Bryan Adams acts as a human shield to protect whale from poachers in the Caribbean

30 April 2019, 11:34 | Updated: 30 April 2019, 18:11

Singer Bryan Adams has spoken about how he used his own body as a human shield to protect a whale being hunted off the Caribbean island of Mystique.

Canadian songwriter Bryan Adams was at his home in Mustique last week when he spotted poachers on speed boats corralling a whale in the sea close to the shore.

Bryan says the hunt was taking place well within the 100-metre conservation area around the isle of Mustique.

Thinking quickly the 'I Do It For You' singer paddled out to confront the hunters he tells Searchlight.

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“I was witness to a whale boat and speed boats corralling a whale; several boats going around and hurting it. I saw it first-hand…and I got out on my paddle board, and I was in between the whale and the whaler.

“I was there on a peaceful mission, it was big sea, the moment may have been lost. But the whale was beside me for a moment and it was gone,” says Adams.

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Shortly after Bryan's intervention, a Mustique security boat arrived on the scene to tell the poachers they couldn't hunt within the 100-metre conservation zone.

Bryan has been an advocate animal welfare for years and personally set up a conservation organisation in 2016 to assist in wildlife protection in the Mustique area.

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As Chairman of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Environment Fund (SVGEF), Bryan Adams campaigns to reduce whale-hunting an promote eco-tourism.

Bryan, who is an official resident of the Grenadines, responded to claims that he should have no say in traditional fishing practices as a "foreigner"

“I have no will to judge anybody or what their tradition is. That is not my place. I have always lent my voice to international causes, environmentally,” says the singer.

“I am not interested in damaging the country. I want people to come to SVG and see how beautiful the environment here is.

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“It is so broad and beautiful and rare…" he says.

"Eco-tourism should be the focus of the future as it is a much more viable thing to be thinking of instead of whaling, because tourists would be horrified if they see that going on.”