Captain Peter Hammarstedt
25 Nov '19
@Flavio Gasperini / Sea Shepherd
A warrior, defender and protector of the sea. Captain Peter Hammarstedt from Sea Shepherd shares his quest on ending illegal fishing and saving marine wildlife. Sharing the challenges he has faced, his accomplishments with Sea Shepherd and their current mission.
Imagine being at sea, waves reaching 13 to 14 meter heights, looking bright white and the rough wind splashing against the waves. Making it almost impossible to tell apart the white foam of a breaking wave and the ice in the water. Not forgetting another crucial part; you are on a ship. It’s a 500 ton ship, no back up motor, basically, if you lose the engine, you lose the ship.
With nowhere to go, you have no other option then to ride out this weather. Unsurprisingly, these are the moments when Peter feels most intimidated at sea. “It is very humbling, you recognise how small we are as a species on this planet but it's also terrifying. There is a certain element of control that you have to leave behind”.
“I wanted to be one of those people in that boat. To put my body on the line and get physically in the way and interfere with this kind of hunt”.
Life Story - It all started with an image of a dead whale being pulled up the ramp of an 8.000 ton factory whaling ship in the Antarctic. Full of disbelief and shock, the 14 year old Peter was left feeling restless. “I just couldn't shake the image. It shocked me to the core that whaling was still happening” he said. Also visible in this image was a small rigid zodiac boat which was operated by Greenpeace. This boat was trying to get between the whales and the whalers. This little boat that was up against this huge factory ship, showed Peter there was still hope. Looking back at this moment he says: “I wanted to be one of those people in that boat. To put my body on the line and get physically in the way and interfere with this kind of hunt”. After learning more about illegal fishing and whale hunting, Peter decided to wait until he reached the minimum age of 18 to submit a crew application.
Joining Sea Shepherd
It was at the age of 17 when Peter started volunteering at Greenpeace, where he during a night watch shift learned more about Sea Shepherd. “The proactive Sea Shepherd approach appealed to me a lot more than what I was doing with Greenpeace”. Shortly after, Iceland re-joined the International Whaling commission and resumed their whale hunt.
As a reaction, Sea Shepherd announced they were heading to Iceland to directly intervene and prevent any whales from being killed. Having developed a strong connection to whales and being a Swede, Peter really wanted to join the crew on this pursuit. So he did. “In some ways I felt personally responsible. It was the country of Sweden that had cast the deciding vote which ultimately allowed this to happen” he explained.
And then came the Thunder
When we ask Peter about his greatest achievement, he tells us how they shutdown the most wanted illegal fishing boat in the world; the Thunder. This ship, wanted by Interpol, had been blacklisted for 10 years and had made a profit of approximately 60 million dollars. Literally, Nobody was able to stop this ship, not even governments. Chasing the vessel for 10 days, Sea Shepherd was set out to accomplish something nobody had ever done before. “We thought we would just find this boat in the Antarctic somewhere, operating.
Our next step was to follow it for however long it took, until a nearby government could arrest the captain and the crew” Peter explained. Ultimately the illegal fishing boat couldn't shake them off. After Sea Shepherd had followed the Thunder for 110 days, the captain of the Thunder decided to sink his own vessel, closely to São Tomé, and destroy the evidence on board. Ironically, Sea Shepherd had to rescue the captain of the Thunder and his 39 crew members.
They were later prosecuted and the captain and two of his officers were sentenced to three years in prison, in São Tomé. Sea Shepherd gained global knowledge and praise for their pursuit even reaching the front page of the New York Times. Furthermore, it inspired global dialogue about the illegal fishing problem. Peter adds: “That dedication by Sea Shepherd is what ultimately stopped this ship. It wasn’t a government. I'm incredibly proud of that!
On mission in Africa
Currently, Sea Shepherd is working with African coastal states like Liberia and offers assistance to the different governments around this continent with the arrest of illegal fishing boats. For every day that one of the illegal fishing boats is detained at port, up to tens of thousands of animals are saved. While talking about his current campaign, Peter reflects: “We are saving 10,000 animals every day when one of these ships is detained."
Every life counts
Overall, it’s about our own individual lifestyle choices. From what we eat to what we wear and far beyond that. Peter believes the best approach is combining your individual passion with your skills and it's about how you can combine them to really make a change. One that they can fight for their whole life. It's only sustainable if it’s really personal and too often people are overwhelmed by just how big these issues are”.
When looking into the future Peter points out how we live by the idea of limitless economic growth in a world that is limited for expansion.
“It can only produce so much timber and so much fish in a limited amount of time and it has a limited caring capacity. With the lifestyles that we have, our planet can only take so many people. The trend of how things are going is incredibly frightening but the solutions are there too. The planet has this incredible opportunity to rebound. The earth is very resilient. If we can put measures in place for instance for the oceans, being my kind of sphere, we can establish marine protected areas and increase the enforcement of them. I think then, the oceans can rebound very quickly”.
“Every life that we can save, is good enough. If that's all that we can do, that's good enough for me. It has to be”.
With his final words, Captain Peter Hammarstedt encourages us to act, no matter how overwhelming it may seem. “We look at everything from deforestation to what is happening with the oceans to climate change, there are so many excuses and reasons not to get involved. Just because the opposition seems so overwhelming. I think you have to take a look at what you can do within the sphere that you can control. Every life that we can save, is good enough. If that's all that we can do, that's good enough for me. It has to be”.
MUD Jeans X Sea Shepherd
Kommentare
It is deeply disappointing to see no acknowledgement of Paul Watson, the founder of Sea Shepherd and the driving force behind its original mission. His decades of uncompromising dedication to marine conservation cannot simply be erased or ignored. Anyone genuinely interested in supporting the cause should take the time to understand the organisation’s roots and the key individuals who shaped it. Promoting a figure who played a role in ousting the founder and reshaping the organisation away from its original direct-action ethos raises serious questions about your values and alignment with true environmental activism. This choice reflects poorly on your brand and suggests a lack of integrity or awareness—possibly both. Do better.
Peter is a traitor! I can’t believe this publication even gave any credibility to Peter. He makes absolutely no mention of Captain Paul Watson who founded Sea Shepherd and he was the one who promoted Peter from deckhand to a captain. In the end, Peter betrayed Paul and Peter lost his moral compass
Peter Hammarstedt cares only about money, not nature, not whales! His betrayal of Captain Paul Watson was brutal and conniving. It was about controlling a large amount of money his Captain Paul had personally raised. Sadly Peter will amount to a grifter.
Corporations should always fact check before putting out endorsements of this nature. I can no longer support a brand that sponsors imposters, traitors, crooks or posers. This is simply green washing at its finest. And you can take my word on it: https://slantedonline.com/the-betrayal-of-captain-paul-watson-continues/
Corporations should always fact check before putting out endorsements of this nature. I can no longer support a brand that sponsors imposters, traitors, crooks or posers. This is simply green washing at its finest. And you can take my word on it: https://slantedonline.com/the-betrayal-of-captain-paul-watson-continues/
Interesting article, with no mention of who was behind the actions and who was behind the strategies, and really who inspired all this. Not one mention of Paul Watson should have really sort of hit hard for this MUD JEANS company. It is an article without any proper journalistic investigating. Its more a less an OPED written by the publisher.
It starts with the inspiration Captain Paul Watson brought to 14 year old Peter, just like it did hundreds of thousands (millions?) of youth and adults when Paul was in his Zodiac trying to interfere under Greenpeace directly putting himself between the harpoon and the whale.
Peter starts with Greenpeace (co founded by Cap Paul Watson) at 17 not liking what he is doing and would rather be going to Paul Watson’s Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Paul founded SSCS to be more proactive as Greenpeace did not like peaceful but aggressive direct interference to uphold international maritime law. So Peter continues to be inspired by Paul and joins him.
His greatest achievement is indeed the pursuit of The Thunder under Paul’s strategy, guidance, and support. And certainly this was not what Greenpeace would do as Peter criticized the lack of direct action, nor today’s sad version of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society nor their sad Sea Shepherd Global. They are not much better than Greenpeace after the multi-millionaire (billionaire?) Paul Labombard aka Pritam Singh and his new minions of anti direct action and corrupt alliances took over through an illegal vote Peter participated in. In fact Peter is like the Judas of Sea Shepherd (I am not a fan of biblical quotes).
Peter has worked at undoing the strategies that Paul put in place along with the other traitors and ended up not interfering anymore and working with companies that are associated with fisheries and israeli security Yamasec. What a distance they established from the original org, so strangely when reading this “article” I sort of had a gag reflex reading how Peter presents himself as a captain that interferes with poachers when he has let go of this approach and fought Paul on it. What a bunch of vegan baloney! (oh and they changed the standards on board of the ships! no longer vegan ships, ethics?).
I do strongly believe that Mud Jeans should have let him write his own OPED rather than write this much much elevated Peter that along with other traitors of the movements belong on a “pirate plank”. Sea Shepherd is entirely corrupted. Their leadership got rid of their essence. They started under the new take over, to eliminate ships that were sea worthy and recently fixed so they did not have to spend money on those ships going out in pursuit of illegal activities and ships (not their identity anymore), then they purchased a ship and publicized it heavily..and then they sent their vessel with scientists to take pictures and report but not intervene and uphold maritime international law. They also did upon take over publicize direct action they were not doing but had been done in the past under Paul to solicit donations!! Is that even legal?
The take over started at SSCS first and some tried to save footage and sent it over to Europe to protect it, and SSCS (the US) was planning to take over global as well and so threatened SSGlobal from massive lawsuits if they did not send the direct action footage, then SSG fell and got taken over. This was bullying, to be added to Peter et al’s ways! The pretense that the Jolly Roger is theirs is a fabricated lie. That belongs to Paul!
Interesting article, with no mention of who was behind the actions and who was behind the strategies, and really who inspired all this. Not one mention of Paul Watson should have really sort of hit hard for this MUD JEANS company. It is an article without any proper journalistic investigating. Its more a less an OPED written by the publisher.
It starts with the inspiration Captain Paul Watson brought to 14 year old Peter, just like it did hundreds of thousands (millions?) of youth and adults when Paul was in his Zodiac trying to interfere under Greenpeace directly putting himself between the harpoon and the whale.
Peter starts with Greenpeace (co founded by Cap Paul Watson) at 17 not liking what he is doing and would rather be going to Paul Watson’s Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Paul founded SSCS to be more proactive as Greenpeace did not like peaceful but aggressive direct interference to uphold international maritime law. So Peter continues to be inspired by Paul and joins him.
His greatest achievement is indeed the pursuit of The Thunder under Paul’s strategy, guidance, and support. And certainly this was not what Greenpeace would do as Peter criticized the lack of direct action, nor today’s sad version of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society nor their sad Sea Shepherd Global. They are not much better than Greenpeace after the multi-millionaire (billionaire?) Paul Labombard aka Pritam Singh and his new minions of anti direct action and corrupt alliances took over through an illegal vote Peter participated in. In fact Peter is like the Judas of Sea Shepherd (I am not a fan of biblical quotes).
Peter has worked at undoing the strategies that Paul put in place along with the other traitors and ended up not interfering anymore and working with companies that are associated with fisheries and israeli security Yamasec. What a distance they established from the original org, so strangely when reading this “article” I sort of had a gag reflex reading how Peter presents himself as a captain that interferes with poachers when he has let go of this approach and fought Paul on it. What a bunch of vegan baloney! (oh and they changed the standards on board of the ships! no longer vegan ships, ethics?).
I do strongly believe that Mud Jeans should have let him write his own OPED rather than write this much much elevated Peter that along with other traitors of the movements belong on a “pirate plank”. Sea Shepherd is entirely corrupted. Their leadership got rid of their essence. They started under the new take over, to eliminate ships that were sea worthy and recently fixed so they did not have to spend money on those ships going out in pursuit of illegal activities and ships (not their identity anymore), then they purchased a ship and publicized it heavily..and then they sent their vessel with scientists to take pictures and report but not intervene and uphold maritime international law. They also did upon take over publicize direct action they were not doing but had been done in the past under Paul to solicit donations!! Is that even legal?
The take over started at SSCS first and some tried to save footage and sent it over to Europe to protect it, and SSCS (the US) was planning to take over global as well and so threatened SSGlobal from massive lawsuits if they did not send the direct action footage, then SSG fell and got taken over. This was bullying, to be added to Peter et al’s ways! The pretense that the Jolly Roger is theirs is a fabricated lie. That belongs to Paul!
So ironic that he mentions his legacy based on missions and efforts led by Paul Watson, however no mention of the true hero behind these operations. Since he took over and removed Paul, his campaigns have been more scarce, less confrontational and less direct, exactly what he mentioned that attracted him to Sea Shepherd and made him move from Greenpeace in the first place. So that’s official: with his take over, he changed in other Sea Shepherds exactly what made it special, and still makes Sea Shepherd France, Sea Shepherd Brasil and Sea Shepherd UK (now CPWF UK) special, as continue to work alongside Paul Watson. I read this and I cannot see a hero, just a con.
Peter Hammarstedt betrayed the core values of Sea Shepherd when he agreed to take orders from corrupt African governments- who dictate what flags the Ships fly and demand that the Ships be painted dull grey. He partnered with Austral Fisheries in Australia for a ship at a discounted price and free fuel. In Namibia, he partnered with the seal killing government to get free docks at the government pier. When was the last time they arrested a fishing vessel was arrested there? He removed Captain Paul Watson, the founder of Sea Shepherd, so that he and Alex Cornelissen could become the “New face of Sea Shepherd”.
Peter was told to advertise jogging pants instead of jeans.
He was part of an organization set up to combat illegal whaling and other illegal activities on the front line. Paul Watson founded Sea Shepherd to save lives through direct action. To act where governments have failed to act due to corruption or economic interests. Governments are the problem why there are abuses in the oceans. Peter worked his way to the top of the organization with Alex Cornelissen, Gert Vons and Jeff Hansen, only to commit a betrayal. More relaxed campaigns WITH governments, getting ships sponsored by Austral Fisheries, no confrontations, armed soldiers on the ships, photos instead of direct action, all these reasons led to the founder Watson being kicked out after criticism of changing the DNA of his organization.
Peter Hammarstedt betrayed the man who mentored and trained him from a snot-nosed deck hand to a would-be captain. Without Captain Paul Watson, Peter would be paddling a canoe in a swimming pool. No decent person would have double crossed and and mutinied against their benefactor, stole all that he owned as a founder of Sea Shepherd and voted him out of his own organization. This whole fluff piece glorifying Peter Hammarstedt is another of Sea Shepherd’s pathetic attempts to pander donations.
Peter Hammarstedt neglected to mention that he was part of a hostile takeover and that he was part of an illegal move to dismiss me, the founder of Sea Shepherd from the movement I created in 1977 by covertly filing for trademarks. He did this because I refused to compromise and rebrand to becoming mainstream. He accused me for being too controversial and too confrontational. Since my forced removal, my name has been removed from the history and the archives. I continue to work with Sea Shepherd France, the U.K. and Brazil. Sea Shepherd Global that Peter Hammarstedt represents has developed lucrative partnerships with the Austral Fisheries Company, with Allianz Insurance and with the Israeli Yamasec Security firm. He is an opportunist who betrayed our movement. He may claim to own the name but he no longer represents the spirit of Sea Shepherd. – Captain Paul Watson – Founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.