Icelandic coast guards and special forces seized a ship operated by a group founded by anti-whaling activist Paul Watson and detained its crew, officials in the Arctic island nation said Saturday. The incident occurred after a whaling ship, Hvalur 9, requested assistance, reporting that its safety was threatened by the protest vessel Bandero.
The Icelandic Coast Guard stated that the Bandero ignored instructions to leave Icelandic waters and subsequently an order to stop its engines. Coast guards and the police special forces Viking Squad boarded the Bandero around midnight on Thursday and detained its crew. Paul Watson himself was not aboard the vessel.
The Captain Paul Watson Foundation confirmed the seizure and stated that the 21 crew members were being held aboard the ship without access to their phones. The vessel arrived in Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital, on Friday, and police have taken control of the investigation. Icelandic national broadcaster RUV reported that authorities plan to seek the deportation of the crew and a ban on their future return to Iceland.
Iceland remains one of the few countries, alongside Norway and Japan, that still practices commercial whaling. The nation sets annual quotas for fin and minke whale hunts within its waters. While it exports most of its whale meat to Japan, demand has decreased there since Japan resumed commercial whaling in 2019 after leaving the International Whaling Commission.
The whaling hunt has become increasingly controversial within Iceland, where whale meat consumption is rare. Paul Watson, a Canadian-born activist, previously led the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, known for its high-seas confrontations with whaling vessels. He departed Sea Shepherd in 2022 to establish his foundation.
Watson has a history of legal entanglements related to his activism. He was imprisoned in Greenland in 2024 for five months following an arrest on a Japanese warrant concerning charges of obstructing a whaling ship in 2010. Upon his release in December 2024, Watson expressed intentions to avoid countries where Interpol might attempt to arrest him. In 2012, Interpol had issued a “red notice” for Watson, which was later removed in 2025.
Watson's confrontational methods have divided the anti-whaling movement, and some marine firms have accused activists of endangering vessels and lives. Earlier this year, the Bandero was involved in a collision with an industrial krill trawler in Antarctica, which the ship's owner described as a deliberate attack that jeopardized the crew and risked an environmental disaster.