“Hurry up & wait,” Greenland court tells both Paul Watson & Japan

Jailed in Greenland,  Paul Watson is not yet extradited to Japan,  but cannot disrupt Japanese whaling

NUUK, Greenland––Whether marine mammal advocate Paul Watson,  73,  will be extradited to Japan from Greenland,  a Danish territory,  will remain undecided for at least three more weeks.

“In our view, the criteria for extradition have been met according to the accusations in the Japanese arrest warrant,”  Greenland Court Judge Stig Norskov-Jensen ruled on October 3,  2024,  refusing for the third time to review the Japanese case against Watson rather than the warrant itself.

“Therefore there is no point to analyzing any documents,”  Norskov-Jensen said.  “The detention is extended by three weeks,  until Wednesday,  October 23.”

(See Paul Watson jailed, Hvaldimir dead, Japan & Norway go on whaling.)

Arrested in July

Watson was arrested on July 21,  2024 by Danish police flown to Greenland from Denmark specifically to detain him on a Japanese warrant dating to 2010,  just moments after his vessel,  the John Paul DeJoria,  landed at Nuuk,  Greenland to refuel.

The John Paul DeJoria was en route to the North Pacific via the Northwest Passage,  between northern Canada and the Arctic ice field,  to try to disrupt the fall 2024 self-set Japanese whaling season.

Deeming Watson a flight risk,  the Nuuk court initially required that Watson be held in jail until August 15,  2024.  That holding time was then extended until September 4,  2024.

Allegations date to 2010

On September 4,  2024,  Watson was ordered to be held until October 2,  2024,  while the Danish justice ministry further considered the Japanese extradition request.

Watson by October 23,  2024 will have been jailed for more than three months,  but faces up to 15 years in prison on the Japanese charges.

“Japan’s coast guard sought his arrest following an encounter with a Japanese whaling research ship in 2010,”  summarized the Japanese Mainichi news service.  “He was accused of obstructing the crew’s official duties by ordering the captain of his ship to throw explosives at the whaling ship,”  Mainichi said.

Judge Nuuks the whales

The  latest Nuuk court ruling ensures that Watson is almost certain to remain in custody until after the newly built Japanese whaling factory ship Kangei Maru completes the eight-month series of expeditions to hunt 376 minke,  Bryde’s,  and fin whales in the North Pacific that Watson had hoped to intercept,  and completes another whaling missing as well.

         (See “Hurry up & wait,” courts tell Paul Watson & San Diego cat advocates and Paul Watson arrested in Greenland; may be extradited to Japan.)

The first Kangei Maru whaling voyage killed 15 Bryde’s whales between May 25 and June 12,  2024.  The second Kangei Maru whaling expedition reportedly returned to port in Sendai,  Japan,  on October 1,  2024.

The expedition killed a fin whale,  the first of a self-set quota of 59 fin whales,  on August 1,  2024.  How many more fin whales the Kangei Maru may have killed is unknown.

Will Kangei Maru head south to Antarctic waters?

The Kangei Maru has a range of 7,000 miles,  or 60 days at sea,  according to BairdMaritime.com,  enough to resume whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary declared by the International Whaling Commission,  should it choose to do so.

Japan said it would respect the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary boundaries when it resigned from the International Whaling Commission in 2019,  but has continued to try to overturn the IWC moratorium on commercial whaling in effect since 1994.

By October 23,  2024,  the currently designated date when Watson is either to be extradited or released,  the Kangei Maru will be at sea again,  refueled and resupplied,  leaving the Captain Paul Watson Foundation vessel the John Paul DeJoria stranded in Halifax,  Nova Scotia,  where it has been since August 8,  2024.

As the Northwest Passage freezes over and closes each September,  the John Paul DeJoria would have to sail south and pass through the Panama Canal to reach the Pacific Ocean before the Northwest Passage reopens in July 2025,  and even if it did,  could not reach the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in time to interfere with a Japanese whaling voyage.

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