Defenders of the Wild - Ocean Raider

(Yorkshire TV/Channel Four / The Discovery Channel, 1993)

(50'/Super-16mm/16x9)

Director/Producer: Martin Belderson
Camera: Richard Edwards
Sound: Sean Taylor
Film Editor: Mike Eustace

On the high seas, beyond the reach of the law, the ships that illegally kill whales, dolphins and seals can do so with little fear of punishment. But there is one sight that they have learnt to dread: the black pirate flag of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

'Set a pirate to catch a pirate', is founder Captain Paul Watson's motto and for twenty-five years he has put those words into action.

This film follows the exploits of Watson and the crew of two of Sea Shepherd's vessels, as they sails thousands of miles across the North Pacific to confront the drift-netting fleets of Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. The voyage culminates in a dramatic dawn attack on Japanese driftnetters and bring the armed intervention of US Coastguard cutters and patrol aircraft.

Watson is rightly proud that, in all their actions, no-one has ever been injured. But can he justify putting fishermen and whalers out of work? The films tracks the controversial career of this Greenpeace founder (membership card number 007), survivor of the siege at Wounded Knee and dozens of attacks on whalers.

Ocean Raider, won a Best Film and four Merit Awards at
The International Wildlife Film Festival, 1994 .

Camera - North Pacific: Richard Edwards
Camera - Lofoten Island, Norway: Andrew Hartley
Sound: Sean Taylor
Editor: Mike Eustace