Fatal Watch: Film Screening & Discussion
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McCone Irvine AuditoriumMcCone Building
499 Pierce St
Monterey, CA 93940 View in Campus Map
Free
Open to the Public
Dead men tell the ocean’s secrets.
Fatal Watch: Film Screening and Discussion
Speakers: Mark Benjamin, Filmmaker and Captain Paul Watson, Founder of Sea Shepherd (via Zoom)
Thursday, October 30, 2025
6:00pm to 8:00pm
In-Person Event (not recorded or live-streamed)
McCone Building, Irvine Auditorium
499 Pierce Street, Monterey, CA 93940
REGISTRATION WILL BE REQUESTED—LINK COMING SOON
About the Film
Four marine observers vanish at sea under suspicious circumstances, this gripping investigation uncovers why. Travelling from Fiji to Ghana, Spain to the US, this powerful film reveals the dark underbelly of the global tuna trade, where profit outweighs human life and environmental destruction is buried beneath the waves. Through exclusive footage and unprecedented access, a team of international investigators exposes the rampant criminality, cover-ups, and violence tied to industrial overfishing. As the ocean’s silent guardians’ risk everything to document the truth, their stories demand action. This is a high-stakes exposé on the hidden cost of the seafood on our plates.
Film Trailer: FATAL WATCH
About the Speakers (joining via Zoom)
Mark Benjamin – Director / Executive Producer
Director/cameraman Mark Benjamin has created numerous independent films, eight Bill Moyers documentaries, six National Geographic films and ten films for HBO, ABC, CBS, NBC, TBS, and the Discovery Channel. Benjamin has won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, the Cannes Film Festival Camera D’Or and served as Executive Producer and Director of Brick City, a Peabody award winning and twice Emmy nominated documentary series on Sundance Channel.
Benjamin’s credits include directing and shooting the Robert Downey Jr. feature documentary “The Last Party”. Recent films shot by Benjamin include CIA: “Americaʼs Secret Warriors” on Discovery Channel, awarded a duPont Columbia Award, HBOʼs “Prisoners of the War on Drugs”, “HBOʼs Gang War-Banging in Little Rock”, awarded the ACE award for best documentary, HBOʼs “Texas Death Machine”, HBOʼs “Thug Life in DC”, a National Emmy best documentary film, “Soldiers in the Army of God” and many more. Benjamin’s camera also operated the cult classic “Mondo New York” and won the International Emmy for best documentary series “A Time of Aids” broadcast on the Discovery Channel, produced by Katie Carpenter.
Benjamin created the “Ocean Warriors” Discovery series with Robert Redford’s Sundance Productions and Vulcan Productions that won the Jackson Wild Best Series award. “Chasing the Thunder”, the epic eco thriller has screened globally at over 30 Film Festivals and is streaming internationally.
Captain Paul Watson, Founder of Sea Shepherd
Captain Paul Watson is a marine wildlife conservation and environmental activist. Watson was one of the founding members and directors of Greenpeace. In 1977, he left Greenpeace and founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society which he resigned in 2022 to cofound the Captain Paul Watson Foundation.
A renowned speaker, accomplished author, master mariner, and lifelong environmentalist, Captain Watson has been awarded many honors for his dedication to the oceans and to the planet.
Among many commendations for his work, he received the Genesis Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1998, was named as one of the Top 20 Environmental Heroes of the 20th Century by Time Magazine in 2000 and was inducted into the U.S. Animal Rights Hall of Fame in Washington D.C. in 2002.
He was also awarded the Amazon Peace Prize by the president of Ecuador in 2007. In 2012, Captain Watson became only the second person, after Captain Jacques Cousteau, to be awarded the Jules Verne Award, dedicated to environmentalists and adventurers. In 2022, Captain Paul Watson continues his fight for marine wildlife conservation with the new Captain Paul Watson Foundation.
Watson’s first child and only daughter is ‘Lilliolani’ born in 1980 to Mother Starlet Melody Lum. Paul married Yana Rusinovich on Valentine’s Day 2015 in Paris and is living in Paris (FRANCE) with their two young sons ‘Tiger’ and ‘Murtagh’.
In September, 2024, The Perfect World Foundation announced that Captain Paul Watson was to receive The Perfect World Foundation’s Honorary Conservation Award for 2025. Captain Paul Watson will also be named The Conservationist of the Year 2025 by The Perfect World Foundation, highlighting his extraordinary contributions to the global conservation movement.
Event Itinerary
5:30pm: Doors open
6:00pm: Film Screening
7:30pm: Discussion
8:00pm: Event ends
Event Location: McCone Irvine Auditorium
The McCone Building is located at 499 Pierce Street, Monterey, CA, 93940, on the campus of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Attendees should enter through the glass doors from Pierce Street, and the Irvine Auditorium is located inside to the left. View the campus map.
Registration
This is a free event, open to the public. Registration is requested (link will be added), but walk insare welcome. This is an in-person only event, no live-stream will be available, and the event will not be recorded.
Parking
Parking is available in any Middlebury Institute campus lot after 5 p.m., no parking permit required, no fee. View the campus map. Free parking is also available on the street (time limits on surrounding streets end at 6 p.m.).
Questions
Contact Rachel Christopherson at the Center for the Blue Economy at cbe@miis.edu or (831) 647-4183.
Gratitude to Our Sponsors & Community Partners
We thank KAZU radio, 90.3 KAZU-NPR for the Monterey Bay Area—a community service of the California State University, Monterey Bay and the Nancy Eccles and Homer M. Hayward Family Foundation our sponsors. We also thank our community partners who helped us spread the word: the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Monterey Bay chapter of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby.
About the Host
The Center for the Blue Economy is a research center at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, that provides economic and policy analysis to support the development of a robust and equitable blue economy for the 21st century. The Center uses the World Bank’s definition of the Blue Economy: the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs, and ocean ecosystem health. We must maintain ocean health to maintain human health, economic health, and the health of the planet. Climate change is linked, inextricably, to a healthy ocean. Consider joining our movement for Ocean Climate Action Now. Consider joining our Center for the Blue Economy Newsletter List (3-4x per year by email).