The 28-year-old is just back from spending a total of three months on the MY Steve Irwin, fighting Japanese whalers.

And he is already preparing for his next trip.

The boat-builder by profession, who now lives in Fremantle, Western Australia, said he wanted to look after the environment and “save what was left”.

“I just look at the way the world is going and what we have left,” Mr Collinson said.

“What we are taking from it is unsustainable. I enjoy looking after the environment and I enjoy looking after what we have left.”

Established in 1977, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organisation. Its mission is to end the destruction of habitat and the slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans and to conserve and protect ecosystems and species.

But its “direct-action tactics” have come in for criticism by some and have been dubbed illegal and dangerous.

“The main action we did was throwing bottles of butyric acid, also known as rotten butter,” Mr Collinson said.

“If the acid gets on their walkway then everything would be slippery and smelly.

“We also throw bottles of paint.”

Mr Collinson said everyone had a right to their opinion but he believed Japan’s whaling activity was wrong.

“Everybody can read one book and come up with a different idea,” he said.

“I believe what is going on is wrong.”

An experienced sailor who sailed as a teenager, Mr Collinson said he experienced dangerous seas while on the mission.

“Some people would say, ‘yes, we are putting our lives in danger’ and others will say no,” he said.

“But I didn’t feel my life was in danger.”

However, he said, there were times when the activists had to wait out the rough seas before they could go out in their rigid-hulled inflatable boats, commonly known as Zodiacs.

“I was hoping to be part of more action, but action is a very small part of the campaign,” he said.

“If the sea is too big we can’t go outside because the ocean is too dangerous for us.”

However, Mr Collinson said more young people should get involved in the campaign.

“Everyone has good days and bad days when you are on a boat for two months with that amount of people,” he said.

“But you always have to keep in the back of your mind there is one reason why you are here and that’s to save the whales.”