Important Note: This is an opinion article written in the Blog section of The Costa Rica Star, by writer James Marshall Black, PhD. Leave your comments below.

Paul Watson has always been known as a “stand up” kind of guy who prefers direct action over words. For him, the end has always justified the means, with the result that he is adored by most and considered despicable by many. Fewer persons take the middle ground. There is much to admire about him, and much to criticize. Probably the best way to describe him would be as “controversial”.

He claims to be a founder of Greenpeace in 1972, but Greenpeace denies this, saying only that he was an “influential early member”. True, he was very active from the beginning in Greenpeace, but in 1977 was firmly booted out because of his aggressive behavior and violent beliefs in protecting animals.

Before Greenpeace, he worked with considerable success in saving the trees of Oregon with Earth First, and in the process made a name for himself for using tree spikes. Spiking a tree consists of finding the best spot to begin cutting it down, and then embedding a metal spike, bar, nail, or piece of ceramic that would pose a real danger to anyone later trying to fell the tree with a chainsaw.

After being kicked out of Greenpeace, as “Captain” Paul Watson he immediately formed the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) even though it seems he was never licensed in any country as a ship captain. Not one to beat around the bush, the organization’s mission was closely defined as “a self appointed -policing organization given credibility by the terms of the United Nations Earth Charter.” In other words, to stop all fishing of which it disapproves, and with the force and means necessary to accomplish this.

“The fact is that we live in an extremely violent culture, and we all justify violence if it’s for what we believe in.” — Paul Watson, speaking at the Animal Rights 2002 convention.

He then acquired his first vessel, the Sea Shepherd, and fit her out with a heavily reinforced bow for ramming and an attachment dubbed the “letter opener” – a special bow structure to enable slicing through the hulls other ships. Then he enlisted a crew of animal rights activists who showed their dedication by paying him for the privilege of swashbuckling pirate adventure on the high seas in a black ship flying the Skull and Bones.

In 1979, the Sea Shepherd rammed the seal hunting Sierra but did not sink her. But in 1980, they did, and an investigation revealed that limpet mines had been used. The next headlines (PDF download) Watson made were for threatening to murder two members of the Canadian government for voting against a moratorium on sperm whales at the International Whaling Commission annual meeting.

In 1981, he claimed responsibility for the sinking of two whaling vessels, Ibsa I and Ibsa II, in the Spanish harbor of Viga.

“We don’t give a damn what you or anybody else on this planet thinks. We didn’t sink those ships for you. We did it for the whales.” — Paul Watson

In 1983, he was sentenced to 15 months in jail after a very violent skirmish with the Canadian police because of his illegally interfering with the annual seal hunt in the Gulf of St Lawrence (PDF download). Scores of faithful animal rights protestors retaliated with acts of vandalism, demanding his release.

In 1986, the Sea Shepherd’s violence escalated in another bloody skirmish in the whale harvest underway in the Faroe Islands, with Watson using rifles against the police, pouring diesel fuel in the ocean near the police rubber dinghies and then throwing flares to ignite the fuel, and jabbing them with rotating iron spikes to puncture and sink them. He was ordered to leave. He was also banned from attending any International Whale Commission meetings. Every couple of years, Watson writes the Commission, requesting they reinstate him. Each request is routinely answered with a heartfelt “Absolutely Not.”

That year, the Sea Shepherd also claimed responsibility for sinking two whaling vessels in Reykjavik, Iceland. Watson returned to Iceland in 1988, demanding to be held accountable for sinking the two ships and was arrested but later set free as he denied having any part in the crime and there was no evidence directly linking him. He was, however, declared a persona non grata and ordered to leave Iceland.

By 1991, Watson and the Sea Shepherd crew had earned a worldwide reputation for protecting seals, whales, and sharks – but as a rogue “policing” organization with seemingly little respect for maritime laws and conventions. An American crew member working on a Mexican fishing vessel reported that the Sea Shepherd rammed his vessel, causing considerable damage, and that some of the crew were armed with rifles and machine guns. Because of this incident, Scott Trimmingham, then president of SSCS resigned his post to protest the escalating armed violence.

It was following this, in February of 1992, that the Sea Shepherd II and the Edward Abbey encountered Tico shark poachers at Cocos Island and scared them off with water cannons, stink bombs, paintball guns, and attempts to ram them. A video of this was sent to the authorities here, and they were largely regarded as heroes.

In the full decade leading up to the next incident in Costa Rica, the Sea Shepherd’s fame grew with more brazen skirmishes of ever -escalating violence (including deaths), more scuttled ships, more conflicts with the legal authorities of a growing number of countries, more lawsuits, more infamy, more police surveillance of their activities, millions of dollars of other persons’ money lost by sinking ships — and more admiring and devoted fans worldwide.

“We should never feel like we’re going too far in breaking the law, because whatever laws you break to liberate animals or to protect the environment are very insignificant compared to the laws that are broken by that parliament of whores in Washington. They are the biggest lawbreakers, the biggest destroyers, the biggest mass-murderers on this planet right now.” — Paul Watson, at the Animal Rights 2002 convention

Then in 2002, invited by the Costa Rican government to help out around Cocos Island, Farley Mowat tangled with the Costa Rican fishing vessel Varadero I for poaching off the shores of Guatemala. The Captain, crew and ship owners charged Watson with attempted murder and destruction of property, and just in the past two weeks, Watson was detained in Germany by Interpol and Costa Rica has sought his extradition to stand trial here.

Japan (still carrying out illegal whaling operations through a global moratorium loophole) has indicated that if Costa Rica doesn’t get him, they most surely would like to get their hands on him. The Chinese shark fin industry would dearly like to assert themselves in this as well, and apparently some members of Costa Rica’s fishing industry are whetting their knives in preparation of his return here to face the charges. INTERPOL has placed him on their “Blue Notice” list to be kept under surveillance.

At the same time, fans all over the world are organizing themselves for protests demanding that he be declared innocent and set free. As one might say, what a fine kettle of fish this is!

No doubt about it; the man is clearly controversial. But what makes him tick? Certainly he not does fit the mold of most people. Some say he is a rare idealist, fighting for his beliefs and convictions. Others think he may have one or more screws loose.

They say he can be quite charming, is somewhat flamboyant, and can eloquently plead his cause when raising funds. But when objectively reviewing his history of law bending and breaking, arrests, violence, and some of the things he says one soon begins to smell the strange smoke of personality disorder.

Rather than being illnesses, personality disorders are enduring and pervasive features of the personality that deviate markedly from the cultural norm, perhaps as in the case of Watson, who at the age of ten, shot a kid in the butt for trying to shoot a bird.

All his characteristics, including the persuasiveness and charm, fit quite nicely within the criteria and parameters established in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) for antisocial personality disorder. This category includes both psychopaths and sociopaths, the differences of which are somewhat blurred. Most persons, on hearing the word “psychopath” immediately think of Ted Bundy or Charles Manson, but there are also the common “garden variety” of psychopaths and a great many of them.

This condition usually appears in the late teens, and the traits are distinct and repetitive, creating a pattern of misbehavior that goes beyond normal adolescent mischief. They routinely disregard rules, social morals, and laws, unmindful of putting themselves or others at risk.

A person with this condition may have difficulty getting along well with others and may not seem to care whether his actions are right or wrong. He may break the law frequently, lie, and fail to act responsibly.

“There’s nothing wrong with being a terrorist, as long as you win. Then you write history.” — Paul Watson

“In 30 years, we’ve never injured anybody; we’ve never broken a law.” — Paul Watson on “Larry King Live”, June 2009

Often, a person with this condition is manipulative and uses his charm to get what he wants from others. His wishes may be all that matters to him, and he may have a habit of violating the rights of those around him. A person who has antisocial personality disorder may break the law repeatedly. He may exhibit violent and intimidating behavior and have trouble with controlling his impulses.

“The fact is I have never been convicted of a crime.” — Paul Watson, Worldfest 2006.

“I have no criminal record.” — Paul Watson Interview, September 2008.

“Sea Shepherd cooperates fully with all international law enforcement agencies and its enforcement activities complying with standard practices of law and policing enforcement.” — SeaShepherd official website, 2009

“Sea Shepherd adheres to the utilization of non-violent principles in the course of all actions and has taken a standard against violence in the protection of the oceans.” –- SeaShepherd official website, 2009

So what is the conclusion? For me it is that Paul Watson has done and is doing things that need to be done and for that, he is a hero. But there is also the strong possibility that he is also driven by what the psychologists call a personality disorder. In other words, he is a hero, but one who definitely will resort to any means necessary to achieve his ends. As this seems to be the modern trend among politicians and governments these days as well, why not?

Click here to read other articles about Paul Watson on The Costa Rica Star.