From: Paul Watson
Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2005 8:43 PM
Subject: My regrets but I won't be able to attend the BOD meeting.

Wanted for Conspiracy to Protect Seals

My sincere apologies but I won't be able to attend the Sierra Club Board
meeting.

I arrived in Halifax today. I did some television interviews prior to
giving a lecture at Dalhousie University. It was a good crowd but I
noticed a number of police officers and Department of Fisheries and
Oceans officers in the audience.

I was warned that they intended to arrest me after the lecture.

I left by a rear exit. A police officer spotted me and said, "Mr.
Watson...."

He made a mistake in not identifying himself as a police officer so I
was under no obligation to stop.

That's all I heard. I ducked down a stairwell of the Student Union
Building. He followed. I ran down three flights of stairs and I could
hear feet pounding the stairs above me. I had no idea where the stairs
were leading but they brought me to the ground floor. I was outside and
ran up a short flight of steps, around a corner and ducked into a pub. I
went to an upper level of the pub where there was an unoccupied beverage
room and watched as police surrounded the Student Union Building. They
proceeded to stake out the building for three hours. I waited them out
then went to my rental car and left.

I had no idea why they were intent upon arresting me. I've since
discovered that the warrant is for conspiracy to disrupt the Canadian
seal hunt. This stems from my taking my ship Farley Mowat into the Gulf
of St. Lawrence in March and off the coast of Labrador in April.

The police know that you are expecting me at the Sierra Club Board
meeting. So regrettably I cannot attend. If I do they will arrest me,
transport me to Charlottetown for a bail hearing. and I will miss the
meeting anyway.

Thus I am returning to the U.S.A.. I'm sorry Elizabeth but the smell of
bananas here in Canada is strong. I have hurt no one. I've damaged no
property. I simply documented an atrocity. My crew were violently
assaulted and we video taped the assaults yet not a single charge is
being laid against the sealers, yet they are putting eleven of my crew
on trial for approaching a seal hunt and now they are seeking to arrest
me for conspiracy to document the slaughter of seals.

It is for this reason that we are advocating a boycott of Canadian
seafood products and remember there are NO sustainable oceanic species.
The cod fishery has collapsed and I predicted 20 years ago that it
would. I am now predicting that the snow crab fishery will collapse
within two years. The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans is
overseeing the complete destruction of the oceanic eco-systems of the
Northwestern Atlantic ocean.

So for those of you who wish to feast on lobster, scallops, snow crabs,
or fish during this meeting, remember these species are no different
than the bush meat that we condemn in Africa. We are systematically
hunting down and exterminating entire species of marine life - just so
people can have the luxury of dining on exotic flesh.

Anyone who partakes of the flesh of these species cannot call themselves
conservationists.

So I'll see you in September if I am successful in avoiding the
gendarmes here in the Great White North.

On the lam in Nova Scotia.

Captain Paul Watson

Captain Paul Watson

Founder and President - Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
Director - Sierra Club USA
Director - The Farley Mowat Institute
President - Oceanic Research and Conservation Action Force