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<\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n REYKJAVIK,\u00a0Iceland;\u00a0 PARIS,\u00a0 France\u2013\u2013<\/strong>Paul Watson,\u00a0 75,\u00a0 founder of the Paul Watson Foundation in 2022 after getting the boot from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society he founded in 1977,\u00a0 is counting on global publicity and outrage over the resumption of Icelandic whaling to get the Bandero<\/em>,\u00a0 the only Paul Watson Foundation ship,\u00a0 out of Icelandic impound;\u00a0 free the 19-member crew from possible time in an Icelandic brig;\u00a0 and into the bargain,\u00a0 stop Hvalur,\u00a0 the last Icelandic whaling company,\u00a0 from killing more than the 32 whales already killed when the Bandero<\/em> was captured.<\/p>\n Unfortunately for Watson,\u00a0 posting updates to social media from Paris, \u00a0and for the Bandero <\/em>prisoners held in Iceland,\u00a0 24 hours after the July 30,\u00a0 2026 impoundment,\u00a0 Agence France Presse appeared to have been the only major international news agency to pay any attention to the fracas at all.<\/p>\n London-based Associated Press reporter Jill Lawless posted coverage of it on August 1,\u00a0 2026.\u00a0 Three other major news media posted articles from Iceland,\u00a0 but about a solar eclipse that will be visible in Iceland on August 12,\u00a0 2026.<\/p>\n <\/a> Icelandic Coast Guard ship and helicopter.<\/strong><\/em> Three other news agencies on the preceding day ran articles originating from Iceland.<\/p>\n Euronews.com<\/em> and Financial Times<\/em> focused on a referendum scheduled for August 29,\u00a0 2026 on whether to resume negotiations seeking membership in the European Union,\u00a0 suspended since 2013.<\/p>\n Membership would entail observing the European Union moratorium on whaling.<\/p>\n Headlined Iceland Monitor<\/em>,\u00a0 \u201cNo major traffic delays expected leaving the capital.\u201d<\/p>\n The leading Iceland Monitor<\/em> article having to do with animal advocacy on July 30,\u00a0 2026 described an alleged release of 8,000 mink from the last Icelandic mink farm.<\/p>\n But Iceland Monitor<\/em> did report earlier on July 31,\u00a0 2026 that,\u00a0 \u201cThe Icelandic Coast Guard and the National Commissioner of Police\u2019s Viking Squad boarded the Bandero<\/em>, \u00a0a vessel operated by the Paul Watson Foundation, last night and took control of the ship.<\/p>\n \u201cEarlier in the evening,\u201d\u00a0 Iceland Monitor<\/em> said,\u00a0 \u201cthe crew of the whaling vessel Hvalur 9<\/em> requested assistance from the Coast Guard.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a> Kristjan Loftsson.<\/strong><\/em> According to an Icelandic Coast Guard statement,\u00a0 \u201cAt around 5:00 p.m. yesterday, \u00a0the Coast Guard\u2019s operations center received a report that the Bandero <\/em>had entered Iceland\u2019s 12-nautical-mile territorial waters and was heading toward the whaling vessel Hvalur 9.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe crew of Hvalur 9<\/em> informed the Coast Guard that they considered the vessel to be threatening them.<\/p>\n \u201cA Coast Guard helicopter, \u00a0which was already conducting a surveillance flight, \u00a0was immediately dispatched to the scene and instructed the Bandero t<\/em>o leave the area.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time, \u00a0the crew of the Coast Guard patrol vessel Freyja<\/em> was called out. \u00a0When Freyja<\/em> arrived a short time later, \u00a0the captain of the Bandero <\/em>was ordered to stop the vessel\u2019s engines, \u00a0but failed to comply.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Coast Guard\u2019s helicopter unit was then deployed to transport members of the National Commissioner of Police\u2019s Viking Squad to the patrol vessel Freyja<\/em>, \u00a0while the Coast Guard\u2019s special operations unit headed to the scene in fast response boats.<\/p>\n \u201cShortly before midnight, officers from the Viking Squad and the Coast Guard\u2019s special operations unit boarded the Bandero<\/em>,\u00a0 arrested its captain,\u00a0 and took control of the vessel,\u201d \u00a0escorting it to Reykjav\u00edk.<\/p>\n <\/a> Kristjan Loftsson.<\/strong><\/em> The episode unfolded after Kristj\u00e1n Loftsson, \u00a084, chief executive of Hvalur,\u00a0 the last Icelandic whaling company,\u00a0 driven by an enduring thirst for vengeance against anti-whaling activists,\u00a0 Paul Watson in particular,\u00a0 on June 19,\u00a0 2026 sent the last two whaling trawlers in Iceland,\u00a0 Hvalur 8<\/em> and Hvalur 9<\/em>,\u00a0 out into the North Atlantic Ocean to kill quotas of as many as 209 fin whales and 217 minke whales.<\/p>\n Fin whales are recognized by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as a vulnerable species.<\/p>\n Loftsson\u2019s father founded Hvalur,\u00a0 whose name means \u201cwhaler\u201d in Icelandic,\u00a0 in 1947.\u00a0 Loftsson first sailed with his father as a 13-year-old whale spotter in 1956.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Captain Paul Watson Foundation photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n Anti-whaling activists Rod Coronado and David Howitt,\u00a0 acting under the flag of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society,\u00a0 in November 1986 vandalized the Hvalur whale processing plant in Hvalfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur fjord and scuttled the whaling ships\u00a0Hvalur 6<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Hvalur 7<\/em>\u00a0in Reykjav\u00edk harbor.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Hvalur 6<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Hvalur 7<\/em>\u00a0were both refloated,\u00a0 but were never repaired and returned to service.\u00a0 Loftsson replaced them with the\u00a0Hvalur 8<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Hvalur 9,\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>of similar appearance but newer construction.<\/p>\n For more than five weeks after the Loftsson boats began hunting whales,\u00a0 the Bandero <\/em>tried to find the Hvalur 8<\/em> and Hvalur 9<\/em> on the high seas,\u00a0 without success.<\/p>\n <\/a> Captain Paul Watson,\u00a0 jailed in Greenland in 2024.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em>(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n Paul Watson posted occasional updates about the search to Facebook,\u00a0 interspersed with doggerel,\u00a0 rantings and ravings about the war in the Middle East,\u00a0 and many fan mail comments,\u00a0 though far fewer than years ago.<\/p>\n Then Watson\u2019s reputation as a prominent whaling foe,\u00a0 established since confronting Russian whalers off the California coast in 1975,\u00a0 was continually boosted by six seasons of the Animal Planet reality television series Whale Wars,<\/em>\u00a0 detailing his confrontations with Japanese whalers within the International Whaling Commission-designated but otherwise unprotected Antarctic Whale Sanctuary.<\/p>\n Posted Paul Watson to Facebook on July 28, \u00a02026,\u00a0 \u201cThe world\u2019s most notorious whaling nations\u2013\u2013Japan, Norway,\u00a0 and Iceland\u2013\u2013have gathered for war games in Iceland.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the Bandero continues opposition to the illegal whaling operations by cetacean serial killer Kristjian Loftsson, \u00a0the Japanese Navy sent a warship to Iceland,\u201d\u00a0 specifically the training ship J.S. Kashima<\/em>.<\/p>\n A second Japanese training ship,\u00a0 the Yamagiri<\/em>,\u00a0 also reportedly arrived in Iceland.<\/p>\n <\/a> The \u201cWhale Wars\u201d television series documented the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society clashes with Japanese whalers in Antarctic waters.<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n \u201cI would not be surprised if the Japanese and the Norwegians are assisting the Icelandic Coast Guard with surveillance,\u201d\u00a0 Watson said.\u00a0 \u201cAfter all, the Icelandic Coast Guard is providing coordinates on the Bandero <\/em>to the whalers and the whalers have been given permission to shut off their legally required AIS System,\u201d\u00a0 which uses VHS radio frequencies and GPS to identify the locations of ships at sea.<\/p>\n Alleged Watson,\u00a0 \u201cJapan, Iceland \u00a0and Norway are criminal whaling nations. \u00a0All three countries are involved in violating the International Whaling Commission Moratorium on Commercial Whaling passed in 1986. \u00a0These regulations were upheld in 2014 by the International Court of Justice. \u00a0The signatory nations to the IWC are obligated to impose sanctions on these three nations, \u00a0but have refused to do so, \u00a0citing trade considerations. \u00a0This is why we have to intervene. \u00a0Because world leaders refuse to uphold their responsibilities \u00a0under international law.\u201d<\/p>\n Watson did not mention the bottom line of the Agence France Presse report:\u00a0 \u201cIceland is due to introduce a bill this autumn aimed at banning whaling.\u201d<\/p>\n This would presumably be a prerequisite for Iceland joining the European Union.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n Later on July 30,\u00a0 2026,\u00a0 Watson posted,\u00a0 \u201cThe Bandero <\/em>has found the Hvalur 9<\/em> and is now in pursuit.\u00a0 The Bandero <\/em>has located the whaler Hvalur 9<\/em> as it heads out to sea to hunt for whales.<\/p>\n Updated Icelandic journalist Stef\u00e1nsson,\u00a0 \u201cBandero<\/em>, the ship that has been outside Icelandic jurisdiction for the past few weeks and is owned by the Paul Watson organization, \u00a0is now trying to stop the whaling ship Hvalur 9.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThis is confirmed by Magn\u00fas P\u00e1lmar J\u00f3nsson,\u00a0 operations manager at the Icelandic Coast Guard.\u00a0 Hvalur 9<\/em> is now at sea north of Gar\u00f0sskagi, \u00a0according to Marine Traffic,\u201d\u00a0 which uses the AIS system that Watson said Hvalur 9 <\/em>had turned off.<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to news agency sources,\u201d\u00a0 Stef\u00e1nsson said, \u00a0\u201cthe crew of the Bandero are trying to throw a net into the propeller of the Hvalur 9<\/em>,\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0a tactic that both the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and the Paul Watson Foundation have often allegedly used,\u00a0 without a single reported success in more than 50 attempts mentioned by various media over more than 20 years.<\/p>\n Opposition to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and the Paul Watson Foundation have also allegedly used the same tactic,\u00a0 also without any reported success discovered by ANIMALS 24-7.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n \u201cWe located them [the Hvalur 9<\/em>] while they were out, \u00a0monitored them both from land and sea, \u00a0received them, \u00a0and forced them back into port,\u201d \u00a0Watson told media.<\/p>\n Marine Traffic later said the Hvalur 9<\/em> \u00a0\u201cis now heading back out to sea, \u00a0from Hvalfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur.\u201d<\/p>\n Both locations are within 20 miles of Reykjavik<\/em>,\u00a0 the Icelandic capital.<\/p>\n Along with Iceland Monitor<\/em> and Agence France Presse,\u00a0 the trade periodical Maritime Executive<\/em> offered coverage.<\/p>\n Updated J\u00f3n \u00de\u00f3r Stef\u00e1nsson for the Icelandic online periodical Visir.Is<\/em>,\u00a0 \u201cWatson says he doesn\u2019t care if his ship\u2019s crew were arrested and tried in Iceland. \u00a0This would only increase attention to the cause he is fighting for.\u201d<\/p>\n Updated Watson on July 31,\u00a0 2026,\u00a0 \u201cThe Icelandic Coast Guard and two Japanese warships have the Bandero<\/em> captive with the bow of the two Japanese ships pointed directly at the Bandero.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n \u201cThe objective of our campaign, \u00a0Operation 86,\u201d\u00a0 Watson said,\u00a0 \u201cis to focus international attention on the continued illegal actions of Kristjian Loftsson.<\/p>\n \u201cEngaging the whalers at sea was extremely difficult because of the defense of these criminal whaling operations by the Icelandic Coast Guard,\u201d\u00a0 Watson explained.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving the ship boarded and detained and appropriately hemmed in by both the Japanese navy and the Icelandic Coast Guard is perfect symbolism for the corruption of power we are challenging.<\/p>\n \u201cThis confrontation with the Icelandic Coast Guard and the whalers did not injure anyone,\u201d\u00a0 Watson said, \u00a0\u201cnor did it cause any physical property damage. \u00a0The Bandero<\/em> was boarded in international waters,\u201d\u00a0 Watson claimed,\u00a0 \u201cby an armed boarding party of masked individuals. \u00a0The crew are being held captive onboard the Bandero<\/em> under armed guard.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n \u201cOn the positive side,\u201d\u00a0 Watson said,\u00a0 \u201cIceland has given us a public forum to expose their shameful operations. \u00a0We will rally for our crew internationally.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will appeal to people around the world,\u201d\u00a0 Watson repeated.<\/p>\n \u201cI am appealing to the hundreds of thousands of people who defended me during my five months of detainment in a Greenland prison in 2024. \u00a0The Japanese failed to extradite me because of that support,\u201d\u00a0 Watson said.<\/p>\n (See Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson freed from Greenland jail & heading home<\/a>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a> Captain Paul Watson.\u00a0 (Beth Clifton collage) <\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n \u201cThe crew [of the Bandero<\/em>] are still being detained,\u201d\u00a0 Watson acknowledged.\u00a0 \u201cWe are not worried. They did not cause any injury or damage, \u00a0the ship was boarded in international waters,\u201d\u00a0 which Iceland disputes, \u00a0\u201cthere are certainly no felony charges, \u00a0and the campaign has focused an international spotlight on Iceland illegal whaling operations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Icelandic Coast Guard dressed up like American ICE agents for the boarding, masks and guns against unarmed whale defenders. Frankly they looked ridiculously dramatic but great images for our purposes.<\/p>\n \u201cThe crew have been amazing,\u201d\u00a0 Watson said, \u00a0\u201cand for the first time we forced a whaling ship to return to port.\u201d<\/p>\n But the Hvalur 9 <\/em>is back out at sea killing whales,\u00a0 the Bandero<\/em> is going nowhere,\u00a0 and the \u201cinternational spotlight\u201d more than 24 hours later looked more like a flickering dim bulb.<\/p>\n <\/a> The Paul Watson Foundation ship Bandero collides with the Antarctic Sea krill trawler.<\/strong><\/em> The Bandero <\/em>sailed toward Iceland after a collision with the Norwegian krill trawler Antarctic Sea<\/em> reported on April 1,\u00a0 2026 by Joshua Goodman for Associated Press.<\/p>\n \u201cA two-minute video provided to The Associated Press by the Aker QRILL Co. of Norway shows the moment when the Bandero<\/em>, \u00a0operated by the Captain Paul Watson Foundation,\u00a0 slowly steams toward the stern of the Antarctic Sea<\/em>, \u00a0hitting the fishing vessel on its port side at a slight angle,\u201d\u00a0 Goodman wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cThe collision underscores the growing battle in the frigid Southern Ocean over the future of Antarctic krill,\u201d\u00a0 Goodman explained,\u00a0 \u201ca shrimplike crustacean central to the diet of whales and critical buffer to global warming, \u00a0also in demand for use in health supplements, \u00a0fishmeal, \u00a0and other products.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n Aker QRILL Co. alleged,\u00a0 Goodman summarized,\u00a0 \u201cthat the Bandero<\/em> came within inches of striking a diesel tank on the fishing vessel, \u00a0and put at risk a habitat teeming with multiple whale species, seals and seabirds \u2014 all feeding on the ocean\u2019s abundant but environmentally sensitive krill population.<\/p>\n \u201cThe company said its multinational crew was shaken but unharmed and it would pursue all available legal action,\u201d\u00a0 Goodman added.\u00a0 \u201cThe company alerted naval authorities in Argentina and Chile, \u00a0one of which is deploying a vessel to the area near the Antarctic peninsula where the collision took place.\u201d<\/p>\n The collision,\u00a0 Goodman said,\u00a0 \u201cfollowed a tense, five-hour standoff in which the Bandero<\/em>\u2019s crew,\u201d\u00a0 headed by French activist Lamya Essemlali, \u00a0launched giant metal net-shredding devices intended to disrupt fishing by two Aker vessels.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n Aker QRILL Co.,\u00a0 Goodman noted,\u00a0 \u201cis the world\u2019s largest harvester of krill, \u00a0responsible for over half the world\u2019s catch.\u00a0 Fishing in Antarctica for krill surged to a record last season, forcing an early closure of fishing activity for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n The Bandero,<\/em>\u00a0 Goodman explained,\u00a0 \u201cis 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\u2019s endeavors.\u201d<\/p>\n According to The Maritime Executive<\/em>,\u00a0 Bandero,\u00a0 acquired by the Paul Watson Foundation in 2024,\u00a0 is a 210-foot former Japanese fisheries patrol vessel.\u00a0 Watson was not aboard.\u201d<\/p>\nEclipsed by solar eclipse,\u00a0 European Union negotiations,\u00a0 mink farm release,\u00a0 and even Reykjavik traffic<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
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(Paul Watson Foundation photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\nWhat else media covered<\/h2>\n
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(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\nViking Squad<\/h2>\n
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(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\nKristj\u00e1n Loftsson,\u00a0 the Icelandic Ahab<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nScuttled whaling ships<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\u201cWar games\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\u201cCriminal whaling nations\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nThe net trick as usual nets nothing<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\u201cForced them back into port\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\u201cObjective is to focus attention\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\u201cIceland has given us a public forum\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nHvalur 9 <\/em>is back out at sea killing whales<\/h2>\n
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(Paul Watson Foundation photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\nCollision with krill trawler<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nCrocodile tears on the high seas<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nTequila!<\/h2>\n