Benjamin Potts, a 29-year old Australian born in Sydney, always felt a connection with nature. His home as a boy was surrounded by two large national parks and the myriad of wildlife. His father worked for the National Parks and Wildlife Service of Australia, and would bring home animals that he had been seized from smugglers and trappers. Father and son would take these snakes, lizards, birds and marsupials either to a wildlife refuge for rehabilitation or, if they were a local species release them into the park. These unique encounters with a myriad of native species gave him the opportunity to form friendships and a respect for Australia’s wildlife. Later, in his 20’s, he ventured to Tasmania and was exposed to direct action campaigning in the form of logging blockades. With the Still Wild, Still Threatened campaign that acts to stop the destruction of the last remaining stands of Australia’s old growth forests. Seeing his country and its inhabitants destroyed for a quick buck made him extremely distressed and angry, at which point, he vowed that he would do what he could to stop it.This vow later expanded into the oceans when he volunteered with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a radical marine conservation group, for an anti-whaling campaign against Japanese whalers in Antarctica December 2008. Soon after he, and a fellow crew mate, Giles Lane, were asked and dutifully performed the boarding of a Japanese harpoon ship, called the Yushin Maru No. 2. The action took place on the very day that the Federal Court of Australia ruled the Japanese whaling operation was in violation of Australian law. Giles and him boarded the harpoon ship with the intention of notifying the Captain of this fact, as well as pressuring governments to act and not just talk. They were taken hostage for two days following, but later released unharmed. This story became an international media storm and made the whole world pay attention to the Southern Ocean battle for the whales. While Potts was apart of making radical eco-direct action taken seriously again in the mainstream media, which is something one could argue has not happened since 30 years ago. Currently, he is studying marine science and conservation management at Southern Cross University. And he hopes as a species we can find a better relationship with our home and fellow earthlings.
More on Benjamin Potts
- The Age: Anti-Whale Activists 'would do it again'
- Sydney Morning Herald: Benjamin Potts on Whale 'hostage' saga (audio interview)
-Australian Story: Hell or High Water (Potts Interview Transcript)
Video of Pott's Whale Ship Boarding
