Illegal fish trawlers are marine maverick's new target

Guardian.co.uk: Illegal fish trawlers are marine maverick's new target
"Don't make me out to be violent, or some kind of cowboy," says Pete Bethune, as he holds me in his steady, brown-eyed gaze.

Seven months on from his release from a Japanese prison, after being convicted for taking direct action against whaling ships and crew, we've met in a south London pub to discuss his new campaign group, Earthrace Conservation.

"When you look at [ocean] conservation issues, there are some gaping holes in Africa and Latin America," he says. Their poorly resourced navies and coastguards leave then very vulnerable to foreign vessels cleaning out their fisheries, he says. Take Somalia, for example, he says. "Big ships moved in about eight years ago or so and within four years nothing was left."

His resolve is as sharp as his crew cut and the Maori tattoos on his arm. "Prison had a way of focusing my mind, how you only get one chance in life," he says. "I am pretty lucky getting to do what I believe in."

He says the first step is working with local groups to provide knowledge and resources, to embarrass governments into taking action. He has just arrived from Trinidad, where with the help of a half-dead 50kg turtle bought for $100 at the local market, he and local activists wrung a pledge from the government to outlaw turtle killing.

Taking coastguards out to witness illegal fishing is another tactic, he says, as is just being present. While setting the round-the-world sailing record for a powerboat in 2008, he says poachers would sometimes just pull their nets and leave when they saw the boat.

Bethune's new organisation is based on fledgling local chapters of volunteers around the world, plus a six-man mission team. But where campaigning fails, as a last resort, that team will take direct action.

"In extreme cases, we need to go and catch these people, document what they do," he says. In the case of illegal fishing, Bethune says "I have no problem going in and sorting it. We will board and take control of a vessel".

How would he do that? "I am not going to give away our tactics but it's not hard and I have got a pretty special groups of lads - they are not a bunch of vegans." What are their backgrounds? "You can use your imagination."

In Japan, Bethune was given a suspended sentence of two year imprisonment after a night-time raid of the Shonan Maru 2, the whaling fleet's security vessel in February 2010. The previous month, his hi-tech speedboat, the Ady Gil, had been sunk at sea after a collision with a whaling vessel it seeking to impede. Bethune was subsequently expelled from the Sea Shepherd group for allegedly taking a bow and arrows onto the Ady Gil.

But he has kind words for his former colleagues: "I was really lucky to be involved in a really special campaign. I don't regret what I did and I don't regret the prison time. It served a purpose." Bethune thinks the Japanese whaling effort has only a 50-50 chance of resuming next year, due to the costs imposed by the protests. He adds that more "risk averse" campaign groups complement his work.

Bethune has recently been in Venezuela, where he says one sailor he encountered brandished an AK-47 assault rifle. Will his mission team be armed? "Any boat around Africa or Latin America - a major drugs route - is going to be armed. You're going to be pretty foolish if you are not armed. But I hope to work with local authorities." Earthrace Conservation will not own its own vessels beyond a couple of zodiacs, Bethune says, and is run on donations.

He is, he says more than once, "unafraid", but remains driven by his desire to protect the 80% of the planet's life that lives in the oceans.

"I expect to get into trouble. Will I bite off more than I can chew, get seriously injured? Maybe. But no-one else is fucking doing it. I don't want to sit on my arse and watch these things go down the drain."