For 30 years, Captain Paul Watson has been at the helm of the world's most active marine protection nonprofit organization - Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Paul Watson's career as a Master Mariner began in 1968 as a seaman with the merchant marines and with the Canadian Coast Guard. Paul majored in Communications and Linguistics at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.

In 1972, Paul co-founded the Greenpeace (GP) Foundation in Vancouver, B.C. From 1971 to 1977, he served as First Officer on all GP voyages, and on a campaign against Russian whalers he implemented his idea of putting activists in a zodiac between the harpoon and the whale. From 1976 to 1977, he led all of the GP expeditions to protect harp seals on the ice floes of eastern Canada. In 1977, Paul left GP because he felt the original goals of the organization were being compromised and because he saw a specific, global need to continue direct-action conservation activities on the high seas.

In 1977, Paul founded Sea Shepherd Conservation Society -dedicated to research, investigation, and the enforcement of laws, treaties, resolutions, and regulations established to protect marine wildlife and their habitats worldwide.

In between campaigns, Paul travels and lectures extensively at universities and events around the world, including Pasadena College of Design and UCLA. He has authored six books: Shepherds of the Sea (1979); Sea Shepherd: My Fight for Whales and Seals (1982); Cry Wolf (1985); Earthforce! (1993); Ocean Warrior (1994); and Seal Wars (2002). In addition, he has been the subject of numerous magazine articles and profiles, including being chosen in 2000 by TIME magazine as one of the environmental heroes of the 20th century.