Paul Franklin Watson was born on 2 December 1950, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and is an environmental activist, and marine wildlife conservation activist, best known for founding the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society; the group is focused on marine conservation and anti-poaching efforts. All of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Paul Watson? As of early-2017, sources estimate a net worth that is at $500,000, mostly earned through a successful career in activism. He is one of the founding members of Greenpeace and has promoted numerous principles. He’s written books and has gained a lot of attention due to him being involved in legal action with several countries. As he continues his endeavors, it is possible that his net worth will also continue to increase.
Paul Watson Net Worth $500,000
At a young age, Paul was taught to respect and defend animals; he worked as a tour guide at Expo 67 before moving to Vancouver, where he joined the Canadian Coast Guard and worked on various hovercraft, weatherships, and buoy tenders. He also worked as a merchant seaman during this period.
One of his first noted works of activism was joining the Sierra Club to protest the Amchitka Island nuclear testing. The group evolved into the Don’t Make a Wave Committee, which eventually became Greenpeace. Watson would serve on the Greenpeace Too! ship in 1971, and then in various positions in Greenpeace voyages in the mid-1970s. Many publications state that he is a Greenpeace founder, but Greenpeace cites him only as an influential member, not a founder.
In 1978, he purchased the first Sea Shepherd vessel called the “Sea Shepherd”, with the help of Fund for Animals. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was formed and would soon gain notoriety for their direct action tactics. They threw objects into whaling ships, boarded whaling ships, and even scuttled ships. He started earning money as part of the society which increased his net worth. He was also a field correspondent for Defenders of Wildlife until 1980. Afterwards, he declared his support for Earth First!, and would later join the board of directors of the Sierra Club. He became very vocal on claims such as how human communities should be no larger than 20,000 people. He also released numerous activism articles on Earthforce!
Watson has been the subject of numerous controversies over the course of his life. One of the better known issues was his separation from Greenpeace when he was expelled from the board in 1977. Greenpeace has since called him a violent extremist – he was convicted of assaulting a peace officer during a seal hunt protest. He became a persona non grata in Iceland after scuttling two whaling ships and damaging a whale meat processing factory. He was also pursued by the Japanese Coast Guard on suspicion of sabotaging Japan’s whaling fleet. He was detained in 2012 in Germany at the request of the government of Costa Rica due to altercations at sea.
Despite these issues, he’s won several awards, including the Jules Verne Award, and received the Asociacion de Amigos del Museo de Anclas Philippe Cousteau: Defense of Marine Life Award. In 2002, he was inducted into the US Animal Rights Hall of Fame, and received the George H.W. Bush Daily Points of Light Award.
For his personal life, it is known that Paul has been married four times, firstly to founding director of Greenpeace Quebec Starlet Lum, with whom he has a son. He then married former Playboy model Lisa Distefano. His third wife was animal rights activist Allison Lance, and his fourth marriage is to Yana Rusinovich in 2015, and they have a son.
