Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson and his high-speed intercepter ship the MV Brigitte Bardot arrived in New York City for the the TriBeCa Film Festival premier of WATSON.
The Brigitte Bardot (formerly Gojira) is currently docked at North Cove Marina and while in town, her crew members educate the public on their mission to protect marine life and preserve the ocean for future generations.
The boat has a very distinct look: Some call her a trimaran, others a stabilized monohull. You may recognize her from Animal Planet’s show ‘Whale Wars’ where she replaced the Ady Gil after it was sunk by a Japanese whaling ship.
Built in England in 1998, she was designed to circumnavigate the globe in less than 80 days — and she did it in 74. Sea Shepherd acquired her in 2010 and deploys her as an intercepter vessel to search for illegal fishing operations. Re-powered with twin 500HP Cummins diesel engine, her range is around 2,000 nautical miles and the cruising speed is 14 knots.
Capt. Mark invited us aboard for a tour of his ship.
The documentary details Watson's four-decade crusade to stop illegal fishing around the world. It's directed by Lesley Chilcott, who produced An Inconvenient Truth.
Brigitte Bardot's New York City visit is just a stopover between two missions: fighting illegal shark fishing around the Galapagos Islands as part of Operation Mamacocha, and combatting illegal whaling in Iceland.
