Paul Watson Net Worth

May 22, 2024

Paul Watson net worth is
$500,000

Paul Watson Wiki Biography

Paul Franklin Watson was born on 2 December 1950, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and is an environmental activist, and marine wildlife conservation activist, best known for founding the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society; the group is focused on marine conservation and anti-poaching efforts. All of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.

How rich is Paul Watson? As of early-2017, sources estimate a net worth that is at $500,000, mostly earned through a successful career in activism. He is one of the founding members of Greenpeace and has promoted numerous principles. He’s written books and has gained a lot of attention due to him being involved in legal action with several countries. As he continues his endeavors, it is possible that his net worth will also continue to increase.

Paul Watson Net Worth $500,000

At a young age, Paul was taught to respect and defend animals; he worked as a tour guide at Expo 67 before moving to Vancouver, where he joined the Canadian Coast Guard and worked on various hovercraft, weatherships, and buoy tenders. He also worked as a merchant seaman during this period.

One of his first noted works of activism was joining the Sierra Club to protest the Amchitka Island nuclear testing. The group evolved into the Don’t Make a Wave Committee, which eventually became Greenpeace. Watson would serve on the Greenpeace Too! ship in 1971, and then in various positions in Greenpeace voyages in the mid-1970s. Many publications state that he is a Greenpeace founder, but Greenpeace cites him only as an influential member, not a founder.

In 1978, he purchased the first Sea Shepherd vessel called the “Sea Shepherd”, with the help of Fund for Animals. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was formed and would soon gain notoriety for their direct action tactics. They threw objects into whaling ships, boarded whaling ships, and even scuttled ships. He started earning money as part of the society which increased his net worth. He was also a field correspondent for Defenders of Wildlife until 1980. Afterwards, he declared his support for Earth First!, and would later join the board of directors of the Sierra Club. He became very vocal on claims such as how human communities should be no larger than 20,000 people. He also released numerous activism articles on Earthforce!

Watson has been the subject of numerous controversies over the course of his life. One of the better known issues was his separation from Greenpeace when he was expelled from the board in 1977. Greenpeace has since called him a violent extremist – he was convicted of assaulting a peace officer during a seal hunt protest. He became a persona non grata in Iceland after scuttling two whaling ships and damaging a whale meat processing factory. He was also pursued by the Japanese Coast Guard on suspicion of sabotaging Japan’s whaling fleet. He was detained in 2012 in Germany at the request of the government of Costa Rica due to altercations at sea.

Despite these issues, he’s won several awards, including the Jules Verne Award, and received the Asociacion de Amigos del Museo de Anclas Philippe Cousteau: Defense of Marine Life Award. In 2002, he was inducted into the US Animal Rights Hall of Fame, and received the George H.W. Bush Daily Points of Light Award.

For his personal life, it is known that Paul has been married four times, firstly to founding director of Greenpeace Quebec Starlet Lum, with whom he has a son. He then married former Playboy model Lisa Distefano. His third wife was animal rights activist Allison Lance, and his fourth marriage is to Yana Rusinovich in 2015, and they have a son.

#	Quote
1	(on the role of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society) We do not protest. Protesting is fundamentally submissive. We are enforcers. We sail to enforce the law.
2	I would just say is that nobody could do what I do unless you had a big ego. It's the only way you can really put it. You have to be arrogant enough to challenge the arrogance of the human race.
3	You know, I wouldn't think I was successful if I didn't have just as many people hate me as support me. You can't change things by not pissing people off.
4	No species is more important than the others. All species are interdependent, but people got upset when I said worms were more important than people. {That's] because worms can live on the earth without us but we can't live without them. We need them and they don't need us. And bees and insects and fish: we need them and they don't need us. It makes them, ecologically, more important than we are. A lot of people don't like to hear that.
5	I'm not pessimistic about anything. You just have to have enough passion and perseverance. I alway point to 1972. The very idea that Nelson Mandela would be president of South Africa was unthinkable, unimaginable and impossible, yet it happened. So I'm eternally optimistic.
6	We're not even the captains of the spaceship. We're just the passengers, watching and consuming. The crew is the insects and the microbes and the other creatures, doing what they do to keep the ship functioning. And right now we're killing off the essential crew, one by one.

#	Fact
1	The movie Ocean Warrior (1981) is partly based on his experiences.
2	He is one of the founding members of the Greenpeace Foundation.

Producer

Title	Year	Status	Character
Defend, Conserve, Protect		producer post-production
Why Just One?	2016	Documentary executive producer

Actor

Title	Year	Status	Character
Fireside Chat with Esther	2015	TV Series	Captain Watson

Thanks

Title	Year	Status
Eco-Pirate: The Story of Paul Watson	2011	Documentary the producers wish to thank
Confessions of an Eco-Terrorist	2010	Documentary special thanks
Sharkwater	2006	Documentary special thanks - as Captain Paul Watson
Ocean Warrior	1981	Documentary special thanks

Self

Title	Year	Status	Character
Sharkwater: Extinction	2017	Documentary announced	Himself
One Planet	2017	Documentary filming	Himself
The Refineries: Inside the Making Of		Documentary post-production	Himself
Good Fortune	2016	Documentary	Himself
Food Choices	2016	Documentary	Himself (founder of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society) (as Captain Paul Watson)
Why Just One?	2016	Documentary	Himself
On n'est pas couché	2016	TV Series	Himself
C à vous	2016	TV Series	Himself
13 heures le journal	2016	TV Series	Himself
Le grand journal de Canal+	2012-2015	TV Series documentary	Himself
Unity	2015	Documentary	Narrator (voice)
How to Change the World	2015	Documentary	Himself
Whale Wars	2008-2015	TV Series documentary	Himself / Himself - Founder Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Steve Irwin Captain / Himself - Captain / ...
Whale Wars: The Devil's Den	2015	TV Series	Himself
Wrenched	2014	Documentary	Himself
Real Time with Bill Maher	2014	TV Series	Himself - Guest
60 Minutes	2013	TV Series documentary	Himself - Environmental Activist (segment "Return of the Humpbacks")
The Project	2013	TV Series	Himself
The Alyona Show	2012	TV Series	Himself
Seal Wars	2012	TV Movie documentary	Himself
Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell	2012	TV Series	Himself
Horizont CT24	2012	TV Series	Himself (Sea Shepherd)
Democracy Now!	2012	TV Series	Himself
Whale Wars: Viking Shores	2012	TV Series	Himself
Whale Wars: Operation Bluefin	2012	TV Movie	Himself
A Fierce Green Fire	2012	Documentary	Himself
Minds in the Water	2011	Documentary
La case du siècle	2011	TV Series documentary	Himself, Sea Shepherd Foundation, Greenpeace member 1972-1979
Animal World	2010-2011	TV Series documentary	Himself - Host
Canada A.M.	2011	TV Series	Himself
Eco-Pirate: The Story of Paul Watson	2011	Documentary	Himself
Adam Hills in Gordon St Tonight	2011	TV Series	Himself
The 7PM Project	2009-2011	TV Series	Himself - Captain of Steve Irwin / Himself - Captain of the Steve Irwin
Les insurgés de la terre	2011	TV Movie documentary	Himself
END:CIV	2011	Documentary	Himself
Eternal Vigilance: Paul Watson on the Front Lines	2010	Documentary short	Himself
Making Burros Fly	2010	Documentary	Himself
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno	2010	TV Series	Himself
Confessions of an Eco-Terrorist	2010	Documentary	Himself
Bag It	2010	Documentary	Himself
Skin Trade	2010	Documentary	Himself
Focus Earth with Bob Woodruff	2009	TV Series	Himself
The Cove	2009	Documentary	Himself (as Captain Paul Watson)
30 Years on the Frontline	2008	Documentary short
At the Edge of the World	2008	Documentary	Himself
Pirate for the Sea	2008	Documentary	Himself
Your Mommy Kills Animals!	2007	Documentary	Himself - Sea Shepherd Conservancy
Seal or No Seal	2007	Short	Himself
Sharkwater	2006	Documentary	Himself (as Captain Paul Watson)
Behind the Mask	2006	Documentary	Himself (Sea Shepherd Conservation Society)
Testify! Eco-Defense and the Politics of Violence	2005	Video documentary	Himself (Sea Shepherd Conservation Society) (as Captain Paul Watson)
Penn & Teller: Bullshit!	2005	TV Series documentary	Himself
Ocean Raider: Defenders of the Wild	1993	TV Movie documentary	Himself
Eco Spies	1992	TV Movie	Himself
Redwood Summer Roadshow	1990		Himself
Black Harvest - The Fight for the Pilot Whale	1988	TV Short documentary	Himself
Ocean Warrior	1981	Documentary	Himself