Saturday, April 05, 2008
SHEPHERDESSES SCATTER
Paul Watson’s Sea Shepherd suckmob - known for attacking harmless Japanese mammal pokers - aren’t so tough when confronted by furious French fishermen:
On Friday, Watson’s vessel, the Farley Mowat, was confronted at the wharf by two dozen residents of St-Pierre, the capital of the French territory south of Newfoundland.
Police confirmed local fishermen confronted the activists and the ship left after its lines were cut with axes.
Fisherman Carl Beaupertuis, 47, said when he heard Watson’s comments about the sealers killed in a capsizing last Saturday, he was furious.
“We cut the ropes ... because the fishermen of St-Pierre don’t accept what Paul Watson said,” he said. “He’s not allowed to come in the harbour any more. It’s finished for him.”
His accent would really have made that final line kick. Read on for the beautifully dismissive views of French government official Andre Varcin, who sounds as though he stepped straight out of Casablanca.
UPDATE. Further from fisherman Carl, who in a more enlightened age would have received a medal by now:
• “Our anger was stronger than anything else and we didn’t wait for the authorities to react.”
• “We don’t accept those kinds of people in St-Pierre. We cut the rope and let the boat go ... If they want to come back I tell you this time there’s going to be some violence, ’cause we won’t let him back in the harbour. No way.”
According to another report, Beaupertuis was joined by about one hundred other fishermen in chasing away Watson and his fellow idiots. It’s a seafaring version of “Sod off, Swampy”, with enchanting overtones of “We’ll set about ye”.