Sea Shepherd founder faces trial 5/16/2012 Country issues extradition request for activist over attempted murder charges.

Founder of marine conservation group Sea Shepherd is in custody in Germany and facing extradition to Costa Rica, where he faces a 10-year-old attempted murder charge.

Costa Rican prosecutors allege that Canadian-born Paul Watson threatened lives of the crew of a Costa Rican fishing boat, the Varadero, in Guatemalan waters in 2002. Watson was on board a ship, also called the Sea Shepherd, filming the documentary “Sharkwater” about shark-finning and other threats to the animals. Costa Rican authorities said he attempted to intercept the Varadero, which apparently was involved shark-finning. The fins are considered a delicacy in some parts of Asia.

The organization denies the charge.

“The crew of the Varadero accused the Sea Shepherd of trying to kill them, while the video evidence proves this to be a fallacy,” said Sea Shepherd in a statement. “To avoid the Guatemalan gunboat, Sea Shepherd then set sail for Costa Rica, where they uncovered even more illegal shark-finning activities in the form of dried shark fins by the thousands on the roofs of industrial buildings.”

While Costa Rica touts itself as one of the first champions of anti-shark-finning laws, it has frequently come under fire from conservation groups for failing to protect species in its waters and allowing foreign vessels from facing scrutiny from government officials.

Watson was also one of the co-founders of Greenpeace. —Latinamerica Press.

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