Sea Shepherd Eludes Angry Costa Rican Authorities
Seascape
SANTA MONICA, California, May 21, 2002 (ENS) - Sea Shepherd founder Paul
Watson is on the run from Costa Rican authorities, making a hasty exit Monday
from the country that just invited him in to help police poachers in the Cocos
Island World Heritage Site. On the way to Cocos Island, Watson nabbed an
illegal Costa Rican fishing boat, and his diligence has landed him in
trouble.
With Captain Watson at the helm, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society 's
vessel, the Farley Mowat left the waters of Cocos Island late Saturday
afternoon, leaving behind hundreds of miles of longlines laid by poachers.
Watson and crew have been working with the Cocos Island park rangers to deter
poachers since late April.
Costa Rica invited Watson to sign an agreement that would give the Sea
Shepherd authority to patrol Cocos Island and intervene to halt any illegal
fishing activities. Originally planned for finalization on April 30, the
agreement has not yet been signed, but the illegal fishing is rampant, Watson
says.
Reporting to his home office by satellite phone Monday, Watson said he saw
Taiwanese longliners illegally laying over 20 miles of longline around the
Cocos Island. He said there are hundreds of illegal fishing boats destroying
the wildlife and the ecosystems of Cocos Island.
"There is out of control illegal fishing going on here. It is a raping and
ravishing of this island that is going unchecked," he said.
The Farley Mowat returned to Puntarenas Monday morning with the understanding
that Costa Rican officials had agreed to let Watson leave Costa Rica for the
United States to attend previously scheduled speaking engagements. He then
planned to re-enter the country to sign and fulfill the agreement.
But on Monday, Watson was advised by his attorney to leave Costa Rica at once.
There have been no official charges against Watson or Sea Shepherd, but Watson
was to be arrested Monday upon arriving in Puntarenas.
The trouble began on April 22, when on its way to Costa Rica, the Farley Mowat
came across the Varadero I, a Costa Rican registered boat, off the coast of
Guatemala, illegally fishing for sharks and laying miles of longline inside
the coastal no take zone. Sea Shepherd stopped the activities and was
escorting the boat to Guatemalan authorities, when the Guatemalan Coast Guard
requested he release the boat.
The interference with the Varadero I and its poaching activities has created a
storm of politics in Costa Rica. There have been four prosecutors manipulating
the situation against Watson and the Sea Shepherd, and three different judges,
each with a different opinion, according to Lori Pye, Sea Shepherd director of
operations.
Speaking from the Sea Shepherd's main office in Santa Monica, California, Pye
said today she was informed Monday that one of the prosecutors "will not drop
the case==against Watson. This prosecutor has "obtained permission to have him
arrested and 'thrown in jail until they decided what to do with him,'" she
said.
"We've uncovered a lot of illegal fishing in Costa Rican waters carried on by
Taiwan, which is really imbedded in Costa Rica, Pye told ENS. "People didn't
realize how much influence the Taiwanese had on local people," she said.
Watson has headed the ship to Panama, where he intends to dock in Panama City.
He expects to attend the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado May 24 to 27
where he will give a lecture, and then go to Los Angeles where he has a
symposium on the Galapagos Islands at UCLA scheduled for June 4.
Watson founded the Sea Shepherd Society in 1979 in Vancouver, Canada after
leaving Greenpeace where he was an early anti-whaling activist. He has become
known around the world for his defense of marine creatures using bold means -
ramming pirate whalers, painting seal pups, and confronting the authorities of
whaling nations.
The Sea Shepherd has lent its ships and personnel to a number of governments
that want to control poaching in their waters, most recently to the government
of Ecuador to police the Galapagos Islands.
The Sea Shepherd Society still hopes to get an agreement signed with Costa
Rica, Pye said. "We want to work to protect Cocos Island, it is getting
destroyed by poaching longliners," she said. "We're not giving up."
Cocos Island National Park, located 550 kilometers off the Pacific coast of
Costa Rica, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997. The
underwater world of the national park has become famous due to the attraction
it holds for divers, who rate it as one of the best places in the world to
view large deep ocean species such as sharks, rays, tuna and dolphins.
Related Links: Sea Shepherd Conservation Society: http://www.seashepherd.org
Friends of Cocos Island Foundation: http://www.cocosisland.org/english/
UNESCO World Heritage Sites: http://whc.unesco.org/nwhc/pages/sites/main.htm