87 Facts About Pete Bethune

Captain Peter James Bethune was born on 4 April 1965 and is a New Zealand ship's captain with 500 ton master licence, published author, producer of The Operatives TV show, and public speaker.

Pete Bethune works assisting countries in Asia, Central America and Africa with fisheries enforcement and anti-poaching.

Pete Bethune is the holder of the world record for circumnavigating the globe in his powerboat Earthrace, a wavepiercing trimaran powered with biofuels.

Earthrace was renamed the Ady Gil in 2009 and Bethune sailed it in Antarctica for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to disrupt Japanese whaling activities.

Pete Bethune subsequently boarded the Shonan Maru 2, presented the captain with an invoice for the Ady Gil and attempted to arrest him.

Pete Bethune was detained, taken back to Japan and charged with a number of offences related to his trespassing and assault.

In 2012, Pete Bethune started Earthrace Conservation, which works on conservation and environmental campaigns.

On 22 November 2017, Pete Bethune was attacked by two men in the Brazilian city of Santander.

Pete Bethune said a man with a knife initially lunged at him, and there ensued a scuffle, with Bethune struggling to hold onto the man's knife arm.

Pete Bethune continued to struggle, and the assailants eventually ran off.

Pete Bethune returned to New Zealand, and a few days later gave a TEDx talk where he recounted the horrifying ordeal.

In January 2021, while on patrol in Piedras Blancas National Park in Costa Rica, Pete Bethune was bitten by a deadly Fer-de-lance snake.

Pete Bethune was taken to Golfito Hospital and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.

Pete Bethune was released from hospital 2 weeks later, but with some ongoing health issues related to the snake bite and subsequent treatment.

Pete Bethune's team fired a series of warning shots into the water from an assault rifle, and the pirates abandoned their assault and left.

Pete Bethune grew up in Hamilton West, New Zealand as one of five children.

Pete Bethune completed a Master of Business Administration at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Bachelor of Science at the University of Waikato, and a Bachelor of Engineering at the University of Auckland.

Pete Bethune has two daughters with his wife, Sharyn, his high school sweetheart, who divorced him in 2009.

Pete Bethune began his career as an oil exploration engineer for Schlumberger Wireline Services and worked in the North Sea and Libya.

Pete Bethune later moved to Sydney to establish a subsidiary there.

Pete Bethune's entry into conservation started when he wrote a 20,000-word paper titled "Alternative Fuels for Road Transport" while pursuing his Master of Business Administration degree from Macquarie University in 2004 He concluded that hydrogen as a fuel was a dead-end, but that biofuels such as biodiesel and ethanol could become mainstream in use.

Pete Bethune predicted the battery electric vehicle could eventually replace the combustion engine in terms of road transport.

For leisure, Pete Bethune enjoys camping, scuba, freediving, kayaking, and CrossFit.

Pete Bethune had Earthrace designed by LOMOcean Design and built in order to break the world record for a circumnavigation of the globe by a powerboat in hopes that it would call attention to the viability of biodiesel as an alternative fuel.

Pete Bethune mortgaged his New Zealand home and financed the building in the hopes of recouping the expenses from sponsorship.

Pete Bethune encountered significant delays due to issues with the propellers and other mechanical problems.

Pete Bethune said the "failure was a result of the constant pounding in crossing the Indian Ocean".

Pete Bethune returned to New Zealand to recover from what he said was "a brutal ordeal".

Earthrace was put back into the water with what Pete Bethune described as "the ugliest composite repair" he'd ever seen.

Pete Bethune later confessed the reason they missed the record on the first attempt was his leadership was poor.

Pete Bethune said the real difference in the second successful attempt was he did a better job in making decisions and running the team.

Pete Bethune claimed his team had been outstanding in Singapore.

When Earthrace was first launched in 2006, Pete Bethune took her on a promotional tour around New Zealand.

Pete Bethune used the tour to promote awareness of alternative fuels such as biodiesel.

Pete Bethune converted this into 7 litres of biodiesel in his kitchen at home.

Pete Bethune ran the fuel in his vessel, claiming the 7 litres of fuel ran the boat for an estimated 8 nautical miles.

Pete Bethune was put in charge of the refit and was to captain the vessel in its anti-whaling activities.

On 15 February 2010 in the middle of the night, Pete Bethune attempted to board the Shonan Maru 2 from a jet ski.

On his second attempt, Pete Bethune managed to climb between the anti-boarding spikes and onto the side of the hull, where he then cut through the protective netting and clambered aboard.

Pete Bethune was not successful in arresting Komiya, nor did he receive any compensation.

Pete Bethune was successful however in getting taken to Japan to face charges, which he hoped would increase public awareness of Japanese whaling.

Pete Bethune could have faced up to 15 years in prison if found guilty of injury, or up to three years if found guilty of trespass.

Pete Bethune's lawyer claimed the charges were unfounded and stated that his client would strongly deny them.

Pete Bethune was held without bond in the maximum security Tokyo Detention Center while he stood trial.

Several major news media reported that Pete Bethune pleaded guilty to four charges while others reported that he admitted four charges or that he conceded four of the charges but has contested an assault charge.

The group stressed that the weapon was not intended to be used against any person, and Pete Bethune previously had stated to Animal Planet cameras during Whale Wars filming that he intended to use the bow and arrows to spoil whale meat for commercial use.

Captain Pete Bethune later said he felt betrayed by Sea Shepherd abandoning him.

Pete Bethune claimed Watson had agreed to the bow and arrow being taken aboard.

Pete Bethune held a press conference upon returning to New Zealand.

Pete Bethune disassociated himself from Sea Shepherd by posting an open letter on his Facebook page on 4 October 2010, condemning the organisation and its leader Paul Watson as "dishonest" and "morally bankrupt".

Pete Bethune insists that the senior members of Sea Shepherd regularly lie and conspire over serious matters, detailing many cases in his letter.

Pete Bethune founded his own conservation organisation in 2011, Earthrace Conservation.

Pete Bethune has a Television Show "The Operatives" that follows his team's work.

In 2013, Pete Bethune was running fisheries patrols in the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica.

Pete Bethune's team had been flying a Skylark military drone at night over the surrounding waters when they detected a vessel the Amelita, allegedly fishing inside a Marine protected areas.

Pete Bethune launched his patrol boat from shore and approached the Amelita.

Pete Bethune boarded the vessel, filmed the catch, and interviewed the Captain, who claimed to be the President of the Commercial Fisherman's Association in Puntarenas.

Pete Bethune handed the evidence over to a local NGO and Costa Rican authorities who prosecuted the captain.

Pete Bethune travelled back to Costs Rica in 2015 to provide additional evidence in the court case.

Pete Bethune later claimed "5 broken men arrived on Cocos Island".

Several days later on night patrols near the island, Pete Bethune was able to film seven boats allegedly involved in shark finning activities inside the Cocos Island Marine protected area.

In 2017, Pete Bethune was in the Philippines training local fisheries enforcement teams consisting of personnel from Navy special forces, Ministry of Fisheries and local police.

In 2011 Pete Bethune formed a team of military veterans and specialist civilians to catch and prosecute environmental criminals.

Pete Bethune filmed the clubbing of around 500 baby seals.

In 2015, Pete Bethune presented a 200,000 strong petition to Jake Jacobs, Secretary of the Namibian National Assembly, asking the government to abandon the seal clubbing industry.

In 2013, Pete Bethune assembled his team in Costa Rica and they ran several missions targeting illegal gold mining in the Corcovado National Park, training and working alongside the government MINAE forces.

On 22 November 2017, Pete Bethune was attacked by two men wielding knives in the Brazilian town of Santander.

Pete Bethune went back to his hotel in Macapa where he covered the chest wound with bandages.

Pete Bethune then travelled to Macapa Hospital where he was treated in the emergency ward.

Pete Bethune's wound was stitched up by Doctor Aldiene Pena, and he was released the same day.

Pete Bethune had been in the area following the illegal pet trade.

Pete Bethune's team had started its investigation some three months earlier in the Peruvian town of Iquitos in the upper reaches of the Amazon basin.

Pete Bethune says they stumbled into a wildlife smuggling operation, and over the subsequent months, followed the trail all the way to Macapa in Brazil.

Pete Bethune believes that as airports have improved security, boats have become increasingly used in the transport of illicit goods, including protected wildlife, out of the Amazon.

In 2019, Pete Bethune travelled back to Macapa with the Garden of Evil film crew where he retraced his steps.

Pete Bethune visited Doctor Pena, who had treated him in Macapa Hospital.

On 26 December 2020, Pete Bethune was bitten by a deadly Fer-de-Lance snake while on patrol in Piedras Blancas National Park in Costa Rica.

Pete Bethune had seen a number of these snakes previously while on jungle patrols in Costa Rica, and was well aware of the risks they posed.

Pete Bethune claimed that when the bite happened, he thought he was a dead man.

Pete Bethune has no recollection of the coastguard voyage to Golfito.

Pete Bethune arrived at Golfito Hospital some three hours after the initial bite, and was immediately admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, where he was treated with a combination of anti-venom, antibiotics and morphine.

Pete Bethune's leg became enormously swollen from the venom, and doctors worried he would lose the leg.

Pete Bethune was released from hospital on 9 January 2021, having spent two weeks in hospital.

Pete Bethune remains with a dead patch in his calf where he has no feeling.

Pete Bethune says he fired a series of warning shots from an assault rifle into the water, and the pirates he could see clambered back down into their boats.

Pete Bethune, who was initially asleep at the time of the attack, said that the pirate boats drifted astern, before eventually starting their engines again and motoring off towards the main port.

Pete Bethune has spoken at various events and conferences on topics such as conservation, leadership, motivation and maritime security.