'Whale Wars' Capt. Paul Watson's vegan vessel -- with recipes!

Here's a tasty tidbit for fans of activist/conservationist Capt. Paul Watson and his acclaimed Animal Planet series "Whale Wars."

The exciting new season (airs at 9 p.m. Fridays) just started last week.

But we found out from Paul that everyone on board the Sea Shepherd, eats vegan. No fish. Ever.

According to Watson, the biggest consumers of fish today are livestock, like pigs, and pet cats.

But I'll let the expert explain all this.

DR: Tell me what you and the crew of the Sea Shepherd eat?

PW: I run my ship as a vegan vessel. It's not for animal rights reasons but to set an example and to try and get people to think about the connection between what they eat and what we're doing to the oceans, because it's quite simple, really. I personally feel that it's the most important cause on the planet; more important than anything else for the simple reason as this – if the oceans die then we all die.  And we've removed 90% of the fish from the oceans. Marine ecosystems are in serious situation and it could collapse. Two weeks ago the world's experts on coral reefs met at an international conference. The conclusion of that conference is that coral reef ecosystems will be gone, worldwide, in 20 years, and it's irreversible. Nothing can be done now to stop that. That's the first major collapse of a large ecosystem on the planet and that's the first of many. This is something people have got to be very concerned and involved with because if too many ecosystems collapse, the whole structure comes down. That is going to bode very ill for all of us."

DR: Who cooks?

PW: "I've got a great vegan cook, Laura Dakin.  She's worked part-time for Anthony Kiedis of the Chili Peppers, then she comes and works with us. She's been with us for three years. We don't force people. We just set an example, and say, "Try this while you're on board, see what you think." People think we're some wacky animal-rights group. We're not. We're a conservation organization but what we're saying is, look, we've got to be very aware of what we eat if you're going to call yourself an environmentalist or a conservationist.

"There's simply not enough fish in the ocean to continue to be able to feed the ever-growing population of humans. The other thing is, a third of the fish taken out of the ocean isn't eaten by people, it's fed to livestock.The pig has become one of the largest aquatic predators on the planet.

"Puffins in the North Atlantic are starving to death so we can feed sand eels to factory-farmed chickens in Denmark. The other mind-boggling thing is that domestic house cats are now eating more tuna than all the world's seals put together. About 70 million tons of tuna goes into cats everyday. In fact, in a natural world, if a cat ever came face to face with one of those fish, the fish would eat the cat.

Here are some recipes for tasty dishes regularly eaten by the Sea Shepherd crew."

Laura Dakin's favorite recipes for the Sea Shepherd crew.

Warning: All recipes make crew-sized quantities.

Fluffy Vegan Pancakes

This is the favorite Sea Shepherd breakfast for sure!

10 cups of plain flour (or buckwheat flour for gluten-free pancakes is also yummy)

5 teaspoons sea salt

5½ tablespoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

16 tablespoons sugar

4 teaspoons vanilla

10 cups soy milk (or half soy, milk half water works well)

16 tablespoons vegetable oil

Mix together dry ingredients, sifting to avoid lumps.

Beat together wet ingredients, and then add to the dry and mix well until smooth.

For each pancake I put a little vegetable oil in a pan and then pour in desired amount of batter. When pancake is bubbling and almost cooked through, flip it and fry for about 30 seconds on the other side.

You can add 6 mashed bananas for banana pancakes or 2 cups of dark chocolate chips (they are usually vegan but be careful because some brands include milk products), or both, or anything else yummy you can think of.

This makes enough pancakes for a crew of 50! Any leftover goes well in the fridge for a few days.

Chocolate Banana Cake

We always have a ton of bananas (especially when we do a campaign in the Galapagos Islands). This is a delicious very moist cake -- almost like one big brownie! These cakes freeze well and I pull them out in a hurry on action days as a little pick-me-up for the crew.

6¼ cups plain flour

5 tablespoons baking powder

1¼ cups cocoa

5 cup sugar

3 teaspoons vanilla

5 cups oil

6¼ cup water

6 bananas

Pinch of salt

Sift the dry ingredients together into a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, mash the banana and then add the rest of the wet ingredients. Beat well, then add to the dry mix.

Bake at 180 degrees for approximately 45 minutes or until knife comes out clean (or cleanish, because it's a gooey cake).

Sea Shepherd Chili

Nice thick chili fills your belly and warms your core after a day on deck in freezing Antarctica. This also freezes well.

6 onions, diced

10 medium carrots

3 red bell peppers

2 yellow bell peppers

6 tablespoons olive oil

Place vegetables in a baking pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for 1 hour or so on about 150 degrees, stirring from time to time to get an even roast.

In a stock pot, add:

18 cups diced tomato (cooked)

3 cups tomato paste

12 cups chickpeas (cooked)

3 cans of corn

6-10 tablespoons of chili powder ( depending on how spicy you like it!)

3 tablespoons pepper

8 tablespoons curry powder

10 cups of vegetable stock

Add the roasted vegetables.

Simmer on medium-low heat for up to 1 hour, stirring from time to time

If it dries out, add a little vegetable stock. If it is too moist, cook for a little longer.

Add the very end, drop in a few large handfuls of chopped fresh parsley. Add a handful of chopped spring onion and 2 tablespoons of fresh oregano if you have it.

Photo: Animal Planet