the first time.
Aker is the world’s largest harvester of krill, responsible for over half the world’s catch.
The remote fishery is managed by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, an international organization composed of 27 nations and the European Union.
Any investigation into the incident, including possible criminal prosecution, is likely to commence at the Mongolia-flagged Bandero’s next port of call. Under international maritime law, an overtaking vessel has an obligation to stay clear of any nearby ship it’s passing.
Bandero is named after the tequila company owned by John Paul DeJoria, an American billionaire who founded Paul Mitchell hair care products and has been a longtime supporter of Watson’s endeavors.
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