4 - Sunday, November 29, 1987 - North Shore News Bob Hunter @ strictly personal @ IT WAS a grey, wet November day along Kitsilauo’s Fourth Avenue. Fitting, somchow. I stepped into a res- taurant to have lunch with Paul Watson. It was sort of a last lunch. He had called a press con- ference a couple of hours before to announce he was closing down the Canadian founding office of the Sea Shepherd Society, stepp- ing down as head of the group and moving to Los Angeles. I’m sure there are a lot of peo- ple in Canada — especially New- foundland — who cheered, maybe even some right here on the North Shore. Of course Watson has what amounts to a global! cult follow- ing. I travel a fair amount and, believe me, Watson is known in countries around the world. 1 would say that he is, as of now, Canada’s most famous po- litical expatriate. There are plenty of ‘others, particularly in the world of the ecology community, but Watson stands out all on his own. As an ‘‘eco-warrior,’’ he has been at it for a long time. It has been an interesting expe- rience, watching the evolution of both Watson and good old Greenpeace from the vantage point of having been involved, “like so many other local people, in the formative stages of both phenomena. Whatever else anybody may fee. about it, Greenpeace is still widely admired at the interna- tional level for its media savvy, and Watson, I should add, even more so for his. ; They both continue to wage determined struggles against the destruction of the natural world. However controversial their dif- fering methods — Watson sink- ing and ramming ships, Greenpeace sticking to publicity and lobbying and legal manoeuvring — they are at least Dr. Mark Cousins Naturopathic Physician #405-1124 Lonsdale Ave. For appointment call: 984-0040 © 984-8863 [DON’T LET YOUR CHILD getting on with the basic task of defending the environment. They don’t get along. Watson has a long list of grievances against Greenpeace, and he is treated as a pariah by top Greenpeacers. It is a long, sad story. ' “Of talked to a fisherman who admitted shooting seals,’’ ‘Watson says bitterly. ‘He told me, ‘I've got five years until I pay. off my mortgage, and after that, I don’t give a dama what happens. That’s the attitude of most people up here.’”’ As we sit down to lunch, I can’t help noticing how much grey there is in Watson's hair. He is just barely into his 30s. Yet he is going prematurely white. Faces dc change over the years. Back in the late ’60s, when I first encountered Watson, he struck me as looking even younger than he was then. His face was boyish. ' All these years later, Watson’s face is no longer boyish. The on- lv word for it is weathered. There are deep bags under the eyes and a cross-current of lines. Our boy has not been goof- ing-off over the years. He has been on the move. He has plung- ed from one hair-raising situation into another. His energy amazes me. He is much heavier, not just physically but psychologically. I think he is still, inside, a deeply anxious person, but he has much more of a centre of gravily than he used to have. Only one reporter had showed up for Watson's press con- ference. So far as Watson was concerned, it just proved his point that it wasn’t worth the ef- fort to remain in existence as an organization in Canada. “TY talked to a fisherman who admitted shooting seals,’’ Wat- son say's bitterly. ‘‘He told me, ‘I’ve got five years until I pay off my mortgage, and after that, I don’t give a damn what hap- pens.’ That’s the attitude of most people up here.*” I wonder if he’s right. Certain- ly there seems to be a lot of iner- tia when it comes to anybody getting stirred up about anything around here. We are a jaded lot. Down in the States, where his following is largest, ‘Watson is finding that fame has a useful side when it comes to raising money. As a celebrity, he gets in- troductions to other celebrities. There is still a Greenpeace of- fice down on Fourth Avenue, and they still sally forth in Zodi- acs, but the head office in Canada has long since been shifted to Toronto, and the in- ternational head office is in Great Britain. With Watson pulling up stakes, it was the end of an era of some kind so far as Vancouver is concerned, I guess. His daughter and ex-wife are still here, so.he plans to visit. And I seem to recall that he moved away from here once before, then returned. We shook hands in the rain. I told him: ‘‘It’s a small planet. See ya.’’ Someone asked me later: ‘‘So how is Watson?’’ I would have to say, maturing in his unique fashion. Sad. I hate seeing guys mature. They always look so bloody tired by then. IMPAIRED DRIVING Ardagh Hunter Barristers & Solicitors Turner #300-1401 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver 986-4366 A STATISTIC! 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