E1. Alex Cornelissen - Sea Shepherd Global - Take The Leap

William Laitinen  00:08

There's always a moment when you hear the call to a life that will make a difference. Maybe you hear it for the first time, or maybe you've been hearing it all your life. But there is one thing that these invitations require, they require action. And when you answer your calling with action, you have the power to build a better world. And in a world that can sometimes feel broken, there is still so much good to be built. I'm William Laitinen. And this is Built for Good stories of real people who are changing the world. Episode One, Alex Cornelison Sea Shepherd global. Alex's life seems to hold too many adventures to be true. He has sailed to the Antarctic Ocean five times, chased Japanese whalers, freed dolphins in Taiji, Japan, and been arrested three times for his courageous environmental actions. So I wanted to know how it all started for him. How does one become the captain of a direct action ship, and the CEO of one of the most radically effective environmental organisations on the planet? 21 years ago, Alex had to make a decision. Did he stay with a life you knew or make a leap into the unknown?

Alex Cornelissen  01:38

I found out about this organisation that blew me away and I couldn't leave because I had a job. I had mortgage payments. Two years later at the opportunity to sell my apartment in Amsterdam. I quit my job and I joined for what was supposed to be a sabbatical.

William Laitinen  01:51

Alex's background was very normal. You had no experience in piloting great ships or sailing the oceans, or fighting for environmental rights, which made the decision he was about to make all that more exciting.

Alex Cornelissen  02:05

I worked as a scale operator and a graphic designer, so quite different than being on a ship.

William Laitinen  02:11

So the moment there have courage to sort of sell up and, and to go and do it, that must have been scary for you.

Alex Cornelissen  02:19

It was a leap into the unknown. It was my very first time flying to South America. I've never been to the Galapagos. I've never been on a ship crossing the Pacific Ocean. I merely asked him, What do you need? And they said, well, we need somebody to cook. I can cook and I started in the galley as the chief cook. Now being from the Netherlands, I don't know if you know much about Dutch cuisine. They quickly promoted me to the bridge, I don't think they were very fond of my cooking skills. So I became a bridge officer. And that's why I stayed basically, and worked my way up to become a captain.

William Laitinen  02:54

Alex joins the ship full of purpose, setting sail into the unknown. He flies to South America to join the organisation in the Galapagos, an isolated archipelago in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Ecuador, and the source of inspiration for Darwin's theory of evolution. It's a biodiversity hotbed like no other on the planet. And what Alex sees there will stay with him forever, the mystery of the ocean, and the wonder of the natural world on full display.

Alex Cornelissen  03:26

The very first night out, we had these beautiful bioluminescence in the water. And in the bioluminescence, we had two dolphins swimming, kind of like ghost shadows riding the bow of our ship. It's an amazing phenomenon in bioluminescence. You can see that on many, many places in the world, but I've never seen it in combination with dolphins swimming by waves, and only seen that twice. In the 20 years I've been with Sea Shepherd, and both times in the Galapagos Islands. So that was my very first night on board.

William Laitinen  03:56

But it wasn't just a display of beauty. That first night showed him the difference this type of work creating the world, and how determined individuals could truly create the change they wanted to see.

Alex Cornelissen  04:09

And then the very first day after that amazing night, we were called that we found an illegal long line in the Galapagos marine reserves. And quickly we found that a turtle was entangled and somebody needed to go into the water to free the turtle so next thing I knew I was in the water together with a crew member and, and we freed that turtle, and then we saw it swim off and subsequently we started pulling in the line and two more sharks were saved. That was the very first time that I was at sea on a conservation vessel and the first time that I did any action free to free animals. So that was my very first day on board.

William Laitinen  04:43

And so with every pull of the fishing line, Alex pulled a life to safety and unknowingly pulled himself to a life full of purpose and danger.

Alex Cornelissen  04:55

An idea just changed my life. And so after I came back after my sabbatical, I felt that, yeah, I just I'd had unfinished business with Sea Shepherd. So I returned, and then that sabbatical turned into a life changing experience.

William Laitinen  05:12

Yet, as Alex would quickly find out, things on a ship are not always idyllic. Yes, there are moments of beauty and moments of experiencing deep connections to the world that most of us spend our lives craving for. But the ocean is also powerful. And it can be unforgivingly violent.

Alex Cornelissen  05:30

Sometimes when the when you're chasing a whaling ship, you just have to go wherever they take you. And sometimes they took us right into the into the storms and we will be taking a beating. And we've had situations where where the inside the ship where for instance, fridges came lose from the deck, they will just be unbolted. Because of the course of the sea. All everything that wasn't latched down will be stopped flying around, and people will be flying sliding. But it's not a comfortable, ride. I mean, eating food is practically impossible. Even getting a cup of coffee, it's almost impossible. And so you're just trying to hold your footing and wait it out. And just hope that it's over quickly.

William Laitinen  06:11

The way that Alex retells it, you get a strong sense that despite these hardships, and despite the great personal risk, there was never a moment of wanting to go back, or regretting the decisions he made that placed him in this life. He recounts a particularly gnarly moment, where he was on the ship's bridge with his first meet at the time, Captain Peter Hammerstedt.

Alex Cornelissen  06:35

The seas were as bad as I can remember. And at some point, I turned to him and I

06:39

said, Do you think we're going to get out of this?

Alex Cornelissen  06:43

And his response was well, I

06:45

did up until you asked me that question.

William Laitinen  06:51

If you've heard of Sea Shepherd before listening to this podcast, is probably because of the work to stop Japanese whale hunters in the Southern Ocean. For seven years, their campaigns against the Japanese whaling fleet were documented and broadcast on animal planets show Whale Wars.

07:11

Yep, she got hit. She’s got her water canon going I can’t see it.

William Laitinen  07:23

But have you ever wondered what it takes to stop a Japanese whaling ship from harpooning and killing a creature that can span over 12 metres long? Well, Alex and his crew had a plan.

Alex Cornelissen  07:35

We basically had this really simple strategy that the way that the Japanese whaling industry worked, they would kill a whale with a harpoon vessel. And then the harpoon vessel will take that dead whale onto the factory ship, which has a large slipway on the stern on the back, and then they hand by cable, they pass on the whale that that whale onto the flancing deck, and then they cut them up to pieces. So our strategy was simply to keep our ship blocking the slipway of the factory ship, and then the harpoon vessels will no longer be able to offload their catch, and it worked. It worked brilliantly. And all those campaigns combined, their actual kill numbers were 6000 lower than then their target. So effectively, we saved the 6000 whales.

William Laitinen  08:19

Despite these incredible wins, Japanese whaling is still going on. Along with Iceland and Norway. It is one of three countries in the world that is still practising commercial whaling. Yet the work of Sea Shepherd and others have brought attention to an issue that was previously unnoticed and unpunished, making it harder for Japan and all others to murder and kill whales without repercussions. As Alex knows, fighting for the survival of our planet is a constant ongoing process, and one that demands commitment over time, pushing for systemic change while cherishing the small wins is important. Remembering that every life that can be saved is a life worth fighting for. And perhaps nothing represents that never ending aspect of environmental action. Better than what happens in Taiji Japan. A place that was brought to the world's attention by the 2009 documentary, The Cove.

09:38

There it is. A little town with a really big secret. They don't like me, they don't like my message.

09:47

Rick is world famous for his work with dolphins. I feel somewhat

09:51

responsible, because it was the flipper TV series that created this multibillion dollar industry

Alex Cornelissen  09:58

I went to Taiji just to document just to take, take video evidence, and that was the assignment. And not until I got there did I realise that we were going in to free to dolphins, they go out, there's the small vessels, steel boats with steel pipes, they create this wall of sound when they find the pod of dolphins and then drive the dolphins to shore and circling them with you know, with the sound that they make onboard those vessels. Then they drive them into a bay what is called a killing Bay. And there they let them basically sit for 24 hours because they say that they're their meat is not tasty when there's too much adrenaline from the stress of the hunts. So they want to wait a deal before they slaughtered.

William Laitinen  10:43

And while the slaughter of dolphins is what most people might associate with Tai Chi, the meat is actually just a byproduct of the true intention. But what they actually want is to find the young healthy dolphins that can be sold into training facilities to provide for the global entertainment industry of waterparks and swim with dolphins sites.

Alex Cornelissen  11:02

If you look, for instance, at a dolphin that is being sold for his meat, they can get about $1,000. But a dolphin that is fully trained, can bring up to two or $300,000. So as big business, so all those fishermen drive around in Mercedes cars, because they make a lot of money from these drive hunts. But it's a horrible place because the whole bay is just they select the healthy individuals that they can train that they think they can train. And then the rest of their family has been slaughtered for the meat. So it's just a horrible place. The ones that hadn't been killed yet, they're swimming in the blood of their family members.

William Laitinen  11:36

Jesus. At this moment, Allison is part of on the mission. And Alex would make a daring decision. They would not just document what was happening for the world to see, they would take action.

Alex Cornelissen  11:49

We went to a trailer where we were staying we put on our wetsuits with the clothing over it and just basically sat in the forest around the bay. And and while we were sitting there waiting, somebody came by and said, What are you doing here and so we thought our cover was blown. And and Alison, my my fellow activists, she said we are bird watching. And some reason they bought it and they just said, oh great for bird watching and they walked on. So we waited an hour, then we dove into the water and we just untied the lines.

William Laitinen  12:21

And so they swim out into the cove and start cutting the nets, opening up the bay for the dolphins to be free.

Alex Cornelissen  12:28

And then slowly the dolphin started escaping but not all of them escaped only 15. And then the fishermen came and closed the nets again and they they ran over Allison, for instance with their boats. And then as soon as we came out, we just surrendered to the police and we got arrested. My parents didn't even know I was in Japan because I didn't tell them that I was going because it all went very quickly. So when my parents got a call from the Dutch consul in Japan saying that your son has been arrested in Japan, their reaction was no that's not possible because he's in Seattle.

William Laitinen  13:18

Have you ever received a phone call from a loved one, and they needed your help? And then realise through that moment, you had no idea what was going on in their life?

Alex Cornelissen  13:27

They didn't even know I was in Japan, so and there was no possibility to communicate with them. So they were very, very worried of course, but

William Laitinen  13:36

wow, that was intense. What an introduction to your new career right? But a hell of a payoff in saving those 15 animals. That's incredible as well.

Alex Cornelissen  13:49

Yeah, it was worth it. But it's yeah, it was the first time I ever got arrested in my life. So I didn't really know what to expect.

William Laitinen  13:56

Stories like this highlight the true impact that a radical commitment can have not just on ourselves, but on the people around us, the people we love and hope to shelter from the inevitable fallout of our actions. Fighting for what's right can fill a life with a sense of purpose that is foreign to most, but it can have a heavy toll, one that can be impossible to shake off. Alex recalls the impact of working on campaigns against seal hunting in Eastern Canada has had on his emotional and psychological well being.

Alex Cornelissen  14:28

The seal hunt in Eastern Canada is the largest slaughter of marine mammals around the world. They used to kill about 300 350,000 seal pups every single year. Now they are baby harp seals they used to kill the white coats they before they could swim. So they were very very young. Now they're waiting a little longer in the killing don't think that like a one month or six week old six weeks old. So they go in they hit him over the head with a hakapik and then they skin their I take their skin off from the babies, the mothers are often standing by while they're skinning their child alive, which is it's a horrible, horrible.

William Laitinen  15:10

It's a horrible reality, one that does not disappear by burying our heads in the sand, or pretending that it's not really happening, despite sometimes wanting to, in a way, this is the sacrifice that people like Alex make, they bear the brunt of facing the reality on a daily basis so that we can look the other way.

Alex Cornelissen  15:31

As the only campaign I still have nightmares of, you know, seeing how much blood is on the ice, seeing the mothers weeping at their skin babies seeing the baby carcasses laying everywhere on the ice.

William Laitinen  16:23

Alex's life with Sea Shepherd global has been a storybook of intervention, learning his craft and taking the battle to some of the most dangerous and beautiful places on our planet. But with every fight comes a moment of change and evolution, and a demand for adaptation. Taiji showed Alex the importance of being able to shift strategies to respond to the circumstances. And he seems to have taken this lesson with him, as he has made his way up the ranks of Sea Shepherd. As Alex has risen from reluctant chef to global CEO, he is now responsible for not just keeping the crew happy and well fed, but for adapting their strategies to meet the shifting needs and threats to our world's oceans.

Alex Cornelissen  17:05

Yeah, I think that we've always changed our strategies over the years, you know, we always have to adapt to change in circumstances. So what we're doing right now actually came from from Japan and actually when when we went down to the Antarctic to to stand off against the Japanese whalers when they were called before the International Court of Justice in the Hague. We expected them to go down south again. So we had our ships ready import fueled up crewed ready to go when we realised that they wouldn't go down south had year.

William Laitinen  17:36

Despite having an entire crew ready to set sail for the Southern Ocean, and another season of battling against Japanese whale hunters. Everything changed, and they had to change their strategy. They had to change course. They decided to go after the Patagonian toothfish poachers. The Patagonian toothfish is also known as the Chilean sea bass is a large fish that can reach lengths of up to two metres and weigh in over 100 kilos. It's a species that is slow to mature and reproduce, taking eight to 10 years to reach reproductive age, meaning that they are extremely vulnerable to overfishing and population collapse. The fishing and selling of Chilean sea bass is actually illegal fishing operations will often catch young individuals illegally. It's organised crime, plain and simple. With industrial scale ships, plundering the oceans for years, evading regulation, and bribing officials.

Alex Cornelissen  18:34

They were evading justice, they were changing their flag, they were changing their colours every time they come into port, it was a different vessel. So they were managing to get away from law enforcement for decades. And in the process, they gained 10s of millions of dollars in illegal catch.

William Laitinen  18:51

Their mission was to follow it as long as it took to document that position and name and evidence any changes they might use to avoid justice. And Sea Shepherd found one of these ships, but little did they know that this ship would be one of the world's most notorious poaching vessels, and turn into the world's longest maritime pursuit

Alex Cornelissen  19:12

that resulted in the longest maritime Chase where our vessel the Bob Barker chase the vessel called the thunder for 110 days, the thunder

William Laitinen  19:20

was desperate, they followed risky and unexpected routes to try and shake off the Bob Barker Sea Shepherd ship. They went right into storms and then drifted for over 40 days trying to shake off Alex and his crew. But after three months,

Alex Cornelissen  19:35

and and it just couldn't wait is out. And in the end. I think that the captain and the owner got so desperate that they decided to sink their own ship to destroy the evidence. But while the ship was sinking, our crew went on board and we secured evidence we secured laptops, computers, charts, even even a tooth fish we took out of the hole while the ship is sinking.

William Laitinen  19:53

Sea Shepherd handed the evidence that they had daringly salvage from the sinking ship to law enforcement in Iberia. The country on the West African coast. The thunder was eventually prosecuted not for illegal fishing.

Alex Cornelissen  20:07

But for environmental damages for sinking the ship and deliberately because we showed that the ship was sunk deliberately, all the hatches were latched open, they just prepped ship to be sunk.

William Laitinen  20:17

The successful pursuit and prosecution against the thunder placed Sea Shepherd on the map for many African countries that have been struggling to deal with poachers in their waters.

Alex Cornelissen  20:27

And some of those vessels were involved in the most extreme forms of fishing as one vessel like to highlight the Libeco two. This was a vessel that was called in Liberia four years ago, Spanish owned vessel that had a licence to fish for tuna. But upon inspection, it turns out that they weren't fishing for tuna, but for sharks, and that they had a hidden shark liver oil factory onboard the vessel. And based on the number of shark liver oil, they would offload every fishing trip, we were able to calculate that they were killing half a million sharks every single year. So that one vessel in port now for four years has saved 2 million sharks.

William Laitinen  21:05

The success of these campaigns have led to new lines of work for Sea Shepherd global, where they began collaborating with governments and authorities creating unexpected partnerships to great results.

Alex Cornelissen  21:17

We've been doing that now for a little over six years. And in those six years, we together with our government partners, we were successful in arresting 83 fishing vessels,

William Laitinen  21:28

environmental activism, and the economic survival of impoverished communities all around the world can sometimes seem to be at odds. Environmentalists can often be portrayed as being out of touch with these vulnerable communities. But is it really so working with Sea Shepherd global for so many years, Alex understood very clearly, that the protection of the environment, and the well being of the most vulnerable communities are one and the same thing.

Alex Cornelissen  21:55

For instance, in Liberia, local fishermen, they have what's called an artisanal exclusion zone. It's like four miles off the coast, only artisanal fishermen can fish. And they go out in a dugout canoe, they have a small fishing net, and they catch to feed their village or their family. That's it, you know, they catch maybe 20 fish on a fishing trip.

William Laitinen  22:13

These zones exclude industrial fishing from happening in the areas that are key for the survival of local communities that have relied on the oceans for their livelihood for centuries, if not millennia.

Alex Cornelissen  22:25

Before we came to Liberia, all the commercial vessels were fishing inside the exclusion zone, and they were running over the nets, destroying their livelihoods. Sometimes they would hose down the fisherman with boiling water with hot water burning them. And sometimes they would simply run over their canoes. Now, since we've been there, that illegal activity has stopped, they are no longer fishing in the exclusion zone. And the fishermen are saying that for the first time, they're catching fish again. And they're able to feed their family and their community. So it's not just stopping illegal fishing, but also to provide social justice to some of the poorest communities in the world.

William Laitinen  23:00

Talking with Alex, I realised that sometimes we begin a process with a clear goal in our mind. We envisage where we hope to be in the future, with our ambition and success as a driving force behind our actions. But in the case of Alex, I noticed a different approach, one of being in service to what a cause needs of us. And what we personally achieve is secondary to the achievements of the cause itself.

Alex Cornelissen  23:25

Yeah, let me just first start by saying that I never chose to be the CEO. I mean, I was I'm an activist. So I almost actually quite happy to be on the ships or to be running the operation in the Galapagos, but which I did for seven years. And just hands on work.

William Laitinen  23:41

gaining experience on board met, Alex could be increasingly useful to the organisation and the cause of Sea Shepherd, eventually shifting his role from hands on activist to strategist.

Alex Cornelissen  23:51

I guess the longer you work with Sea Shepherd, the more you know about all the aspects of the work, and the more you become valuable for the organisation, like a lot of people that now have positions in the organisation like the campaign director, or the person in charge of ship operations, they're all people that started on the ships. But I don't think for any of us this was ever a planned career move. We never said like, oh, I want to become the CEO. It's more like it just happened. And

William Laitinen  24:16

Alex's current position is very different from his early start and Sea Shepherd global. As CEO, he is now the face of the organisation, working on media, strategy and fundraising. Yet you can hear how Alex continues to draw energy from the experiences he had as an activist more than two decades ago,

Alex Cornelissen  24:35

because that's what I really miss and you know, being on the ships being there is that's that's why we all join this organisation and being in the field and you know, for me being back on that ship the first day when I went free to turtle from longline, and whenever I see one of our crew members, free an animal I can see the look in their eyes is exactly the feeling I had that first day. And that's, I guess that keeps me going Seeing that, okay, they haven't the same experience that I did,

William Laitinen  25:03

experiences that have given Alex the types of reward that many of us spend our whole lives hoping for the type of love and wonder for the world. Most of us never get to experience.

Alex Cornelissen  25:14

My two most favourite places in the world are the Galapagos and the Antarctic. I mean, those are just two of the last wild places on Earth. The beauty of the Antartic is once you see the iceberg swatch, you see the penguins and the whales and dolphins and the seals and the leopard seals. It's just unbelievable. There's such beauty that you that you encounter down there. I tried to go back to Galapagos whenever I can. It's my second home. It's It's the place that I care deeply about. I have strong roots there. It's just an amazing place. It really is. I mean, it's one of the few places on Earth where the animals are not afraid of people. They're just really curious. And they come really close, which is an amazing experience. And it really is, and it's such a beautiful place really is

William Laitinen  25:57

listening to Alex speak, I find myself wanting for the same experiences, to take the same leap that Alex took and immerse myself into a cause that means so much. I asked Alex, if what he did 21 years ago, in boarding that ship halfway around the world with no previous sailing experience, and then going on to save marine life all over the world would be possible for someone like me, or like you, who might be listening and wondering the very same thing.

Alex Cornelissen  26:26

If you want to go out on the ships, there's there's a lot of campaigns we do. And then there is positions on board. Of course, it's not just the captain or the cook. But we have different departments, you have the bridge, which are the bridge officers, including the captain, you have the engine room where the engineers are,

William Laitinen  26:41

Alex explains There are countless ways to get involved. They often take on unskilled, dedicated activists willing to learn and do the hard work. But there is always a need for skilled colleagues, such as bridge officers, mechanical engineers, video media, and legal experts.

Alex Cornelissen  26:58

People always think that the captain is the most important, but it's not. It's the cook. Because if the Captain has a bad day, nobody really cares. Just stay away from him. But if the Cook has a bad day, everybody's grumpy.

William Laitinen  27:09

And if you're listening to this, and wondering whether or not you should take the leap, and telling yourself to perhaps you're too young, or you're too old, and you don't have the experience, Alex is actually quick to dispel that notion. There are people of all ages, from all walks of life on board.

Alex Cornelissen  27:25

Well, if you tell somebody who has been on a cargo ship all their lives once you come work for Sea Shepherd, but hey, keep in mind that we pay you half what you get in the commercial world. And you can’t drink alcohol on board and there's no smoking. And by the way, the food is vegan. It's not that many people you can choose from.

William Laitinen  27:44

Yeah, but as we have talked about before there is coffee, right? There is coffee available on coffee,

27:49

we have the best coffee. Yes.

William Laitinen  27:54

It's worth noting that Sea Shepherd asks for three months commitment from all of the activists on sea mission, because as Alex explains, it takes time and money to do the training. Then some, like Alex himself decided to stay for life growing within the ranks of the Sea Shepherd organization.

Alex Cornelissen  28:10

For some, it's a career move. Not one that is going to make you rich, but at least not financially. But you know, you are going to be rich, but a lot of experiences. And I think that's, for me, you know, being on the ship. I think the most rewarding is to be on a ship with like-minded people who are all there for the same reasons, and to learn about everybody's form of activism, because a lot of them are activists, they do other stuff back home and just share stories in this. You learn a lot from each other, not just about being on the Sea Shepherd share, but also about you know what's going on in the world and how they're doing their best to make their little piece of the world better. That's it's a really a learning school for a lot of people.

William Laitinen  28:52

Meeting Alex and hearing his call to a life of saving animals all over our ocean is simply inspiring. I admire his courage, his commitment, and his willingness to take the first step. Alex is proof that we must have courage to be the change in the world that we want to see. And with that courage, we can build a life for good.

Alex Cornelissen  29:14

That first moment that first day. Being able to free wildlife with your own hands. That was just unbelievable feeling and made me realise like wow, you can actually make a difference. You know, we all can make a difference. You just need to be given the opportunity to do so. If you don't take the first step, then nothing's gonna happen. Don't expect people to come and just hand it to you. You really got to take the leap, take the leap, take the leap, take the leap, take the leap.

William Laitinen  29:47

Alex Cornelissen is a distinguished activist, dedicating his life to being a voice for those who often go unheard. Therefore, this show is a tribute to him, and the entire Sea Shepherd global team To learn more about the transformative work of Sea Shepherd global, you can visit SeaShepherdglobal.org That's seashepherdglobal.org I'm incredibly grateful to the entire team behind Built for Good. A special thanks to Fiona, Charlotte, Jimena and Aaron, the production of Built for Good is made possible by the individuals we've been fortunate to assist in their career journey, placing them in some of the world's most remarkable organisations. It's been through the backing of our clients and the professionals that we've placed that we've been able to bring this show to life. So a big thank you to all of the clients of Exige to discover more about Exige our mission, visit exigeinternational.com. Be Well my friends, and remember, you too, can build a life for good.