Activist boat collision with krill trawler in Antarctica called “deliberate attack”

A ship owned 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 put its crew at risk and could spell disaster in the same sensitive waters the activists say they want to protect.

A two-minute video provided to The Associated Press by Aker QRILL Co. shows the moment on Tuesday when the M/V Bandero, operated by the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, slowly drifted toward the stern of the fishing vessel, striking the port side at a slight angle.

This conflict underscores the growing battle in the cold waters of the Southern Ocean for the future of Antarctic krill, a shrimp-like crustacean that is central to the diet of whales and a critical protection against global warming that is also needed in the use of health supplements, fishmeal and other products.

Aker said on Wednesday that the Bandero came within inches of hitting a diesel tank on its ship, the Norwegian-flagged Antarctic Ocean, and endangering an area full of whales, seals and seabirds – all of which feed on the Southern Ocean’s many but sensitive populations.

The company said its international employees were shaken but unharmed and will follow all available legal measures.

“Our workers are put at risk in the most remote waters on Earth, and only luck has avoided possible environmental damage,” Aker CEO Webjørn Barstad said in a statement.

“If the steel plates (…) had burst, it would have caused a spill. It was probably just lucky that there was no major damage,” Barstad told Reuters.

In a statement sent to Reuters, the Captain Paul Watson Foundation said it was “an accidental collision” and was committed to “lawful, responsible, non-violent action to protect the marine environment”.

In its press release, the foundation characterized its actions as “aggressive nonviolence.” It says the crew, led by French activist Lamya Essemlali, managed to disrupt krill fishing during a five-hour “intervention” against two Aker vessels. It also provided footage showing workers deploying large-scale wire netting machines aimed at disrupting fishing.

“The Situation of David and Goliath”

Watson was not on the ship, which left Australia in February as part of what Watson’s foundation called Operation Krill Wars.

“Throughout the encounter, the crew saw Antarctic wildlife in the surrounding waters, including penguins, seals, and even a whale, underscoring what was at stake as the small vessel challenged the powerful krill industry in a David-and-Goliath crisis,” the foundation said in a statement.

Watson founded the global conservation organization Sea Shepherd in the 1970s and over the decades earned a fearsome reputation for capsizing ships and other aggressive tactics on the high seas that landed him in prison time and time again. He ended up being detained in Greenland for five months in 2024 on a Japanese warrant that was later rejected by Denmark. A Japanese coast guard wanted to be arrested during a 2010 encounter where he was accused of ordering his ship’s captain to throw explosives at what the Japanese called a whaling research vessel.

Last year, Interpol removed Watson’s most-wanted name for the 2010 incident. Watson told CBS News in 2014 that the warrant was issued and that “it’s all political.”

Although the Canadian-American citizen has in the past received the support of Hollywood celebrities, his radical tactics have divided the movement he started, with French and Brazilian officials following his newly created foundation, while Sea Shepherd Global and its 20 national affiliates focus on high seas navigation, policy maintenance and support for poor countries.

Krill fishing in Antarctica hit a record last season, forcing an early closure of the fishery for the first time.

Aker is the world’s largest krill harvester, responsible for more than half of the world’s fisheries.

“Krill is taken directly from the feeding grounds of whales, seals and penguins and the increased mining of krill threatens the Antarctic environment,” said the Captain Paul Watson Foundation in its statement. “Krill are the basic species, which serve as the main food of marine animals, without krill the whole food chain would collapse.”

The deep-sea fishery is managed by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, an international organization made up of 27 countries and the European Union.

Any investigation into the incident, including possible criminal prosecution, may begin at the Bandero flagged off site in Mongolia. Under international maritime law, a passing vessel has an obligation not to enter any adjacent vessel it is passing.

Bandero is named after the tequila company of John Paul DeJoria, the American billionaire who founded Paul Mitchell hair care products and has been a longtime supporter of Watson’s efforts.

Editor’s Note: This story has corrected the month the Banderos left Australia to February, not March.