Between the Devil and the deep blue sea.

Byline: By Anna Ralph

The year was 1975 and it was a drama seen around the world.

A gigantic Russian whaling vessel, with explosive-tipped harpoons, bore down upon a pod of sperm whales silently migrating toward their calving waters off the coast of California.

The whales were gigantic but no match for a modern-day whaling fleet. They were - like all hunted whales - defenceless ... except, that is, for a rubber dingy which was steering its way between the harpoon guns and whales.

Captain Paul Watson, as he had done many times before, placed his life between the killers and their victims.

His campaigning 30-year career has made him a hero to some, a villain to others. Regarded as one of the most courageous environmentalists alive today, he has made enemies and courts danger and controversy in equal measure. But none of that matters.

"The only thing that matters to me is that I use my life to save lives, protect species and conserve habitat. By doing so, I know I can make a difference, and perhaps inspire others who will also make a difference," Paul says.

"I fully expect to be killed one day by one of my own species. A whaler, sealer, shark poacher or member of the crew on a drift netter or drag trawler will kill me."

He states it simply. He does not fear it and he does not shy from it.

"It's important how you live, not how you die. Once you accept that, it is immensely liberating, and with that acceptance, it's remarkable what you can achieve."

Despite being a founding member of Greenpeace in the early 1970s, Paul's gung-ho approach distanced him from the organisation early on and after five years he left, disillusioned with their goals. He did, however, feel there was a need to continue the direct-action conservation on the high seas.

The result was his own band of ocean-faring volunteers and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. On December 5, 1978, three days after his 28th birthday, he had his own ship, the first in history to be exclusively dedicated to the enforcement of international marine wildlife conservation law.

The whales had a navy.

Paul's adventures, revealed in his recently published memoir, Ocean Warrior: My battle to end the illegal slaughter on the High Seas, read like the missions of a nature-loving James Bond.

In the middle of a highly-publicised campaign against the illegal whaling operations of Norway, for example, their ship, Whales Forever, was attacked by the Norwegian Navy. The crew survived the violent attack - which included being rammed, depth-charged and fired upon.

Then there's Paul's list of victories.

He hunted down, rammed and sank the pirate whaler, Sierra, which was reputedly responsible for the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of whales; he scuttled half the Spanish whaling fleet; and convinced the South African government to confiscate two outlaw whaling ships, the Susan and the Theresa.

He was instrumental in elevating the issue of protecting the helpless baby harp seals. By blockading the sealers and their vessels in St. John Harbour in Newfoundland, Canada, between two and three hundred thousand virgin white baby harp seals were saved from their brutal clubbing.

He attacked the illegal Icelandic whaling industry, sinking half their fleet and destroying the land-based whale processing plant.

In Norway, he and his crew scuttled the unmanned pirate whaler Nybraena as a "Christmas gift for the whales" on December 26, 1992. Two years on, the unmanned, illegal pirate whaler Senet, which had killed five pregnant minke whales, was targeted.

Now based in Washington DC, he says: "The thrill of saving lives, of knowing that a whale will sire, a seal pup thrive and a species survive for another few years, gives me a reason to go on.

"I am trying to be what I wish my ancestors had been. I wish that there had been someone around to defend the great auk, the Labrador duck and the Biscayan right whale - all long gone."

Occasionally, when he isn't getting wound up by political and economical battles, he finds frustration in the remotest of places. In the Faroe Islands, for example, which he nicknames "the ferocious isles", whales are not killed for commercial purposes - the slaughter is ritual.

"When the whales are sighted, children leave their classrooms, adults leave their place of work and they all run down to the beach to participate in the `Grind'," he explains.

"The whales are killed for sport and because it is a tradition. Every year more than twice as many whales are killed as are eaten. The surplus bodies are hauled out to sea as carrion for sharks and sea birds.

"Only people completely insulated from the present ecological reality could wade into that blood and gore with lust and laughter."

By patrolling the Faeroese waters, Paul and his sea shepherds have been able to locate pods of migrating whales and deflect them from the shore.

It has not made him popular with the islanders, but Paul is not swayed by their argument of `tradition'. They may have slain whales for thousands of years and vow to continue to slay them for thousands more, but they will have to get past Paul and his crew first.

His most recent campaign sees him return to a familiar issue - seals. More than 350,000 will die each year for the next three years because of a threat (unsubstantiated, says Paul) they pose to Canadian cod fishing.

"I have opposed the cruel, wasteful, and despicably obscene seal hunt all of my life," he says. "And I will continue to oppose it for the remaining years of my life. No sane, sensitive, concerned person can wilfully ignore the largest slaughter of any wild mammal species on this planet."

His wife, Allison, who is also an activist, is able to join him frequently.

Faced with so many challenges, there are many who say what Paul and his organisation do is futile. He is often condemned for taking the law into his own hands, or thought of as foolish for taking on the corporate barons. There are those who want to see him imprisoned, even dead.

But as Paul explains, he is "a warrior", policing the oceans and enforcing its laws because no one else is doing so. It is the way of a warrior to fight against superior odds - even when victory is no more than a dream.

He is helped by an increasing number of followers too, who vow to continue his work. His 22-year-old daughter, Lilliolani, who is studying environmental science at university, is likely to be among them.

"I know that the rate of extinction on this Earth increases daily," he says. "This knowledge makes me angry. As a warrior I cherish my anger because it is anger that gives me courage and strengthens my resolve."

* For more information about the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society visit www. seashepherd.org

* Ocean Warrior by Paul Watson is published by Vision at pounds 11.99.