unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (10/23/89)
CBS "THIS MORNING" INTERVIEW WITH CAPTAIN PETER WILLCOX, RAINBOW WARRIOR
Posting Date: 10/20/89 Copyright UNITEX Communications, 1989
UNITEX Network, USA ISSN: 1043-7932
CBS "THIS MORNING" INTERVIEW WITH:
CAPTAIN PETER WILLCOX, RAINBOW WARRIOR
MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1989
HARRY SMITH: The Greenpeace Organization has a new flagship.
It's a new "Rainbow Warrior" launched this summer. The old
"Rainbow Warrior" was destroyed by two underwater bombs while
docked at Auckland, New Zealand in 1985. She was about to lead
a protest against French nuclear testing. Two French
Intelligence Agents later plead guilty to the bombing which
killed one person. Peter Willcox is the captain of the "Rainbow
Warrior," and he joins us live from the South Street Seaport
here in New York this morning. Good morning, Peter.
CAPT. WILLCOX: Good morning.
MR. SMITH: Where will you go first? What is your first mission
with the new "Rainbow Warrior?"
CAPT. WILLCOX: Well, we leave from South Street on October 11
for Auckland, New Zealand, where our first action would be
against "drift-net" fishing in the Pacific.
MR. SMITH: Explain "drift-net" fishing for the uninitiated.
CAPT. WILLCOX: Well, drift-nets are nets in the water up to 70
miles long that go down 50 feet in the water, which catch
everything in the water, whether it's marine mammals, birds,
dolphins, seals, whales. The big problem with them is that as
the fishing starts decreasing in the world, fishermen become
more desperate to catch fish. The drift-nets catch everything,
and it's a very improper way of managing a resource.
MR. SMITH: Some people call it -- it's like strip mining the
oceans.
CAPT. WILLCOX: Exactly. It's like planting a vegetable garden,
waiting until the carrots come up and then collecting everything
in your garden. It makes no sense, and it's the worse way for
the earth to manage what resources there are.
MR. SMITH: What tactic will you take when you go the South
Seas?
CAPT. WILLCOX: Well, our first job will be to document the
nets -- the destruction they cause, what they're doing. I
expect, and we are planning now, to do a direct-action to stop a
fishing boat from setting in that -- we can't say exactly now
what we will do, but we'll do something in a peaceful,
nonviolent way to bring to everybody's attention the destruction
the nets cause and the damage they create.
MR. SMITH: You say "peaceful" and you say "nonviolent;" yet at
the same time, Greenpeace has always had a -- a sort of
confrontational tactic or approach that it has used. In this
day and age, when you hear more and more people talking about
them becoming environmentalists, isn't it time that maybe you
change your tactics a little bit?
CAPT. WILLCOX: No, I don't think so. I think today it becomes
more and more apparent that we have to do everything we possibly
can to make everybody in the world aware of the environmental
destruction that's going on. No, Greenpeace, doesn't plan to
change our tactics, we plan to become better at what we do, and
we plan to do more things. We do a lot of environmental
lobbying; we do a lot of reseach, and we'll continue the direct
actions.
MR. SMITH: You have three million people in Greenpeace now, an
annual budget over $75 million. As an organization, what are
your priorities?
CAPT. WILLCOX: The protection of the earth, basically. The
things we're working on are nuclear proliferation. We have a
big campaign against the increasing use of nuclear weapons at
sea. We're trying to save Antartica, turn it into a world park;
protection of marine mammals. We've done many campaigns against
acid rainfall, destruction of the atmosphere. We're concerned
with anything that affects the earth.
MR. SMITH: Peter Willcox, the skipper of the new "Rainbow
Warrior," from Greenpeace, thank you so much for joining us, and
we hope you can come in from the rain now.
CAPT. WILLCOX: You're very welcome.
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