Paul Franklin Watson (born December 2, 1950) is a Canadian marine wildlife conservation and environmental activist, who founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an anti-poaching and direct action group focused on marine conservation and marine conservation activism. He is a citizen of Canada and the United States. The Toronto native joined a Sierra Club protest against nuclear testing in 1969. He was an early and influential member of Greenpeace, crewed and skippered for it and a founding board member in 1972.
Other environmental activities
Watson was a field correspondent for Defenders of Wildlife from 1976 to 1980 and a field representative for the Fund for Animals from 1978 to 1981. Watson also was a co-founder of Friends of the Wolf and Earthforce Environmental Society.  During the 1980s, Watson declared his support for Earth First! and cultivated friendships with David Foreman and Edward Abbey. He proclaimed Sea Shepherd to be the "navy" of Earth First! According to The New Yorker, Watson revived the 19th-century practice of tree spiking. Watson ran as an independent candidate in the 1980 Canadian Federal election in Vancouver Centre, proclaiming he wasn't a politician but an environmentalist. He received less than 100 votes. Watson did work with the Green Party of British Columbia in Vancouver in the 1980s and 90s. He ran for mayor in 1996, placing fourth.  In April 2003, Watson was elected to the board of directors of the Sierra Club for a three-year term. In 2006, he did not seek re-election. He resigned from the board a month before his term ended, in protest against the organization's sponsorship of a "Why I Hunt" essay contest.  Watson feels that "no human community should be larger than 20,000 people," human populations need to be reduced radically to "fewer than one billion," and only those who are "completely dedicated to the responsibility" of caring for the biosphere should have children, which is a "very small percentage of humans." He likens humankind to a virus or a cancer. The biosphere needs to get cured from this cancer with a "radical and invasive approach."  In January 2008, Paul Watson was named by The Guardian as one of its "50 people who could save the planet" for the work of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Q: What is Paul Watson's biggest environmental achievement?
A: Watson was a field correspondent for Defenders of Wildlife from 1976 to 1980 and a field representative for the Fund for Animals from 1978 to 1981.

Q: What else did he achieve environmentally?
A: Watson also was a co-founder of Friends of the Wolf and Earthforce Environmental Society.

Q: Did he achieve anything else environmentally?
A: According to The New Yorker, Watson revived the 19th-century practice of tree spiking.

Q: Can you tell me about any further achievements environmentally?
A: Watson ran as an independent candidate in the 1980 Canadian Federal election in Vancouver Centre, proclaiming he wasn't a politician but an environmentalist.

Q: Did he win that election?
A: He received less than 100 votes.

Q: What did he do after the election?
A: Watson did work with the Green Party of British Columbia in Vancouver in the 1980s and 90s.
Did he ever hold political office?
In April 2003, Watson was elected to the board of directors of the Sierra Club for a three-year term.
In April 2003, Watson was elected to the board of directors of the Sierra Club for a three-year term.