Charges Dropped Against Captain Paul Watson
Litigation - Article Series from All-Creatures.org Articles Archive

FROM Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
April 2019

The Criminal Appeals Court of the Second Judicial Circuit of San José dropped all charges against Paul Watson, bringing an end to a legal dispute that lasted 17 years.

Captain Paul Watson

On March 12th, the Criminal Appeals Court of the Second Judicial Circuit of San José dropped all charges against Paul Watson, bringing an end to a legal dispute that lasted 17 years.

In 2002, Captain Paul Watson and the crew of the Ocean Warrior fled to international waters following an altercation with an illegal shark finning vessel. Sea Shepherd’s presence was originally requested by the Costa Rican government to assist in protecting the extraordinarily biodiverse waters of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Corridor.

While patrolling, our vessel located a ship that was caught illegally finning sharks. The Varadero 1 ignored several orders to stop and continued their illegal operations, forcing Sea Shepherd to intervene. After running into their ship, the crew of the Varadero retaliated by filing several accusations against Sea Shepherd, including ship endangerment and attempted murder.

Despite the clear proof of events shown in the documentary “Sharkwater”, which was filmed during this campaign, Costa Rica continued to pursue legal action against Paul Watson. This prevented him from returning to port in Costa Rica, resulting in the sudden departure of himself and the crew.

For the past 13 years, Captain Paul Watson had an international warrant out for his arrest, which harmed our relationship with the Costa Rican government. With the decision to drop the charges, the current government has given clear signs of support and interest to resume cooperating with Sea Shepherd.

Captain Paul Watson is excited about the future, here he states, “During all of these years, my sincere desire has always been to protect, together with Costa Rican people, the beautiful natural sanctuary that is the Isla del Coco, and other endangered areas linked to the Marine Corridor of the Eastern Tropical Pacific. I hope that, now, with this dismissal of these charges against me, we can make it a reality.”

Return to: Litigation